by tyler | May 15, 2023 | CNN, football
French soccer team Toulouse did not select several players for its Ligue 1 game against Nantes on Sunday after they refused to participate in a league wide anti-homophobia campaign.
“Some players of the professional squad have expressed their disagreement regarding the association of their image with the rainbow colors representing the LGBT movement,” Toulouse FC said in a statement Sunday.
“Although respecting the individual choices of its players, and after numerous exchanges, the Toulouse Football Club has chosen to exclude these players from the game,” the Ligue 1 club added.
French teams playing in the country’s top two divisions were asked to don rainbow-colored numbers and hold banners as a way of raising attention for this coming Wednesday’s International Day against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia.
Toulouse FC did not name the players they had excluded but Moroccan international Zakaria Aboukhlal confirmed on social media that he “made the decision not to take part in today’s [Sunday’s] game.”
“First and foremost, I want to emphasise that I hold the highest regard for every individual regardless of their personal preferences, gender, religion or background. This is a principle that cannot be emphasised enough,” Aboukhlal said.
“Respect is a value that I hold in great esteem. It extends to others, but it also encompasses respect for my own personal beliefs. Hence, I don’t believe I am the most suitable person to participate in this campaign.”
Egyptian international Mostafa Mohamed also posted on social media Sunday explaining his reasons for not participating in the campaign and playing for Nantes against Toulouse.
“I don’t want to argue at all but I have to state my position,” Mohamed tweeted.
“I respect all differences. I respect all beliefs and convictions. This respect extends to others but also includes respect for my personal beliefs.
“Given my roots, my culture, the importance of my convictions and beliefs, it was not possible for me to participate in this campaign. I hope that my decision will be respected, as well as my wish not to argue about this and that everyone is treated with respect.”
Toulouse drew 0-0 with Nantes Sunday and currently sits 13th in the league.
by tyler | May 15, 2023 | CNN, football
Barcelona’s ascent back to the top of Spanish football has been faster than anyone – even the most optimistic of ‘Culés’ – could have imagined.
With a 4-2 away victory at city rival Espanyol on Sunday, Barcelona secured the team’s first La Liga title in four years after a turbulent period for the club both on and off the pitch.
Celebrations at the RCDE Stadium were cut short, however, as some Espanyol fans rushed onto the pitch to confront the Barcelona players as they were enjoying the festivities.
But the chaotic end to the night will do nothing to dampen Barcelona’s joy and such has been the Blaugrana’s dominance this season, Xavi’s side clinched the trophy with four games still remaining and his iteration will undoubtedly go down as one of the greatest defensive teams in La Liga history.
The record for the fewest number of goals conceded by a team in a single 38-game season is 18, held jointly by Deportivo La Coruña (1993-94) and Atlético Madrid (2015-16).
With only 13 goals conceded so far this season, Xavi’s Barcelona is set to obliterate that record.
After the pain of Lionel Messi’s departure, financial turmoil and now the looming ‘Caso Negreira’ scandal, this title will no doubt taste all the sweeter.
“Not only for me, but for the club and for all Barcelona fans it’s very important to win La Liga,” Barça striker Robert Lewandowski told CNN Sport ahead of the match against Espanyol.
“We know that we’re going to do it and then we can, I hope, celebrate with the fans because it will be something amazing, something huge. It’s been a few years since Barcelona has won this title, so we’ve done well.
“We won so many games that were very tough. I think the first round [of fixtures] was very important, we proved that we can think about winning La Liga.
“We know that it’s a process, we do things step-by-step and this kind of title can help us and the team a lot.”
But just how has Barça gone from European laughing stock to the king of Spain?
‘Defensive’ isn’t necessarily a word fans would associate with Barcelona, with much of the club’s recent history defined by attacking play based on intricate passing patterns – and whatever magic Messi could conjure up.
However, solidity in the backline has provided the bedrock for Xavi’s success since his return to the club in November 2021.
Success of any kind looked a long way off at the time, as Pep Guardiola’s protégé inherited an aging squad with no identity that had fallen well behind Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid the previous season, while also later dropping into the Europa League for the first time since 2003-04.
The pressure was certainly on, too, as fans had been clamoring for Xavi’s return long before he arrived in the dugout and there was a sense that he had been anointed as the club’s savior.
