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Lionel Messi and his teammates lost to Atletico Madrid in the Spanish Super Cup semifinal on Thursday, They dominated the game at the King Abdullah Sports City Stadium until the last ten minutes wherein they conceded two sloppy goals, with Atletico Madrid winning 3 - 2. Barcelona were leading 2-1 as of the 81st minute. Messi and Griezmann had scored for Barcelona. Messi scored in the 51st minute and Griezmann in the 61st. Messi's second goal was disallowed for an adjudged handball. Gerard Pique' goal for Barcelona was disallowed in the 73rd minute. Barcelona's errors in the final ten began with Barcelona goalkeeper Neto Mura conceding a clumsy penalty. He brought down Vitolo, for which Atletico was awarded a penalty. Alvaro Morata leveled from the penalty spot. Angel Correa scored Atletico's third goal five minutes later as a result of poor defending from Barcelona. Neto was unable to stop the incoming shot as the ball looped off his gloves and over the line. A...

Barcelona's opening La Liga match of the season against Athletic Bilbao will be played today without Lionel Messi who is yet to recover from a calf injury he sustained in his first pre-season training session. Due to the injury, Messi was forced to miss out on Barcelona's pre-season tour of the USA. Messi started solo training on Thursday but is yet to return to first-team training. In a press conference yesterday, Barcelona manager Ernesto Valverde revealed Messi will not be risked during the club's La Liga opener. He explained, "We never like to risk any players and much less someone like Leo. “He still hasn’t returned to training with the team and while we are happy with his progress, individual training is very different to playing a match. We are going to wait and see.” The Barcelona tactician avoided going deep into the Neymar transfer saga when questioned by reporters.  “It’s inconvenient and it’s not logical. The normal thing would be that the te...

After an unfruitful, devastating night for Barcelona at Anfield yesterday, Barcelona striker Luis Suarez said his side "looked like schoolboys" after Liverpool overturned Barcelona's 3-0 first leg lead and won the game on aggregate to advance to the Champions League finals. Barcelona repeated the same mistakes they made last year, throwing away a three-goal first leg lead; last year in a quarter-final second leg in Rome, and now in the semi-final return leg at Anfield. Spanish media have labelled the defeat "The biggest farce in football" and "The blackest page in Barcelona's history". The Reds won 4-0 at Anfield, with Divock Origi converting a quick corner from Trent Alexander-Arnold into the winner Liverpool needed. "We have to be ready for all the criticism that is going to rain down on us now," former Liver player Suarez said. "We are very sad, we are in a lot of pain." "It cannot be that in a minute we conce...

Messi broke his arm earlier in the month during the Barcelona - Sevilla La Liga clash but he is back in training and will soon be able to resume games with his Catalan club. The Argentina international's injury ruled him out of El Clasico but the Blaugrana triumphed in a 5-1 victory at Camp Nou. Barcelona manager Ernesto Valverde however insisted Messi's presence was still missed. In a news conference, Valverde said, "For us, since last week when he got injured, we were probably thinking how we would respond on the pitch." "There's only one answer, you have to respond as a team and that's what we've done. The result could've been different but that's the only answer we can give you. "We're delighted for the team but obviously the sooner he's back the better for us because we miss him. We want him back tomorrow." Despite Messi's return to training, he still has some mobility issues and is thus unlikely to fe...