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      Some people are on the plinth … an XI of football statues – in pictures

      news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · 7 days ago - 20:30


    Following the emergence of Harry Kane’s statue which has been kept in storage for years, we take a look at others who have been honoured – with mixed results

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      Brazil’s Gabriel Magalhães pulls out of squad for England and Spain games

      news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · Monday, 18 March - 20:25

    • Arsenal defender will hope to return for Manchester City clash
    • Griezmann’s record run of 84 straight France games to end

    The Arsenal centre-back Gabriel Magalhães will miss Brazil’s friendlies against England on Saturday and Spain next week because of injury, with Juventus’s Bremer named as his replacement.

    Brazil’s coach, Dorival Júnior, gave no details on the injury when announcing the news, but Arsenal will be desperate for Gabriel to be fit for their Premier League trip to Manchester City on 31 March. Dorival said: “Today we had another casualty. Unfortunately, Gabriel Magalhães is uncalled. In his place, we’re calling up Bremer, from Juventus.”

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      ‘It’s a luxury to have him’: how Messi is building on Beckham’s legacy

      news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · Thursday, 29 February - 10:00

    Inter Miami’s trip to LA represented a passing of the torch from the MLS’s old glamor franchise to its new one

    The atmosphere surrounding Lionel Messi’s most recent match at the Dignity Health Sports Park featured the kind of energy, anticipation and hype that permeated the place when an England international called it home.

    David Beckham, that international, propelled Major League Soccer into global significance during his 5 1/2 seasons with the Los Angeles Galaxy. Messi – who became the first MLS player to win the FIFA Ballon d’Or last year as a member of Inter Miami – now becomes the league’s focal point to expand that influence in his first full season.

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      Outcry in China and Hong Kong after Lionel Messi returns from injury in time for Japan match

      news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · Thursday, 8 February - 05:26

    Hong Kong fans need answers over missed fixture, government says, amid online furore over Inter Miami tour

    Chinese state media, Hong Kong politicians and fans have cried foul after Lionel Messi played in a match in Japan, just days after he stayed on the bench in a highly anticipated match in Hong Kong.

    Many in Hong Kong were dismayed on Sunday when the 36-year-old Argentinian player did not come on to the field during a much-hyped Inter Miami fixture to a sell-out crowd with fans demanding answers and a refund.

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      Boos, thrashings and injuries: how Inter Miami’s world tour turned into a circus

      news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · Tuesday, 6 February - 10:00

    MLS’s glamor franchise embarked on a preseason tour around the globe. It has devolved into a series of defeats, disappointments and disgruntled fans

    Inter Miami were not far into their 23,000-mile, three-week preseason globetrotting tour when they started to hit bumps in the road. The star-studded roadshow featuring headliner Lionel Messi and his newest support act, Luis Suárez, was supposed to take the world by storm, from El Salvador to Saudi Arabia to Hong Kong, but the exercise has backfired. Several defeats and no-shows from the stars left spectators disgruntled, reputations diminished, and the team, as well as fans back home, unsure of how much they will get from their ageing legends once the MLS season starts.

    As the tour reaches its last leg in Japan against Vissel Kobe on Wednesday, before returning to Miami for a game against Newells Old Boys, it will have witnessed boos for David Beckham , a Cristiano Ronaldo dropout , a 6-0 defeat and an almost surreal statement from the Hong Kong government expressing its “deep disappointment” at Messi’s absence.

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      Hong Kong officials ‘owed explanation’ as Inter Miami rest injured Lionel Messi

      news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · Sunday, 4 February - 15:30

    • World Cup winner nursing hamstring strain on pre-season tour
    • Government ‘extremely disappointed’ as fans boo MLS club

    Hong Kong’s government have spoken of their ‘extreme disappointment’ after an injured Lionel Messi failed to appear in a sold-out game on Inter Miami’s pre-season tour. The MLS side beat a Hong Kong XI 4-1.

    The Argentinian has a hamstring strain and did not play as fans, who snapped up more than 38,000 tickets within an hour of them going on sale in December, could be heard booing in the late stages of the game and at the final whistle.

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      Pour Lionel Messi, Karim Benzema mérite le Ballon d'Or

      news.movim.eu / HuffingtonPost · Tuesday, 31 May, 2022 - 06:19 · 2 minutes

    Pour Messi, Benzema mérite le Ballon d'Or (Messi et son Ballon d'Or en décembre 2021. Par Tnani Badreddine/DeFodi Images via Getty Images) Pour Messi, Benzema mérite le Ballon d'Or (Messi et son Ballon d'Or en décembre 2021. Par Tnani Badreddine/DeFodi Images via Getty Images)

    FOOTBALL - L’Argentin Lionel Messi “n’a pas de doute” sur le fait que Karim Benzema, l’attaquant français du Real Madrid , mérite le Ballon d’Or cette année, a-t-il déclaré lundi 30 mai dans une interview avec le média Tyc Sports.

    “Il est très clair que Benzema a fait une année spectaculaire et qu’il l’a terminée de manière grandiose” en remportant la Ligue des Champions”, samedi au Stade de France, estime Messi, sept fois Ballon d’Or sous les couleurs du FC Barcelone .

    Benzema “a été fondamental à partir des huitièmes (de finale de la C1) en se montrant décisif dans tous les matches. Cette année, il n’y a pas de doute pour moi”, ajoute le joueur du Paris Saint-Germain dans cette interview.

    Changement de vie difficile pour Messi à Paris

    L’Argentin s’est exprimé à quelques jours de la “Finalissima” qui va opposer mercredi à Wembley l’Argentine, victorieuse de la dernière Copa America, à l’Italie, championne d’Europe l’été dernier mais non qualifiée pour le prochain Mondial au Qatar. “Elle n’a pas eu de chance”, selon lui.

    Pour Messi, “c’est une folie que l’Italie ait remporté l’Euro et ne puisse pas participer au Mondial ”. C’est “l’une des plus grandes équipes de l’histoire de la Coupe du monde” et elle aurait “fait partie des favorites pour le Mondial qatari, personne n’aurait voulu la croiser”, ajoute-t-il.

    Interrogé sur son adaptation au Paris SG et au football français, Messi évoque dans cette interview “un changement difficile” et confie que ses fils “sont rentrés en pleurant” de leur première journée dans leur école à Paris. Puis ils se sont adaptés car “ce sont des phénomènes”, ajoute-t-il.

    Des “séquelles” du Covid “dans les poumons”

    Touché cet hiver par le Covid-19 , Messi se dit convaincu qu’il lui reste “des séquelles dans les poumons”. Il a aussi très mal vécu l’élimination de la C1 par le Real Madrid, qui lui a mis “un grand coup”.

    Enfin, pour qualifier le niveau de l’équipe de France de son coéquipier Kylian Mbappé, Messi utilise le terme “impressionnant” mais estime que c’est plus facile pour les équipes européennes de se qualifier pour un Mondial que pour les équipes sud-américaines.

    Le Ballon d’Or sera remis le 17 octobre prochain, à la suite d’un vote des journalistes dans les cent premiers pays du classement Fifa, selon l’une des modifications apportées au scrutin. Et seules les performances de la saison 2021/22 seront prises en compte.

    À voir également sur Le HuffPost: “On a évité des morts”, Gérald Darmanin félicite la gestion de Didier Lallement