“He’s done very well because he has adapted to the current situation,” Catalunya Radio journalist Ernest Macià tells CNN Sport. “Xavi’s Barça was not Guardiola’s Barça or Luis Enrique’s Barça, so Xavi knew that he could not play the same style of football, offensive football as he would have preferred.
“Instead, he has chosen a more defensive approach to secure a solid defense and controlling the games from the midfield.
“I think that Xavi has, let’s put it this way, betrayed that traditional DNA of FC Barcelona because he knew that this team was not prepared to play like Manchester City because their young talents were still too young.”
With that inexperience added to Barcelona’s lack of physicality in midfield, which the club only partially addressed with its signings, Lewandowski’s goals drying up in the second half of the campaign and Ansu Fati’s lack of development, Macià says Xavi’s ability to fall back on the team’s defensive prowess has been crucial.
“So there’s been a problem there, but luckily Barcelona was solid in defense, which is something that we haven’t seen,” he says. “So credit to Xavi because he has got results in a club where results go at the same level with beauty and nice football.
“But even if there’s been a lot of criticism about the sadness of Xavi’s football sometimes – not always, but sometimes – results are there and fair play to Xavi because he’s done it in a very difficult environment.”
Xavi also had the added challenge of reshaping a team and squad that had so far failed to adapt to life without Messi.
Before his shock move to Paris Saint-Germain in 2021 – caused solely by Barcelona’s dire financial state – Messi had been the glue holding the Catalan club together.
Even while he was there, Messi’s consistently brilliant match-winning performances were only enough to paper over the cracks of a team that had been slowly crumbling for some time.
Xavi’s remodeling hasn’t been cheap, however, with Raphinha, Jules Koundé and Lewandowski each being signed for more than $50 million. Those transfers necessitated some complex financial juggling.
But on the pitch, Xavi has got his new-look team clicking and there has perhaps been no better coach to oversee the emergence of young stars Gavi and Pedri in midfield, two players who have been heralded by some fans as the second coming of Xavi and his former midfield partner Andres Iniesta.
Indeed, Xavi has already admitted that he believes Barcelona’s current midfield duo are better than he and Iniesta were at the same age.
In recent years, Barcelona’s financial problems have been exacerbated by the club’s decision to move away from promoting talent from its famed La Masia academy and instead opting to pay for big-money signings, with the club spending well over $1 billion on transfer fees since the 2013-14 season.
And while Macià believes Real Madrid’s surprisingly poor domestic season opened the door for Barcelona’s title challenge, the reintroduction of young talent from La Masia has been the “key” to Barça’s success.
“Pedri and Gabi are the cornerstone of the current project,” he explains. “This is why Barcelona keeps a certain level that allows them to compete against Madrid and the rest of the teams with regularity.
“Also some of the players that have been important in recent years, even if they were older like Sergio Busquets, have helped and then some of the top players from the previous time, Frenkie de Jong being one of these, and Lewandowski, who has helped Barcelona score goals in the first part of this season.
“I think that the convergence of these elements, but the fact that Barcelona has had young talent to resist these difficult times has also been an important factor for Barcelona winning the domestic league.”
Off the pitch, Barcelona’s coffers are certainly healthier than they were three years ago.
Huge deals with audio streaming service Spotify and global investment firm Sixth Street, among others, have helped the club claw its way back from the total financial disarray it found itself in following the Covid-19 pandemic.
Back in September, Barcelona said it had recorded a profit of $98 million for the 2021-22 financial year and predicted profits of $298 million for this current season.
The club also recently announced the renegotiation of the $1.6 billion financial plan to repay the debt taken on to finance the renovation of its dilapidated Camp Nou stadium, meaning Barcelona will now pay off the debt five years earlier than originally planned.
The club’s ability to once again pay big fees and big contracts to players, coupled with Messi’s impending departure from Paris Saint-Germain, have fans dreaming that the greatest player in the club’s history could return to Barcelona to finish his career.
But Macià believes the Argentine’s return could come at a cost.
“If Messi comes, there will be no room for many more signings,” he says. “If Messi doesn’t go, Barcelona will not be compelled to, for example, sell important players like De Jong or other players that can give Barcelona enough money, like Ansu Fati.
“So if Messi goes to Saudi Arabia it will be, I believe, easier. Although, of course, from a romantic perspective it would be perfect that Messi finishes his career in Barcelona and everybody will love it – and [club president] Joan Laporta is trying to do so.
