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Lionel Messi dominance kept Barcelona alive in their La Liga game yesterday vs Real Betis as he provided a hat-trick of assists for Barcelona's three goals of the night. Barcelona won 3-2. Quique Setien's anticipated return to the Estadio Benito Villamarin turned out to be a difficult night for the Cules as they got off to a rocky start of the match. The visitors were stunned by the hosts (Real Betis) as Sergio Canales scored from the penalty spot in in the sixth minute after a handball was called by VAR on Clement Lenglet. Three minutes later, Messi' sent a pinpoint pass onto Frenkie de Jong's chest and the latter converted into a goal, Barcelona's first for the night.  In the 26th minute, Nabil Fekir's long-range shot restored the lead for Real Betis. Sergio Busquets converted Messi's freekick into a goal in the final seconds of the first half to make Barcelona level with the hosts. In the second half, Clement Lenglet scored a header from a loftin

Ramon Besa of  El Pais  recently reported that there is a clause in Lionel Messi's contract with Barcelona - which runs until 2021 - that says he is free to walk away from Barcelona at the end of any given season. This information has been confirmed by Goal.com. Carles Puyol, Xavi and Andres Iniesta all had similar clauses in their contracts during their final years at the club. World Cup-winning defender Gerard Pique revealed he was aware of the clause but doesn't think Messi would be leaving Barcelona anytime soon. He told  Cadena Ser , "I already knew Messi is able to leave for free at the end of each season.  “But we all know the commitment Leo has to Barca and it doesn't worry me at all. He's earned the right to be able to choose what he does with his future after everything he's given the club.” 32-year-old Messi made his senior Barcelona debut at the age of 17, in 2004. Since then, he has won 10 La Liga titles and four UEFA Champions Leagu

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

Frenkie de Jong has just fulfilled his childhood dream of playing for Barcelona and playing alongside his idol, Lionel Messi. De Jong agreed to join Barcelona in January, with his former Dutch club Ajax and Barcelona settling on a transfer worth  £65 million. "I am very happy to be here finally," he said at his official unveiling. "As a child it was a dream for me to play at Barca, and now I'm here so it's great." De Jong was particularly happy that the Barcelona legend, Messi, would now be his teammate. "I'm really looking forward to setting foot on the Camp Nou pitch for the first time," he said. "I'm happy to be able to play with Messi, who I have always followed. Now my idol will be my team-mate." De Jong was instrumental in Ajax's 4-1 win over Real Madrid in the Champions League semi-finals last season. "Lots of people from Barca congratulated me after we beat Real Madrid in the Champions League,&q

Barcelona may have lost 1-2 to Valencia in the final of the Copa del Rey but that didn't prevent the Argentine maestro from standing out. Messi scored Barcelona's lone goal in the game to become the first ever player to net in six separate Copa del Rey finals. He has now scored seven goals in six Copa del Rey finals. Kevin Gameiro and Rodrigo gave Valencia an early lead over Barcelona in the first half of the game, with Messi pulling one back for Barcelona in the 73rd minute. Barcelona failed to compete during the first 45 minutes, with poor performances from the likes of Arthur, Semedo, Coutinho, and Rakitic.  'Los Che' on the other hand played heartily, defeated the odds and won their first Copa del Rey since 2008. Barcelona had over 70% of ball possession, created the most chances but Valencia had a sharp pace on the counter-attack, making the most of their limited ball possession. Valverde's future at Barcelona is in doubt after Barcelona's Champions

The 'Creu de Sant Jordi', an award created in 1981, is handed to individuals and institutions who have served Catalonia and the protection of the region's identity. Barcelona's captain Lionel Messi was honored with the award yesterday (Thursday) by the  Generalitat de Catalunya, in a ceremony held at the Auditori del Fòrum. Barcelona's president Josep Maria Bartomeu and technical secretary Eric Abidal were among the large entourage that accompanied Messi to the event. Messi is one of 28 persons and organizations that have been bestowed with the honor. He is just the third Barcelona player to receive the Creu de Sant Jordi. Juan Antonio San Epifanio and  Johan Cruyff are the first two Barcelona athletes to have received the award - in  1996 and 2006 respectively. According to the Generalitat de Catalunya, Messi was decorated "due to his fabulous sports career, in which he has been recognized as the greatest footballer of all time. A native of Argen

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, 

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 celebrates free-kick goal An unusual, yet powerful performance was given by Barcelona in the league game versus Betis yesterday. Barcelona didn't dominate possession (43.9%), which was so unlike them, recording their lowest possession in a league game since the 2004-05 season, but that didn't matter as they were so clinical with their counterattack. Valverde's 4-4-2 diamond midfield lineup worked out so well, with Philippe Coutinho dropped for Arturo Vidal to be added as fourth midfield player.  Arturo was particularly constructive in the midfield, assisting the Messi-Suarez attack duo. He won the free-kick Messi converted into a goal in the 18th minute. Messi scored Barcelona's second goal just before the break thanks to a superb no-look back-heel assist from Luis Suarez.  Construct to Suarez's goal Suarez grabbed his own goal in the 63rd minute, a solo effort in which he outran four Betis players and tucked a beautiful goal. Betis were able to

