Yesterday, Messi was proud to announce that the auction for his historic '644' boots raised up to £125,000, or €144,790, all for improving the physical & mental health of children fighting disease.
In his post, he said: "Incredibly proud that the auction for my 644 boots raised £125,000 for an amazing cause - improving physical & mental health of children fighting disease. Thank you @adidasfootball & @christiesinc for making it happen.".
The auction was originally made on April, being announced on February 26th, and its efforts to raise money certainly became a reality. I hope you liked this entry, and as always, I'll see you in the next blog.
Bruno Biancucchi was born on November 23rd, 1996. He was the 3rd of three sons from Marcela Cuccittini and Claudio Biancucchi and is Lionel Messi's cousin since Marcela is Celia Cuccittini's sister. At that time, Messi was playing at Newell's and scored 36 goals in 27 games that year (as well as first meeting Antonella).
He rose to popularity in March of 2006 after El Mundo made an article of him, calling him Messi's successor (when Messi was only 18). Bruno was playing at Renato Cesarini at the time. Pedro Pécora, a mechanic from his neighborhood, said that Bruno had an even bigger potential than Messi's. His parents were also very optimistic about his future career. Infobae also took notice of this, as well as other news sources at the time.
Currently, he's playing at Newell's Old Boys, the club he's a fan of. He also sympathizes with Boca Juniors. He has a Twitter account, an Instagram account, and a Facebook account.
Although he didn't fulfill the potential some gave him, he's still passionate about football and he's only 24 years old, so there's still a future to his career. That is all for today, so I hope you liked this entry and I'll see you in the next blog.
Yesterday, Barcelona somehow tied 3-3 with Levante away. A great volley goal by Messi and then a goal from Pedri pre-assisted by Messi gave Barcelona the lead, but Levante came back with goals from Melero and Morales. Dembélé scored to give Barcelona hopes of winning the game, but León ultimately scored the equalizer.
Messi's stats were: 1 goal, 1 pre-assist, 2 big chances created, 1 SoT (6 in total), 0.35 xG, 3 key passes, 5 SCA, 1 GCA, 0.45 xA, 3 dribbles, 6 duels won out of 10, 3 fouls won, 17 pressures (5 successful), 2 long balls, 2 crosses, 37 passes and 67 touches, which gave him a great 9.36 rating according to Infogol.
This was his performance on video:
Here are some fun facts after the game:
Messi has scored and/or assisted in his last 13 games against Levante.
Messi is now tied with Esnaola in 8th place for the most minutes played in La Liga (42060)
Barcelona is now 2 points away from Real Madrid and 4 points away from Atlético Madrid with 2 games left. They're also only 2 points ahead of Sevilla FiveThirtyEight says that Barcelona only has a 2% chance of winning the title, though at least they have a 35% chance of finishing 2nd. As stated before, Messi has the Pichichi sealed with 29 goals, way ahead of his competition.
Barcelona's next games are against Celta Vigo (home) and Eibar (away). Hopefully Barça can win both games and Messi makes a masterclass in those two games as well. But until then, I'll see you in the next blog.
Yesterday, Messi announced on Instagram that he would give away 5 signed shirts from him in the 2020/21 Barcelona home kit. This is done to celebrate the launch of the official FC Barcelona memorabilia collection. To participate, all you need to do is to tag a friend in the comments and follow the account @icons_memorabilia.
What Messi said in the original Instagram post was "Hello everyone! To celebrate the launch of the official @fcbarcelona memorabilia collection, I’m giving away five signed and framed FC Barcelona shirts here on Instagram with my official and exclusive memorabilia partner, Icons.com. All you need to do is tag a friend in the comments and follow @icons_memorabilia. The winners will be announced next week. Good luck!!".
The post has gained quite some traction, gaining millions of likes and thousands of comments as well, so it's definitely a successful giveaway. I hoped you liked this entry, and as always, I'll see you in the next blog.
Although he hasn't scored a perfect hat-trick in his professional career, there was a game back in the 2003/04 season where he did, playing for Barcelona C in the Tercera División. So without further ado, let's look at the perfect hat-trick.
It was January 4th, 2004. His first game of the new year would be against Gramenet B away. Both were in the relegation zone, so it was an important game to get out of trouble. Barcelona C had never been relegated from Tercera División since they got promoted in 1977, which was another factor.
Pedro gave Gramenet B the lead 19 minutes in, but Messi equalized with a header after a great cross from one of his team-mates. In the second half, Rúa gave Gramenet B the lead, but after Alberto got a red card, Messi came to save the day with a great strike with his left foot at the 89-minute mark, and on added time, he shot the ball with his right foot which went past the goalkeeper and a defender, making it 3-2 for Barcelona C. He received an ovation from the crowd according to Mundo Deportivo. This is the video detailing all 3 goals:
The following day, J. M. Roca, writer of Mundo Deportivo, gave Messi a 4/5, making him the MoTM, and he also called him a great player (a 'crack').
Barcelona C ended up in 9th place with 51 points, 9 away from relegation, while Gramenet B ended in last place with only 25 points, so his performance was significant. I hoped you liked this entry, and as always, I'll see you in the next blog.
