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Former Barcelona and Netherlands manager Louis van Gaal hit out at Lionel Messi on the latter's birthday with stern criticism. Van Gaal blames the Barcelona captain for Barcelona's failure to win the coveted Champions League trophy since 2015. The 67-year-old also believes his successors have given the Blaugrana 10 too much freedom in recent years. He claimed Messi should be adapting to the team and not the team to him. Last season, Barcelona lost to eventual Champions League winners, Liverpool, in the semi-final. “I believe that there is nothing more important than the team player,” said Van Gaal. “Barca suffer from that. I think Messi should ask himself how it is possible that he’s gone so long without winning a Champions League. “Look at Barcelona. How many Champions Leagues have they won with the one everybody says is the best player in the world? Look at Neymar at PSG. How many Champions Leagues has he won? “He’s the best individual player in the world because

Fans have voted Barcelona's third goal against Liverpool, a wondrous free-kick scored by Lionel Messi, in Barcelona's semi-final first leg victory, Goal of the Tournament. Voting was done on UEFA's official website. Fans voted Ronaldo's half volley against Manchester United in the group stages second. Ivan Rakitic's volley against Tottenham Hotspur was voted third, ahead of Arjen Roben's strike against Benfica. Voting which took place today comes just a day after UEFA's technical observers voted Ronaldo's volley against Manchester United, goal of the tournament. These technical observers featured the likes of  former Manchester United manager David Moyes, current England boss  Gareth Southgate , Belgium boss Roberto Martinez and  Real Madrid  legend Raul Gonzalez. View this post on Instagram Bravo, Leo! 👏👏👏⁣ ⁣ ✨ You voted Lionel Messi's stunning free-kick against Liverpool the #UCL Goa

For the first time since 2011/2012, Lionel Messi has finished as outright UEFA Champions League top scorer. Messi broke Ronaldo's stranglehold on the Champions League golden boot following Liverpool's triumph over Tottenham in last night's finals. Messi finished four goals clear of Robert Lewandowski who was also out of the competition. It was already clear before the finals that Messi would be the outright top scorer as no Tottenham Hotspur or Liverpool player had scored more than five goals ahead of the final. Mohamed Salah joined the list of players on five goals through his early penalty strike in the final. Ronaldo has won the Champions League golden boot six times in a row from 2012/2013, sharing the award with Messi and Neymar in the 2014/2015 season. Messi on the other hand enjoyed a four-season streak between 2008/2009 and 2011/2012. The Champions League top scorers in the 2018/2019 campaign are: 12: Lionel Messi (Barcelona) Minutes played: 837 (69.8

Barcelona suffered a disgraceful Champions League exit in the second leg of the semi-finals at Anfield, to eventual Champions League winners, Liverpool, but their brightest defender Virgil van Dijk believes Lionel Messi deserves to win the Ballon d'Or this year. The former Celtic and Southampton star, Virgil, has been pivotal to Liverpool all season and had a sterling performance in the Reds' 2-0 UEFA Champions League final win over Tottenham Hotspur. In a press conference after the finals, he backed Messi to win the award, saying:  "I think Messi is the best player in the world. He should win the Ballon d'Or. So I'm not thinking of that. But if I win, I'll take it. Messi should win it though. He is the best in the world, whether he's in the final or not." Van Dijk joined Liverpool in January 2018 and has been nothing but remarkable throughout the year. He has won a number of individual awards for his displays in the Premier League this season

Ronaldo Nazario, the Brazil legend, and former Barcelona and Real Madrid player expressed his views on Barcelona's Champion League debacle. Last week, Barcelona beat the Reds 3-0 at Camp Nou, but were beaten by Liverpool 0-4 in dramatic fashion on Tuesday. Ronaldo believes the blame for Barcelona's failures does not get shared round the team equally. He told  Marca ,  "Barcelona has a great team." "They have the best player in the world, Messi, and the other day I heard that the loss was the fault of Valverde, Coutinho but never Messi's fault. "Instead, when they win, it's the Barcelona of Messi that wins. It's a tremendous injustice for all of the players and the staff. "Liverpool's intensity wasn't a surprise for Barcelona, but they were missing a little luck. "The first leg was a great game from Barcelona with an extraordinary performance by Messi, but in the second leg Liverpool ate up Barcelona with intensity, 