“If Messi comes, yes, he will generate new incomes for the club, but it won’t be easy to rebuild a new structure. Of course, you will have to sell talent and you’ll have to trust young, young players.
“There are some players that are 15 or 16 that have already made their debut with Barcelona. They have shown good signs of quality, but I think it will depend on Messi.”
Despite the on-field success this season, Barcelona has been grappling with the ‘Caso Negreira’ scandal in the second half of the campaign.
UEFA, European football’s governing body, said in March that it had opened an investigation into alleged improper payments made by Barcelona to José María Enríquez Negreira, a former leading refereeing official in Spain.
The Catalan club was charged by the Barcelona provincial prosecutor’s office with “continued corruption between individuals in the sports field,” in addition to other charges in relation to an alleged payment scandal which has rocked Spanish football.
In March, a Barcelona source told CNN that the club strongly denied that it had at any time bribed a referee or tried to influence refereeing decisions.
While the ongoing case clearly hasn’t been a distraction on the pitch, Macià says the outcome of UEFA’s investigation could be crucial to Barcelona’s progress going into next season.
“It will depend on UEFA’s decision to allow Barcelona to play in European competitions or not,” he says.
“It’s a lot of [prize] money and some players will want to come to Barcelona because they play European competitions. If they don’t [ban Barcelona], then yes, I see a big change coming.”
After so many problems, both on and off the pitch, Macià says this title feels particularly sweet.
“Yes, it feels like heaven.”
by tyler | May 12, 2023 | CNN, football
Erling Haaland’s arrival at Manchester City last summer was met with equal measures of excitement and curiosity.
At the age of 22, the Norwegian forward had already established himself as one of the best goalscorers in European football – first at Red Bull Salzburg, then with two prolific seasons at Borussia Dortmund.
But now he was moving to a team already replete with attacking talent and a league in which big-name signings have come and gone without leaving an impression.
Would he adapt to life in the Premier League? The answer has been yes, emphatically – even to the extent that Haaland has surpassed the expectations of some of his greatest admirers during his first 10 months at Man City.
“I didn’t expect him to break the records in the first season, to be honest, but I knew that he would fit in – that the team, the coach, the environment would take him to a higher level,” Otto Addo, the former Ghana manager who mentors young players at Dortmund, tells CNN Sport.
The numbers behind Haaland’s first season defy belief. He’s scored 51 club goals in 47 games this season: 35 in the Premier League, 12 in the Champions League, three in the FA Cup and one in the League Cup.
Only Dixie Dean, who scored 63 in the 1927/28 season, has more goals in English football during a single top-flight campaign.
Haaland’s Premier League tally, which includes four hat-tricks, is a league record for a single season, breaking the previous mark held jointly by Alan Shearer and Andy Cole.
Shearer and Cole recorded their 34-goal seasons at a time when Premier League teams played 42 games, rather than the current 38; Haaland currently has four games remaining to add to his haul, including when City faces Everton on Sunday.
Forming a potent partnership with midfielder Kevin De Bruyne – perhaps the best passer of the ball in European football – Haaland has made an immediate impact at City.
But De Bruyne’s laser-like passing hasn’t been the sole reason for his success, nor the excellence of teammates Jack Grealish, Rodri, or Bernardo Silva, to name a few. Haaland, Addo observes, has modified his game to devastating effect since arriving in the Premier League, taking his pace, power, and deadly finishing to another level.
“I think he’s learned to be patient, to wait for the situation in the box and to take the right runs inside the box,” Addo says.
“Even though there were games where you didn’t see him too much on the ball, you could see that he was always ready. Even if it’s in the last minute, he’s always ready to score, always ready to make the right run in the right situation.”
Addo, a former Dortmund player and Ghanaian international, oversees the development of the Bundesliga club’s talented crop of young players. He believes Haaland became a more complete player in Germany, scoring a greater number of right-footed and headed goals, as well as improving his movement off the ball in defense and attack.
The pair have written to each other from time to time over the past year and Haaland gave gifts to some of his former coaches after Dortmund and City played each other in the Champions League earlier this season.
“As a human being, I’m happy for him,” says Addo. “He has the mindset, he has the ability to score, to run, to have the right positions, to be hungry. If he keeps this hunger, which I guess he will, then surely, he will be the best striker ever.”
