Yesterday, Rafael Nadal was awarded the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year, and Messi was quick to congratulate him on this big achievement. Here is the video:
In that video, what was most important is that he said that he's an admirer of Nadal. He also expressed that he highly deserved the award and that he is an example to many people because of his hard work and perseverance.
Messi had won the previous Laureus Award, so there's even more meaning to him congratulating Nadal. I hope you liked this entry, and as always, I'll see you in the next blog.
Exactly six years ago, Barcelona beat Bayern Munich 3-0 in the first leg of the UCL semifinals. Messi did a fantastic 10/10 performance with 2 goals and an assist, which was crucial. So without further ado, let's look at Messi's performance in detail.
Not much happened in the first half except for a 1v1 between Suárez and Neuer, created by Messi, which Suárez couldn't convert. But the second half was much better, with a great shot from outside the box that entered the near bottom corner of the goal. And that wasn't the end, because a few minutes later, he received a good pass from Rakitic, and after entering the penalty area, he got rid of Boateng, sending him to the ground, and then made a wonderful chip that went over Neuer. This was the goal that broke the internet, as everyone was in awe at how good he was, including footballers like Drogba, Lineker, Podolski, Lukaku, Alex Morgan, Benteke, etc. In the last minute, Messi made a pass to Neymar that he took to the penalty box and converted, ending the game 3-0.
Messi's stats were the following: 2 goals, 1 assist, 2 big chances created, 4 SoT (4 in total), 9 dribbles, 4 key passes, 2 aerial duels won, 1 tackle, 2 interceptions, 32 passes out of 40, and 73 touches. This was his performance on video:
Barcelona later got to the final and then won the Champions League, so this performance was crucial in winning this important tournament. I hope you liked this entry, and as always, I'll see you in the next blog.
With no more content regarding goals wrongfully canceled against Messi, I'll expand on this series including cards wrongfully given, penalties not given, penalties that should have been repeated or aggressions against Messi not sanctioned with a red card. So without further ado, let's look at these decisions.
First off is his red card against Chile in the 2019 Copa América 3rd place playoff spot. In his confrontation with Medel he did nothing wrong, just stood his ground as Medel bumped his chest into him, but the referee still gave him the red card alongside Medel.
Next up is a clear aggression from Pulido to Messi that could have easily been sanctioned with a red card, when Barça faced Huesca at home this season. The referee, however, didn't even signal a foul.
Once again, Medel and Messi meet up in this entry, this time for the 2015 Copa América final. There, Medel kicked Messi in the stomach with no intention of going to the ball, which should have been a red card.
Going forward to 2017, Messi faced Uruguay for the 2018 World Cup qualifiers. Giménez made a tough tackle at Messi which should have been a red card, but the referee only gave a yellow card.
And last but not least, Messi's penalty miss against PSG should have been retaken due to an invasion from a PSG player. He later benefitted from it too, another reason why it should have been retaken.
That's the end of part 5. I hope you liked this entry, and as always, I'll see you in the next blog.
A few days ago, Messi expressed his support for vaccines, joining UNICEF in celebrating World Immunization Week. This is a very important message from him considering the current situation and the administration of COVID-19 vaccines.
Specifically, he said "Vaccines save the lives of 3 million children around the world every year, protecting them from life-threatening and highly infectious diseases.
Vaccines work, they are necessary and safe! That's why I join @UNICEF in celebrating World Immunization Week.
#VaccinesWork"
He made his message clear in both Instagram and Facebook, garnering massive attention, which is vital. I hope you liked this entry, and as always, I'll see you in the next blog.
Yesterday, Barcelona beat Valencia 3-2 with yet another great performance from Messi. Gabriel Paulista gave Valencia the lead 50 minutes in, but Messi, after missing a penalty, managed to score the equalizer. Griezmann then gave Barcelona the lead 2-1, and Messi consolidated it with a great free-kick goal. Soler's late goal didn't serve for much as Barcelona won 3-2 anyways. Messi's stats were: 2 goals, 1 big chance created, 3 SoT (5 in total), 1.84 xG, 7 dribbles, 1 key pass, 1 GCA, 6 SCA, 0.45 xA, 10 duels won out of 14, 3 fouls won, 1 tackle, 5 pressures (1 successful), 2 passes blocked, 4 ball recoveries, 2 long balls, 67 passes out of 86, and 108 touches. A great performance that earned a 10/10 according to Infogol. This was his performance on video:
Here are some fun facts after the game:
Messi scored his 50th free-kick for Barcelona.
Messi scored his 130th outside-the-box goal (free-kicks and open play).
Messi has equaled Ronaldo's free-kick goal amount (56).
Mestalla became the 6th stadium Mesi has scored 10+ goals in.
Messi played his 20th game at Mestalla.
Messi became the only player to score 10+ La Liga goals in 5 different away stadiums.
Messi surpassed Carmelo Cedrún and is now tied in 18th place with Molina for the most games completed in La Liga (408).
Messi is now tied with Raúl García in 7th place for the most games played in La Liga (517).
Valencia became the 3rd side he has scored 30+ goals against.
This was an important game to win, as were the games before and as are the following games in the race for the La Liga title. Messi still leads in the Pichichi race by a good margin, so his Ballon d'Or campaign is looking good so far. The next game will be crucial, as Barça will be facing Atlético Madrid at home, which will probably settle who stands in the title race if it doesn't end in a draw. But until then, I'll see you in the next blog.
A few days ago, Messi reached 200 million followers on Instagram, a big milestone for Messi in social media terms. And despite having so many followers, he's only made 706 posts (705 when he reached 200M), which is a Follower per Post ratio of 283.688, the highest on Instagram's history, which proves how massive he is.
Instead of a usual "thank you" post, Messi made an awareness post about online abuse, with the hashtags #BastaYa #StopOnlineAbuse and #EnoughIsEnough. He got congratulated by people like Di María, Marc Bartra, Jeison Murillo, Pep Morata, Nicolás Vázquez, Patrick Kluivert, and his own wife Antonella Roccuzzo. The entire post can be found here.
Messi's influence on social media grows more and more by the day. The next milestone to be reached is Team Messi reaching 3 million followers on Twitter, being only 16K followers away. But until then, I'll see you in the next blog.
April is over, and we now begin the last month of the season, May. But it's time to go back and look at Messi's performances in April, where he proved that he's still the best player in the world.
In only 6 games, he scored 5 goals and made 1 assist as well as 2 pre-assists. He was the MoTM in 5/6 games and never dropped a below-7 performance. Other stats include: 3 big chances created, 14 SoT (36 in total), 23 dribbles, 12 key passes, 31 SCA, 2.03 xA, 44 ground duels won, 1 aerial duel won, 24 fouls won, 1 through-ball, 8 crosses, 12 long balls, 313 passes, and 509 touches. Amazing stats.
On a collective scale, he was important in Barcelona's victories in La Liga which put them very close in the race, though the game against Granada was a shame. He also won the Copa del Rey as the final's MVP, another title to the numerous he's had in his career.
These were his highlights of the month on video:
The objectives for May is to hopefully win La Liga and the Pichichi, which would also seal the MVP. But until then, I'll see you in the next blog.