Messi and Ramos head-on-head One of the key moments of Saturday's El Clasico was the clash between Lionel Messi and Real Madrid captain, Sergio Ramos, towards the end of the first half. Ramos caught Lionel Messi flush in the face with his arm as they tussled for the ball. Messi was still on the ground when the referee called time on the first half of play. Barcelona players rushed to the referee who took no action despite Messi approaching him to show him his bloodied lip. The referee chose not to punish Ramos through a VAR review.  Ramos explained himself after the game, saying: "Messi took a bad knock but it was totally involuntary." “There was nothing bad between us and it just happened.” Real Madrid are losing the race to the league title as they sit 12 points behind chart leaders Barcelona.  “It’s a pity that the league’s getting away from us but even so we will fight to the end because in football everything is possible,” said Ramos, while refuting the

Barcelona are 10 points atop the La Liga charts thanks to Lionel Messi's dazzling performance against Sevilla, which resulted in a 4-2 victory for Barcelona. The hat-trick hero, Lionel Messi, however insists the race to the league title isn't over yet. Barcelona succumbed to Sevilla twice in the course of the game before equalizing and winning. Messi scored his 50th career hat-trick against Sevilla. Hats off to #Messi 🎩 🎩 🎩 🎩 🎩 🎩 🎩 🎩 🎩 🎩 🎩 🎩 🎩 🎩 🎩 🎩 🎩 🎩 🎩 🎩 🎩 🎩 🎩 🎩 🎩 🎩 🎩 🎩 🎩 🎩 🎩 🎩 🎩 🎩 🎩 🎩 🎩 🎩 🎩 🎩 🎩 🎩 🎩 🎩 🎩 🎩 🎩 🎩 🎩 🎩 pic.twitter.com/UtFsfEl5Gw — FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) February 23, 2019 The Argentina star told beIN SPORTS he doesn't believe Atletico Madrid or Real Madrid could be considered out of contention. "No, because there is a long way to go," he said. "But it was really important to win because of what it means to win here and to keep our distance ahead of our rivals. "Now more

Lionel Messi and some of his Barcelona teammates had a great night at Barcelona on the 31st of January, as Cirque du Soleil presented its production inspired by the legendary Messi. The party celebrating the "Messi10" Cirque du Soleil show was hosted at the Camp Nou stadium. FC Barcelona said "Messi10" was "inspired by the talent, success and living legend that is Leo Messi, who so brilliantly exemplifies the spirit and values of the beautiful game."  Messi was in attendance with his wife Antonela Rocuzzo, then Luis Suarez and his wife Sofia Balba, and other teammates and their partners. The performances will debut in Barcelona on October 10 2019, then production will go on an international tour with a 90-minute spectacle, in 2020. Last year, when the show was announced in October, Messi said, It feels both crazy and incredible that Cirque du Soleil will create a show based on my life, my passion, my sport. "Cirque du Soleil is a fami

Valencia shocked their hosts, Barcelona, during Saturday's La Liga fixture. Valencia took a two-goal lead before half-time against La Liga leaders Barcelona. A Kevin Gameiro goal and a Dani Parejo penalty saw Valencia dominate the first twenty minutes of the game. Lionel Messi scored for a ninth consecutive match, a brace this time, which earned Barcelona a 2-2 draw against Valencia. Messi reduced Valencia's lead with a brilliant equalizer at the 26th minute, and got Barcelona level at the 64th minute.  Jordi Alba's presence was greatly missed in the first half of the game - Barcelona are much better at attacking when they have Alba as an outlet on the left flank. The face of the game completely changed once he stepped in, in the second half.  50 - Lionel Messi is the third player in @LaLigaEN history to score 50 penalty goals, after Cristiano Ronaldo (61) and Hugo Sanchez (56). Milestone. pic.twitter.com/7oDJL2BhFT — OptaJose (@OptaJose) February 2, 2019

Philippe Coutinho hailed Lionel Messi for letting him take a confidence-boosting penalty as the Catalans demolished Sevilla 6-1 in a praiseworthy Copa del Rey quarter-final comeback on Wednesday. Coutinho struggled in the first leg of the quarter finals in which Sevilla beat Barcelona 2-0, failing to replicate his wonderful performance at Liverpool. Coutinho played a much better game today, grabbing his first opportunity after Messi was brought down by Quincy Promes in the 13th minute. Messi gave Coutinho the ball and told him to take the shot. This was the beginning of Barcelona's comeback, as Coutinho scored Barcelona's first goal of the game. He went on to score another goal, as did former Sevilla midfielder Ivan Rakitic, Luis Suarez, Sergi Roberto and Messi. Barcelona qualified for the Copa del Rey semi-finals with their 6-1 victory overturning the 2-0 deficit from the first leg when Barcelona captain Lionel Messi was rested by Ernesto Valverde.  Talking to Bar