Addo recalls times when Haaland would score two or three goals in a game for Dortmund, only to be angry with the coaches when he was substituted off.
“This is the mentality you wish on every player – that he’s never satisfied, that he doesn’t relax, he doesn’t feel comfortable even though he scores a lot of goals,” says Addo. “He always wants more.”
Haaland’s finishing has been at its deadliest this season when he’s inside the penalty area, according to Opta data from Stats Perform, which shows 11 of his 35 league goals coming from inside the six-yard box.
Scoring goals has always been at the heart of Haaland’s game, ever since he was a young boy playing in Bryne – a town of around 12,000 people on the southwestern tip of Norway.
At the age of 16, he moved from Bryne to Molde FK to play in the top flight of Norwegian football under the guidance of former Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer; from there, he made his name with Salzburg, Dortmund, and now Man City.
“Erling had an incredible journey in the sense that he has taken to the next level perfectly,” Alf Ingve Berntsen, who coached Haaland for eight and a half years as a youth player at Bryne, tells CNN Sport. “In a way, it’s natural for him just to keep doing what he has always done.”
Berntsen makes sure to watch all of Haaland’s games, so long as they don’t clash with the schedule of his beloved Liverpool team. He finds a certain novelty in watching the powerful forward – now six-foot-four and reportedly carrying 12 kilograms of muscle compared to 15 months ago – exhibit the same qualities as when he was a young kind.
“In practice, just like now, he scored a lot of goals. He smiled a lot and trained a lot, so in a funny way, it’s quite like now,” says Berntsen.
“If you see the matches now, many of his movements are familiar … he has quite the same playing style as before. The main thing with Erling was he scored a lot of goals and was funny and loveable guy.”
With his move to Man City, Haaland followed in the footsteps of his father, Alf Inge – a former defender and midfielder who also had stints at Nottingham Forest and Leeds. His mother, Gry Marita Braut, was a Norwegian heptathlon champion.
A figure of influence over his son’s professional career, Alf Inge even caused a stir in the stands during this week’s Champions League semifinal when he was moved to a different seat after taunting Real Madrid fans at the Bernabéu.
But when Haaland was a youth player at Bryne, it was rare to see his father on the sidelines at training sessions.
“He left Erling on his own because he could see that Erling had fun, developed, got better and better and better in a good, safe environment with friends,” says Berntsen.
“As it became clear that Erling is something special and he had to move from Bryne to Molde … Then his father became very important, of course, and he had to prepare Erling for how to meet a new job, how to be accepted in the world, how to be a professional.”
Haaland’s professionalism is a quality regularly singled out by teammates and coaches as a reason for his success.
Manchester City midfielder İlkay Gündoğan said he is the first to arrive at the training ground, while Grealish has called Haaland “the best professional I have ever seen” when it comes to diet, treatment, and recovery.
At Dortmund, Addo says that Haaland had his own personal trainer to help with physical conditioning, explaining how “even if he’s off the pitch, he does a lot on his body.”
His dedicated approach has already reaped rewards as he was named the Football Writers’ Association’s Footballer of the Year on Friday with 82% of the votes – the biggest winning margin in the Premier League era.
More goals, records, and accolades are likely to be a mainstay of Haaland’s career if he is able to stay healthy.
“He’s still young and he will improve even more,” says Addo. “He will be the best player on this planet one day. He’s very close now – maybe the best player already.”
by tyler | May 12, 2023 | CNN, football
José Mourinho, who in 2004 famously referred to himself as the ‘The Special One’ as he was introduced to the media as the new Chelsea manager, is having quite a week.
Under the 60-year-old’s watchful gaze, Italian club Roma is well placed to reach this season’s Europa League final having beaten Bayern Leverkusen 1-0 in the first leg of the semifinal on Thursday.
Even before Roma’s victory, Mourinho was also being linked with a move to one of the richest clubs in world football – Paris Saint-Germain.
Under Christophe Galtier, PSG looks set to win yet another Ligue 1 title but was dumped out of the Champions League by Bayern Munich in the round of 16, despite boasting some of the biggest stars in the sport – notably Neymar Jr., Kylian Mbappé and arguably the greatest player in history, Lionel Messi.
It’s also a club in somewhat of a crisis having recently suspended Messi for two weeks after he left France to attend promotional events in Saudi Arabia.
The club has had to condemn fans for targeting both Messi and teammate Neymar in recent weeks.