Yesterday, Barcelona tied 0-0 with Atlético Madrid at Camp Nou, the first 0-0 tie Barça has had since Sevilla away in the 2019/20 season. He also met Suárez once again, for the first time since he left Barcelona. The highlight was a great run from Messi where he shot a ball that was saved by Oblak, which ruined what could have been a wonderful goal. Messi's stats were: 2 SoT (3 shots in total), 0.2 xG, 3 key passes, 10 SCA, 0.54 xA, 5 dribbles, 1 nutmeg, 16 duels won out of 21, 9 fouls won, 2 tackles, 11 pressures (5 successful), 5 ball recoveries, 2 long balls, 3 crosses, 49 passes, and 88 touches. A great performance that earned him an 8.23 rating from WhoScored.
This was his performance on video:
Here are some fun facts after the game:
Messi surpassed Raúl García and is now in 7th place for the most games played in La Liga (518).
Messi surpassed Molina and is now in 18th place for the most games completed in La Liga (409).
Messi still leads with what now seems an absolute lead in the Pichichi, being en route for a historic 8th. He's still the best player by far in the league as well, according to all the algorithms.
There's not much to detail other than it was a crucial game to win, a draw gives Real Madrid the chance to rise from 3rd to 1st in the league. There are only 3 games left in the league, all of which seem relatively simple (Levante away, Celta at home, and Eibar away). Hopefully, those games can be won, though there's also the need for Atlético and Real Madrid to drop points since Barça are no longer dependent on themselves. I hope you liked this entry, and as always, I'll see you in the next blog.
After getting some games in the senior team at Barcelona in the 2004/05 season, and even scoring his first goal in the league, Messi was called up for the U-20 World Cup, having previously qualified via the U-20 Sudamericano, where Messi was Argentina's top scorer.
His first game was against the USA, who had Freddy Adu, a young promise only 16 years old. He was subbed in at half-time as Argentina was losing 1-0, but he unfortunately couldn't turn the game around and they lost the game 1-0 at full time.
His second game was against Egypt, who was the runner-up to the African Youth Championship. He made a great run in the beginning but it unfortunately hit the crossbar. Early on in the second half, he received a good pass from Barroso that Messi converted easily. He later received a dangerous foul (high foot hit his shoulder). He then made another good run to the box but the keeper saved his shot. He was subbed off for Biglia 83 minutes in, and Zabaleta scored in the last minute to consolidated Argentina's win 2-0.
His last game in the group stage was against Germany. He was through on goal at the 43rd minute, but he instead passed it to Cardozo, who converted the chance. Not much changed in the second half, so after Messi was subbed off for Biglia at the 82nd minute, Argentina ended up winning the game 1-0 and went to the R16 as 2nd in their group (behind the USA).
Entering the knockout stages, Messi faced Colombia, the recent Sudamericano U-20 champion, as his first challenge. In the beginning, he made a good pass to Agüero but he couldn't convert the chance. In the second half, Otálvaro gave Colombia the lead at the 52nd minute, but Messi reacted shortly after, making a quick chest control with the ball and making a run to the box, passing the ball to Cardozo who rapidly gave him the ball back, and shot it straight to the near post which easily found the net. He later had a good chance with an unmarked shot to goal but it went to the keeper's hands and he saved the shot. In the last minute of the game, Barroso scored the winner to send Argentina to the quarter-finals.
Their opponent in the quarter-finals was Spain, the champion of the 2004 U-19 Euro. He scored early on with a good free-kick but it was annulled due to a passive offside from one of his teammates. Then, a header from him came close to goal, but it couldn't find the net. Zabaleta scored Argentina's 1st goal afterward, but Zapater equalized for Spain. Once again, Messi had a good chance to score after making a run to the box and receiving a good pass, but his lob shot went just wide.
In the second half, he made a delightful trough-ball to Oberman, who chipped the goalkeeper and gave Argentina the lead once again. And only 2 minutes later, he intercepted a pass, and after some good ball control, got rid of his 2 markers and did a great shot to the far post, finding the net. It was an amazing goal, and certainly one of his best in 2005. There was not much else to detail in the game, so Argentina went through to the semi-finals with a 3-1 win.
Their semi-final matchup was their main rival, Brazil. Messi scored early on a great goal to give Argentina the lead. He then pre-assisted Cardozo's goal, but he was offside so it was canceled. In the second half, Renato equalized the game at the 75th minute, but in the dying minutes of the game, he made a good run to the box and made a cross, which his target couldn't convert but Zabaleta did in the rebound to send Argentina to the final.
In the final, Messi faced Nigeria, the African Youth Championship champion, another tough rival. He made some good runs in the first half, but not much to detail until he won a penalty due to a foul from Adeleye. He converted the penalty and celebrated by revealing his shirt, which translated to "For Mari-Bruno-Tomi-Agus", which was his sister, brother, and nephews, in order. The second half would be more of the same, as he made some good runs but his highlight was converting yet another penalty. He almost scored from a very tight angle after going past the keeper, but it was saved on the line. Not much else happened for the rest of the game, so Argentina won the final 2-1 with two crucial penalties converted by Messi.
As we can see, Messi made an amazing performance in this tournament, which rightfully won him the Golden Ball as well as the Golden Boot, winning the tournament as well. He scored 6 goals and made 2 assists for a total 8 G/A (1.26 per 90). I hope you liked this entry, and as always, I'll see you in the next blog.
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