Messi has this mesmerizing ability of taking football artistry to unseen levels, and tonight was one of those nights in which he lit up the pitch with his speed, thought and movement. Messi scored twice within four minutes in the first half, and Coutinho increased Barcelona's goal tally to three in the second half, with a brilliant goal. Barcelona beat the Premier league side 4-0 on aggregate to earn a spot at the semi-finals. Messi's first goal came from the edge of the box, in the 16th minute, and the second in the 20th.  Manchester United goalkeeper, De Gea, made a blunder that was responsible for Messi's second goal. De Gea should however be credited for denying Sergi Roberto a goal in first-half stoppage time. Philippe Coutinho scored Barcelona's third in the 61st minute, curling a stunning effort into the top corner from 25 yards. Barcelona shall meet either Liverpool or Porto in the semi-final. Manchester United coach Ole Gunnar Solskjaer told BT Sport

Paris Saint-Germain face Manchester United tonight oin the first leg of the last-16 tie in the Champions League. PSG goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon fears PSG playmaker - Neymar's absence could be a "big problem" to them. Neymar sustained a metatarsal injury late last month and is only expected to return in April.  In an exclusive interview with CNN ahead of their first leg match at Old Trafford, Buffon told CNN,  "I think this is a problem for us." "I'm not sure if it's a big problem or a little one. I hope it's only a small problem and that we are nevertheless a team that can thrive without him, it would give us great strength and confidence. "But I must say that without a player of Ney's caliber, it's going to be heavy going, particularly because in the last two or three months he's in excellent condition both physically and mentally and would have been of enormous help. "But nevertheless we have to do our best i

Juventus faced Switzerland's BSC Young Boys yesterday in their final Champions League group game. Ronaldo denied lone Juventus goalscorer Paulo Dybala a last-minute equalizer which could have been a contender for goal of the season. Ronaldo had already missed several scoring chances for Juventus with Young Boys striker Guillaume Hoarau scoring twice. Dybala who came in as a substitute pulled Juventus back into the game reducing Young Boys' lead by one goal. He also scored what would have been a last-minute equalizer with his wonderful strike 25 yards from Young Boys' net. Unfortunately for Juventus, a goal-hungry Ronaldo leapt at the ball in front of goalkeeper Marco Woelfli but did not make contact. The referee rightfully ruled out the goal due to Ronaldo's offside interference. Furious fans took to social media to criticize Ronaldo for his selfish act.  Always said Ronaldo is NOT and will NEVER be a team player Why's everyone so surprised he ruined a

FC Barcelona captain Lionel Messi, picked up the Man of the Match award in the Barcelona - PSV Eindhoven match yesterday night, and broke Cristiano Ronaldo's UEFA Champions League record. His fine goal at the 61st minute made him the most prolific goalscorer for a single club in Champions League history, a record previously held by Cristiano Ronaldo. Ronaldo's Champions League tally for Real Madrid stands at 105 goals. Messi was happy with the record as he said,  "I am delighted, I have just found out now. I am happy for this new stat." View this post on Instagram Lionel Messi 🆚 PSV 😍🐐 📲| Follow @Messifanpx 🎥| @messicomps . . . . 🚫 Ignore Hashtags #leo #leomessi #lm10 #messi #messi10 #messika #leomessi10 #messigoal #vamosmessi #leonelmessi #messiah #kingmessi #leomessi10 #barcelona #messifanpx #fcbarcelona #barcelonafc #barcelonafans #fcbarcelonafans #barcelona🇪🇸 #argentina #argentina🇦🇷 #argentinas #c

Lopetegui has just paid the price for his ambition and hubris - fired after a 139-day spell of humiliation at Real Madrid, right after being fired from the Spain national team. He cost Spain a World Cup as he risked everything in a bid to fulfill his 15-year old dream of coaching Real Madrid. Lopetegui was controversially hired by Real Madrid just before the start of the World Cup, without Lopetegui conferring with his then employer - the Spanish Football Federation. He was fired as Spain's national team manager at the eve of the World Cup in Russia. Alas, Julen Lopetegui was sacked on Monday as Real Madrid issued an abrupt statement confirming Lopetegui's long-anticipated dismissal following Los Blancos' 5-1 humiliation by Barcelona on Sunday - during the first Clasico of the season.  The statement released by Real Madrid on Monday night read:  “The Board of Directors of Real Madrid CF, meeting today October 29, 2018, has agreed to terminate the contract that