Mourinho has shown he has the personality and ability to manage top players in fractured dressing rooms, but he has been quick to brush off the speculation.
“If they called, they didn’t find me,” he quipped in a Sky Sport Italia interview on Wednesday, when asked about the PSG reports.
Prior to joining Roma, Mourinho managed Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur, but was unceremoniously sacked just before the Carabao Cup final in 2021.
Since then he’s got back to winning ways, guiding Roma to its first trophy in 14 years after victory in the Europa Conference League last season.
Mourinho’s current contract at the club runs until 2024 but, with the team seventh in Serie A, its qualification into next season’s Champions League appears to depend entirely on winning the Europa League.
If his side slips up, football journalist James Horncastle suggests Mourinho may be tempted to try win the Champions League again with PSG – a tournament he’s already won with Porto and Inter Milan.
“He sees Roma as a way to bounce back to another big job,” Horncastle said on the Football Daily podcast.
“José is someone who ultimately wants to win wherever he goes and I think he feels that at Roma, unless they start changing the strategy and start spending more money, they’re not going to be able to deliver a league title.
“He would like a project that is befitting his legacy again, which would be the chance to compete for a Champions League.”
While rumors swirl around his future, Mourinho was happy that his Roma side found a way to win the first leg of its Europa League semifinal.
His side came up against German outfit Leverkusen which is managed by one of Mourinho’s former players – Xabi Alonso.
Friendships were put aside for Thursday’s encounter at Roma’s famous Stadio Olimpico though, as Edoardo Bove’s second-half effort put the Italian side in the driver’s seat ahead of the second leg on May 18.
“It’s down to the lads,” Mourinho told reporters after the win on Thursday.
“They have this mentality, this desire and this empathy – something I often say. They have a sense of responsibility that makes them want to give absolutely everything to make the fans happy.”
by tyler | May 9, 2023 | CNN, football
Lionel Messi’s representatives have rubbished rumors that the Argentine has agreed to join a club in Saudi Arabia after his contract at Paris Saint-Germain ends on June 30.
Crediting an unnamed source, AFP reported Tuesday that Messi playing in Saudi Arabia next year was a “done deal.”
However, Messi’s team told CNN Sport that such claims were false and that the seven-time Ballon d’Or winner would not make a decision on his future until after the Ligue 1 season is over.
Later on Tuesday, Messi’s father, Jorge, released a statement on his Instagram Stories reaffirming that the 35-year-old’s future had not been decided.
“There’s absolutely no agreement with any club for next year. The decision will never be made before Lionel finishes the league with PSG,” the statement read.
“Once the season is over, it will be the time to analyze and see what’s there and then making a decision.
“There will always be rumors and a lot of people use Lionel’s name to gain notoriety but there is only one truth and we can assure that there is nothing with anyone. Not verbal, not written, not agreed and there won’t be until the season has finished.”
It comes amid growing reports of the apparent breakdown of Messi’s relationship with PSG – something highlighted by fans booing the Argentine during a match in March.
He was recently suspended by PSG for two weeks after leaving France to attend promotional events in Saudi Arabia; the unauthorized trip meant he missed a training session.
“I’d already had this trip planned, which I’d canceled previously, and this one I couldn’t cancel,” Messi, who has started training again with the team, said in an Instagram story last week.
“To repeat, I want to apologize for what I did and I await what the club decides.”
Whether he stays in Paris or looks elsewhere, Messi says he’ll keep playing as long as he’s still enjoying his career.
“Football is something that I have loved and enjoyed since I was a child,” Messi told Laureus co-host and CNN Sport anchor Amanda Davies, after being named World Sportsman of the Year at the 2023 Laureus World Sports Awards on Monday.
“I love playing it and I love everyday life. It was my whole life to be able to enjoy what I like and I’m just looking for that: to keep enjoying, to keep playing, which is what always made me happy.
“As long as that’s the case, I’ll keep doing it.”
Messi also accepted the Team of the Year award on behalf of Argentina on Monday, following the side’s epic World Cup victory last year.
After a disappointing loss against Saudi Arabia in Argentina’s opening game, Messi was in mesmerizing form throughout the rest of the tournament in Qatar and scored two goals in arguably the greatest World Cup final in history.
Despite Argentina dominating the game for large periods, France’s Kylian Mbappé inspired a comeback with the game eventually being decided by a penalty shootout.
