Van Dijk ‘proud’ to come second to Messi in Ballon d’Or

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The Ballon d'Or will not be awarded this year for the first time in its 64-year history after the COVID-19 pandemic wreaked havoc on the soccer calendar.

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Lionel Messi has written to Barcelona executives expressing his desire to leave. The Spanish club recently suffered a humiliating loss to Bayern Munich in the Champions League.

Football superstar Lionel Messi will stay at Barcelona for another season, avoiding a lengthy legal battle against the "club of his life." But he also accused the club president of going back on his word.

Wall-scaling artists have painted a mural of Lionel Messi in the Argentinian town where he was born 34 years ago. The mural covers one end of a four-story apartment building in the La Bajada neighborhood of Rosario where the star lived as a child, and faces the primary school he attended.

Barcelona, Spain - August 05, 2021 - FC Barcelona officially announced that Lionel Messi would not be returning to the club.

Barcelona players train without Lionel Messi, after the club ruefully accepted it cannot afford the star player who joined Barcelona aged 13 and went on to lift 10 league crowns and four Champions Leagues. The team will face Juventus on Sunday for the Gamper Trophy pre-season game.

Lionel Messi says he is "extremely happy" after signing a two-year contract with Paris Saint-Germain, as he speaks during a press conference for his official presentation at Parc des Princes.

Lionel Messi says he is "dreaming" of winning a fifth Champions League after signing a two-year contract with Paris Saint-Germain. Hundreds of fans gather outside the Parc des Princes with supporters queueing near the club shop on the Champs Elyseees to buy Messi shirts.

"I'm really happy that he joined the club (...) he's really humble as a person and also on the pitch, he tries to help the team and tries to help you as a player," says PSG midfielder Georginio Wijnaldum about Lionel Messi. The Argentian star could make his hotly anticipated debut for Paris Saint-Germain against Reims in Champagne on Sunday.

Argentina's Lionel Messi won the Ballon d'Or award for the best player in the world for a record-stretching seventh time on Monday (November 29), beating Robert Lewandowski and Jorginho to lift soccer's most prestigious trophy yet again. The forward added to his 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015 and 2019 trophies after winning the Copa America for the first time with his country last July. Messi, who joined Paris St Germain on a free transfer from Barcelona during the close season after finishing as La Liga's top scorer with the Spanish club, collected 613 points, with Bayern Munich's Lewandowski, named best striker on Monday, getting 580.