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Luis Suarez, who transferred to Atletico Madrid last September has revealed the most disappointing aspect of his exit from Barcelona - the club telling him that he was too old to perform at the highest level. Suarez who is now second-highest goal scorer in La Liga with 16 goals (after Messi) has proven Barcelona management wrong, by firing Atletico Madrid to the top of the La Liga scoring chart. “What really bothered me was when they told me that I was old and that I could no longer play at a high level, be up to [the task of fronting] a great team,” Suarez told  France Football . “That’s what I did not like.” Suarez said he lived up to expected standards at the club, and blamed the club for signing players who were not on an elite level. “Today, we can see that it is not easy to play at Barca ... A lot of players who signed there did not have the level that was expected of them. Me, I played for six years at Barca maintaining a certain level and living up to what was ...

Messi may have been involved in 39 goals in his 23 appearances this season, but Spanish football expert Graham Hunter says Messi has been playing 'oddly' this season, when compared to his usual standards. Hunter believes Luis Suarez's injury hence absence has contributed greatly to the decline in Messi's performance and accuracy. "If you look at the data, you look at the assists and the goals you, say 'Yeah, everything is fine.' If you look at the play, it's not. "He's playing oddly. Not shambolically, but lacking precision, doing things that are very un-Messi like." "All the little deft solutions, the cat burglar solutions, that we have seen Messi produce over the last 16 years on top of his goals and his trophies, these things have been going wrong since November. "He's just so good that he has produced a spate of assists, scored four at the weekend," Hunter added. "Therefore, Luis Suarez being abse...

Messi displayed his sixth Ballon d'Or trophy at Camp Nou prior to the La Liga match between Barcelona and Mallorca. It was a beautiful night for the Catalans as they struck a comprehensive 5-2 win over Mallorca, with Messi netting a hat-trick, and Griezmann and Suarez scoring a goal each. Messi has now scored 53 career hat-tricks; 35 of them scored in La Liga. He now solely holds the record for the most hat-tricks in La Liga, after passing the 34 he and Cristiano Ronaldo had each scored. Barcelona goal keeper Ter Stergen provided the assist for Barcelona's first goal, netted by Antoine Griezmann in the seventh minute. Messi put Barcelona 2-0 ahead in the 17th minute, with the crowd chanting his name: "Messi! Messi! Messi!" Ante Budimir pulled one back for the visitors in the 35th minute, temporarily silencing Camp Nou. Then Messi scored another for Barcelona. Luis Suarez scored "the most beautiful goal" of his career, through a backheel tap, putti...

For the first time, Barcelona's attack trio of Messi, Suarez and Griezmann marked their names on the scoresheet in the same game. Barcelona had a 3 - 0 victory over Eibar in Saturday's game. Antoine Griezmann was the first to score for Barcelona in the first half. He later on provided an assist for Messi's goal, which came second. What was even more striking was the third goal, which once more portrayed Messi as a selfless player. Messi was charging through on goal, and decided to lay the ball into the path of Suarez so he could score, instead of scoring himself given the clear opportunity he had.  This is not the first time Messi has been unselfish in his career. He usually allows him teammates to take penalties when they ask him. He also passes the ball to players whenever they are better positioned to score.

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...

Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi are certainly one of the most lethal attacking duo in European football, but they are more than teammates. In an interview with  Sport , Suarez revealed he is close to Messi both on and off the pitch. He told Sport ,  "We don't only talk about football. We talk about the past, the future. We're humans that, aside from being teammates, we're good friends who have a lot in common. "Not only that but sometimes our wives are doing things we're left alone. In my house or his drinking mate. We can be sat talking for two or three hours. But I always say this: a lot of people see him as Messi but for me, he's simply Leo." S uarez also talked about a trait of Messi's that has helped him (Suarez), and that is being relaxed. He said,  "I think it's helped me to see how relaxed he is in matches. "Sometimes I thought that you need to be focused the day before, or a few hours before the match. "That...

Barcelona captain/ Argentine maestro Lionel Messi is the first player to score 400 goals in La Liga, with his goal in Barcelona's 3-0 victory over Eibar at Camp Nou on Sunday. This is a boost to his amazing La Liga record as he has been the Spanish League's all-time top-scorer since November 2014. Messi has an average of 0.92 goals per game in La Liga. The mercurial magician is the second player to have scored 400 goals in any of Europe's top five leagues, Cristiano Ronaldo is the first. Messi has however reached this milestone in 63 games less than Ronaldo did. View this post on Instagram 4⃣0⃣0⃣ goals in @LaLiga! ⚽ The. Best. Ever. 🐐 4⃣0⃣0⃣ goles en La Liga 👏 Leo #Messi, único e irrepetible. 4⃣0⃣0⃣ gols a La Liga 👏 Leo #Messi, únic i irrepetible. 🔵🔴 A post shared by FC Barcelona (@fcbarcelona) on Jan 13, 2019 at 10:49am PST Of Messi's 400 La Liga strikes, 83 have been braces, and 31, braces. La Liga...

Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez have now scored more goals than the entire Real Madrid squad. The mercurial Barcelona captain has found the back of the net on 16 occasions, while his Uruguayan counterpart has netted 12 times. The Real Madrid squad have scored just 26 goals since the start of the 2018/2019 La Liga season. The winning Latin American duo have scored more goals than the Atletico Madrid squad who like Real Madrid, have netted just 26 times. In the current La Liga Campaign, only Celta Vigo, Sevilla and Levante have equaled or surpassed Messi and Suarez's 28 goal tally. Celta Vigo has a goal tally of 28, while only Sevilla and Levante have scored more goals than the prolific Barcelona duo. 

FC Barcelona kicked off the new year without the holiday hangover as they secured and extended their lead in La Liga, following a 15-day La Liga winter break. Barcelona defeated hosts Getafe 2-1 yesterday as Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez marked their names on the scoresheet. Watch Messi closely in this video. He squeezes past three players, takes hits from two of them, stumbles, regains balance - but he never, not for one instant, takes his eye off the ball. No question of going down for the penalty. Just him, and the ball. pic.twitter.com/bVADL1ljb3 — Daniel Edwards 💚 (@DanEdwardsGoal) January 6, 2019 Messi opened scoring 20 minutes into the first half, charging through the penalty box to score Barcelona's first goal at close range. He ran onto a deflected ball, collected his rebound and netted the ball from an acute angle. 👏 For the fourth year in a row Messi scores the first goal of the year in @LaLiga . 🐐 ⚽ 2016: Messi ⚽ 2017: Messi ⚽ 2018: Messi ⚽ 2019: M...

Lionel Messi and Barcelona team mate Luis Suarez paid the kids at Barcelona Hospital an emotional visit last Friday. The Barcelona forwards cheered the kids as they posed for pictures with them and signed autographs for them at the Barcelona Hospital. One of the kids was so overwhelmed by the presence of his soccer heroes and shed tears of joy. He received a ball signed by both Messi and Suarez. FC Barcelona shared pictures of the duo's visit on their official Twitter handle. See the pictures below. Barcelona face Getafe today in La Liga at 8:45 pm CET. Getafe sit seventh in La Liga while Barcelona is first.

31-year-old Barcelona captain Lionel Messi made the difference between Barcelona and mediocrity in a 5-0 victory over Levante on Sunday night. Barcelona played in an unusual 3-5-2 formation, but that did not stop Messi from ... being Messi. The mercurial Argentine who was at his sumptuous best scoring three goals in 17 minutes, providing two assists, and being instrumental in every goal Barcelona scored. 35 minutes into the game, Messi duped three Levante players into tailing him pointlessly across the penalty box, then lazered a pass for Luis Suarez who scored Barcelona's first goal of the night.  Eight minutes later, Messi marked his name on the scoresheet, scoring a sublime goal with his right foot. He ran from the halfway line, and beat the Valencia goalkeeper Oier Olazabal one-on-one to to net the pass from Sergio Busquets. Two minutes after half-time, Messi gave Barcelona a 3-0 lead with a sublime low left-footed shot into the net. An incredible team construct led to M...

Lionel Messi led the Blaugrana to an amazing 4-0 Derby victory at the RCDE Stadium on Saturday. Messi's opener - an amazing free-kick - against Catalan rivals Espanyol at the 17th minute into the game made him the first player to score 10 goals in 13 consecutive La Liga seasons. At the 26th minute, Messi provided Ousmane Dembele an assist for his goal. Dembele later set Luis Suarez for Barcelona's third goal in the first half of the game. The Barcelona captain scored his second goal through another brilliant free-kick in the 65th minute - his 11th La Liga strike of the season. ESPN gave the Barcelona playmaker a 10/10 rating for his breath-taking performance.  View this post on Instagram GOLAZOOOOOO FROM MESSI 😍😍😍🔥😍🔥😍😍😍😍😍😍😍🔥🔥🔥 #FCBarcelona #Barca #ViscaBarca #Barcelona #Messi #FCB #LM10 #LaLiga #Griezmann #Futbol #Skills #Tekkers #Nutmeg #Golazo #Goal #Dembele #Coutinho #Espanyol #Spain #Derby A post...