“The truth is that we had a lot of confidence in ourselves before the World Cup,” Messi said, adding that the current national team has something “special.”
“Although it started difficult because of the first defeat, we never stopped believing, dreaming, and when we were in that final, we were very confident that we were going to win.
“In fact, we had 80 minutes being much better than France, and in 10 minutes, the game was complicated for us.
“The whole team never fell down, it responded again, and that’s because of the strength and mentality that the group had in that World Cup.”
The World Cup was the only trophy that had eluded Messi up until that point and winning it further cemented himself as arguably the greatest player in history.
“It’s a very special moment in my career, in my life, and there’s always a time to remember that moment of that World Cup which we enjoyed a lot for a month,” Messi said.
“There are always nice memories left and it’s going to be for life.”
But Messi, who had previously retired from international football in 2016 before “luckily” reversing his decision, says being regarded as the greatest ever has never been important to him personally.
“It wasn’t a thought I had throughout my career either, nor was I looking for that,” he said.
“I never played soccer for that. But obviously, I am grateful that people think that way.”
by tyler | May 9, 2023 | CNN, football
He may have won almost everything there is to win in the game, but Lionel Messi says he’ll keep playing as long as he’s still enjoying his career.
The seven-time Ballon d’Or winner spoke to Laureus co-host and CNN Sport anchor Amanda Davies after being named World Sportsman of the Year at the 2023 Laureus World Sports Awards on Monday.
It’s the second time Messi has won the award and he remains the only soccer player in history to be named Sportsman of the Year.
“Football is something that I have loved and enjoyed since I was a child,” the 35-year-old told Davies when asked what else he wants from his career.
“I love playing it and I love everyday life. It was my whole life to be able to enjoy what I like and I’m just looking for that: to keep enjoying, to keep playing, which is what always made me happy.
“As long as that’s the case, I’ll keep doing it.”
Messi also accepted the Team of the Year award on behalf of Argentina on Monday, following the side’s epic World Cup victory last year.
After a disappointing loss against Saudi Arabia in Argentina’s opening game, Messi was in mesmerizing form throughout the rest of the tournament in Qatar and scored two goals in arguably the greatest World Cup final in history.
Despite Argentina dominating the game for large periods, France’s Kylian Mbappé inspired a comeback with the game eventually being decided by a penalty shootout.
“The truth is that we had a lot of confidence in ourselves before the World Cup,” Messi said, adding that the current national team has something “special.”
“Although it started difficult because of the first defeat, we never stopped believing, dreaming, and when we were in that final, we were very confident that we were going to win.
“In fact, we had 80 minutes being much better than France, and in 10 minutes, the game was complicated for us.
“The whole team never fell down, it responded again, and that’s because of the strength and mentality that the group had in that World Cup.”
The World Cup was the only trophy that had eluded Messi up until that point and winning it further cemented himself as arguably the greatest player in history.
“It’s a very special moment in my career, in my life, and there’s always a time to remember that moment of that World Cup which we enjoyed a lot for a month,” Messi said.
“There are always nice memories left and it’s going to be for life.”
But Messi, who had previously retired from international football in 2016 before “luckily” reversing his decision, says being regarded as the greatest ever has never been important to him personally.
“It wasn’t a thought I had throughout my career either, nor was I looking for that,” he said.
“I never played soccer for that. But obviously, I am grateful that people think that way.”
Since the World Cup, Messi has struggled to find the form that inspired his country to victory and has seemingly fallen out with current club Paris Saint-Germain.
He was recently suspended by PSG for two weeks after leaving France to attend promotional events in Saudi Arabia; the unauthorized trip meant he missed a training session.
“I’d already had this trip planned, which I’d canceled previously, and this one I couldn’t cancel,” Messi, who has started training again with the team, said in an Instagram story last week.
“To repeat, I want to apologize for what I did and I await what the club decides.”
There have been growing reports of the apparent breakdown of Messi’s relationship with PSG – something highlighted by fans booing the Argentine during a match in March.
His current contract with the French capital’s premier football club expires on June 30 and there were rumors Tuesday that the Argentine had agreed to leave PSG and join a club in Saudi Arabia.
However, Messi’s representatives told CNN that such reports were false and that he would not make a decision on his future until the Ligue 1 season is over.
Wherever the Argentine superstar ends up though, it is sure that the eyes of the world will follow.
