La Liga
MESSI CUTS HOLIDAY SHORT TO MEET NEW BOSS, ROLAND KOEMAN
Lionel Messi has dramatically cut short his holiday in order to hold urgent talks with new Barcelona boss Ronald Koeman about his plans to rebuild the crisis-stricken club.
Messi’s future at the Nou Camp is far from certain after Barcelona were ruthlessly thrashed 8-2 by Bayern Munich in the Champions League last week, prompting the departure of Koeman’s predecessor Quique Setien and sporting director Eric Abidal.
And according to Mundo Deportivo, Messi is returning from his family holiday in the La Cerdanya area of the Pyrenees to hear Koeman’s plans for himself.Barca boss Ronald Koeman doesn’t feel obliged to persuade Lionel Messi to stay at the club
Upon his unveiling as Barcelona manager, Koeman admitted he could have to convince Messi that his future remains with the club where has spent his entire career so far.
‘I don’t know if I have to convince Messi [to stay],’ he said. ‘He is the best player in the world, and you always want to have him in your team.
‘On my part, as a coach, I love working with Messi because he wins games. If he performs, I’ll be happy if he wants to stay.
‘Starting today, I’ll talk to him. We are going to work and talk with several players. In the case of Messi, hopefully he will continue here for more years.
‘If I say here what I am going to say, it would not be necessary for me to meet with him. I am the coach in order to make decisions.
‘Once again, he has a year left on his contract. He is the important player you want in your team as a coach.
It remains to be seen whether Messi can be convinced by Koeman’s plans for Barcelona
While Koeman clearly sees Messi as an integral part of Barcelona’s future, there are other mainstays of the current squad who are likely to be told to find a new team.
Antoine Griezmann, Luis Suarez, Ivan Rakitic and Jordi Alba are all expected to be moved on by Koeman as he plots a dramatic overhaul after inheriting the ruins of one of the most emphatic defeats in the club’s fabled history.
Suarez has been linked with a return to Ajax but it is believed he wants to stay and fight for his place in Spain.
In terms of arrivals, Ajax midfielder Donny van de Beek – a player Koeman knows well from his time as Holland manager – has been linked with a switch to the Nou Camp in the summer transfer window.
Reports in Holland on Thursday have also said Koeman is paying attention to Georginio Wijnaldum’s situation at Liverpool.
The 29-year-old midfielder, who also played under Koeman for Holland, has a year to go on his Anfield deal and Dutch outlet AD claim the Barcelona boss has told Wijnaldum not to sign a new contract as he lines up a move.
The new Barcelona boss has been linked with a move for Liverpool man Georginio Wijnaldum
But for Barcelona supporters, it is the future of Messi that will be considered key. He has cut a frustrated figure for a while now at the Nou Camp, long before Bayern ripped Barca to shreds.
He hit out at ex-boss Setien and the direction he felt the club were drifting in when they surrendered their LaLiga title to fierce rivals Real Madrid this season with a 2-1 defeat at home to Osasuna.
‘This game represents the entire year. We have been an erratic and weak team,’ Messi said in the TV interview, just after the final whistle sounded at an empty Nou Camp.
‘Madrid did its part by winning all its matches, which is impressive, but we also helped them to win this league. We have to be critical of how we have played, starting with the players, and the rest of the club.
‘We have lost because of our mistakes and not because of Madrid’s successes, as many say.
The feeling on this team is that it tries, but that it cannot get the job done. Today in the first half they were better than we were and it seems we have to fall behind to react like we tried to do in the second half.’ Messi then underlined the importance of Barcelona winning the Champions League and avenging the demons from dramatic defeats in previous seasons ahead of their last-16 tie against Napoli.
Roma, Liverpool… the fans are running out of patience because we’re not giving them anything. If we want to fight for the Champions League, a lot has to change. Like this, we will lose to Napoli,’ he said.
As it was, they overcame Napoli but Bayern Munich ruthlessly showed just how much work Koeman has on his hands to restore Barcelona to their former glories.
A Spanish court on Wednesday handed Brazil coach Carlo Ancelotti a one-year prison sentence for failing to pay tax on his image rights revenues in 2014 when the Italian was Real Madrid manager, according to a statement.
Ancelotti, who managed Real Madrid from 2013 to 2015 and between 2021 and 2025, was cleared of a similar charge in 2015, as the court could not prove he had stayed long enough in Spain to incur tax liabilities, the court added. He moved to London after Real Madrid sacked him in May 2015.
Under Spanish law, any sentence under two years for a non-violent crime rarely requires a defendant without previous convictions to serve jail time.
The 66-year-old former Bayern Munich, AC Milan and Chelsea manager is the latest of several soccer celebrities to be investigated and convicted by the Spanish tax authority for alleged tax fraud.
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Raphinha knew there was no reason to panic as Barcelona struggled to break down Espanyol on Thursday and said it was only a matter of time before the “golden feet” of Lamine Yamal steered them to a title-winning victory with a glorious goal.
Yamal, 17, took the ball on the right touchline and made a superb lateral run across the edge of the box before unleashing a curling strike between two defenders and into the top corner to break the deadlock early in the second half.
The stunning strike set Barca on course for a 2-0 win that secured the LaLiga title, with Real Madrid seven points back with only two games left to play.
“We didn’t have many clear chances but we have a kid in there who sometimes pulls something out of the golden feet he has and he gave us peace of mind to stay in the game more calmly,” Raphinha said.
“In January some people were saying we would fight to be third. We have confidence in ourselves. That’s the key. We trust in the work and in what we know we can do.”
Raphinha has scored 18 league goals this season, including a brace in Saturday’s crucial 4-3 win over Real Madrid, and was quick to credit the trust shown in him by coach Hansi Flick.
The Brazilian tripled his goal tally from last season and also has the third-highest number of assists in the competition with nine, three less than leader Yamal.
“The most important thing was the confidence of the coach. Knowing at the start of the season that he was counting on me, a person who controls the team … it changes you in the end,” he said.
-Reuters
Former Spain midfielder Xabi Alonso is set to become the next Real Madrid manager on a three-year deal when he leaves Bayer Leverkusen after this season, Spanish media reported on Monday.
Alonso, 43, is expected to replace current Real boss Carlo Ancelotti, who is being lined up for the vacant Brazil job ahead of the 2026 World Cup, soccer sources told Reuters.
Despite the Italian having a year remaining on his contract, Real’s underwhelming season and his desire to coach Brazil have led to a mutual agreement to part ways, the sources added.
Alonso, who said earlier this month that he was leaving Leverkusen after guiding them to the double last term, will join Real before the inaugural Club World Cup in the United States from June 14 to July 14, multiple media reports said.
Alonso, who also played for Liverpool and Bayern Munich, last season steered Leverkusen to their first Bundesliga title, ending the Bavarians’ 11-year domination, and they also won the German Cup and German Super Cup.
Reports of Ancelotti’s likely departure come as no surprise after Real’s 4-3 defeat at Barcelona in a thrilling ‘El Clasico’ on Sunday left his side on the brink of a trophyless season.
The 65-year-old Italian, who returned for a second stint at Real in June 2021, led the Spanish giants to two Champions League and LaLiga doubles, the latest of which came last season.
He is the most successful manager in the club’s history with a total of 15 trophies and the first coach to claim titles in Europe’s top five leagues.
However, this season Real were knocked out of the Champions League in the quarter-finals by Arsenal and allowed Barca to fight back and win 3-2 in the Copa del Rey final.
Second-placed Real are seven points adrift of Barcelona, who could secure the league title on Wednesday without kicking a ball if Real fail to win at home to Mallorca.
Regardless of Real’s result, a Barca victory in the city derby away to Espanyol on Thursday would clinch the title.
An official announcement regarding a managerial change is expected before Real’s last game of the season at home to Real Sociedad on May 25.
-Reuters
Schmuelgen/File Photo
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