La Liga
MESSI CONTEMPLATES BARCA EXIT
Lionel Messi still wishes to leave Barcelona after meeting new coach Ronald Koeman, according to reports in the Spanish media on Friday (Aug 21), as all four sports newspapers dedicated their front covers to the Argentine’s uncertain future.
Marca, Spain’s biggest selling daily, said the Argentine told Koeman that he was more likely to leave the club than to stay, while AS declared on its cover “Messi sees himself leaving”.
Barcelona-based daily Mundo Deportivo said Messi “does not see his future clearly”, but stressed that the captain has little hope of leaving the club immediately due to his €700 million (S$1.1 billion) release clause.
Messi, who joined Barca aged 13, has scored a record 634 goals for the Catalans in 730 matches and is also the club’s most decorated player with 33 trophies.
He is 37 games away from matching Xavi Hernandez as the club’s all-time appearance maker.
But the 33-year-old is into the final year of his contract at the club and doubts about his future have grown since last week’s historic 8-2 thrashing to Bayern Munich to exit the Champions League, which Barca have failed to win since 2015.
Sport, also based in Barcelona, talked of a “first summit meeting” between the captain and coach, adding that Messi interrupted his holidays in order to meet with Koeman.
The Dutch coach said in his presentation on Wednesday that he wanted Messi to stay, although he did not show as much reverence to the player as some of his predecessors.
Koeman said he “did not know if he needed to convince Messi to stay” although he did call the Argentine the best player in the world and said he would be happy if he chose to remain at Barca.
With his contract running out next June, the six-time World Player of the Year is free to negotiate with other clubs from next January.
Yet even without a transfer fee, Messi’s colossal salary, reported to be the highest in world football, means very few clubs would be able to afford him.
A study by French newspaper L’Equipe earlier this year said Messi earns €8.2 million per month from Barca, way more than Juventus forward Cristiano Ronaldo and Paris St Germain striker Neymar, who earn €4.5 million and €3 million respectively.
-Reuters
It was mission accomplished, said Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti after his side fought back from two-goals behind to snatch a rip-roaring 4-4 draw on Tuesday for a 5-4 aggregate win that put them through to the Copa del Rey final.
Ancelotti brushed off questions about a sub-par performance by his side and praised his players’ effort in what he considered a highly entertaining encounter.
“We have achieved our goal today which was to reach the final and there is not much time to think about it,” Ancelotti told a press conference.
“It was an entertaining game with some mistakes and a lot of good things. It was fun and we are in the final.
“I never saw ourselves out of it because anything can happen at the Bernabeu. When we have to come from behind, we never give up. We never give up, especially at home, with the fans by our side.”
Ancelotti said David Alaba was not to blame after he deflected two balls into his own goal, calling it “bad luck” by the Austrian defender, but urged his defence to play with better focus moving forward.
“It’s not good to concede four goals in a game,” Ancelotti said.
“Right now we are a team that has a lot of effectiveness up-front, but little balance.
“However, we can’t ignore what we did in attack, scoring four goals against Real is not that easy. I think we are doing quite well.”
Real Madrid, who have won the Spanish Cup only once in over a decade, will play either Barcelona or Atletico Madrid in a mouth-watering final in Seville next month.
Atletico fought back to hold Barca to a thrilling 4-4 draw ahead of Wednesday’s second-leg in Madrid.
-Reuters
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Real Madrid’s legendary coach Carlo Ancelotti will go on trial next week for allegedly failing to declare income to Spain’s tax office, the Madrid court which will hear the case has said.
Prosecutors are seeking a jail term of four years and nine months for the 65-year-old Italian, accusing him of having cost Spain’s treasury more than one million euros ($1.1 million) in undeclared earnings from image rights in 2014 and 2015.
The trial will begin on Wednesday and it is expected to last two days, a spokesman for the court said.
Ancelotti, who as a coach has won a record five Champions League trophies including three with Real, must be present for the hearings, he added.
Prosecutors accuse him of only declaring in his tax returns the personal remuneration received from Real Madrid during those two years even though he himself declared himself to be a tax resident in Spain and indicated his home was in Madrid.
They accuse Ancelotti of allegedly setting up a “confusing” and “complex” system of shell companies to hide his extra earnings from his image rights as well as from other sources such as real estate.
A Spanish court in 2023 ordered Ancelotti to stand trial over the affair, but did not set a date.
Ancelotti dismissed the affair last year as “an old story that I hope will be resolved soon” when he was asked about the case.
He took over at Real Madrid in 2013, leaving in May 2015, before being appointed at Bayern Munich the following year.
The former Italy international midfielder, who as a player won the European Cup twice with AC Milan, later managed Napoli and Everton before returning to Real Madrid in 2021.
Aside from his success in the Champions League he has won domestic league titles with Madrid and Milan, in England with Chelsea, in Germany with Bayern Munich and in France with Paris Saint-Germain.
-AFP
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Spain’s former soccer chief Luis Rubiales told Reuters on Thursday he would appeal a court ruling which found him guilty of sexual assault for kissing player Jenni Hermoso without her consent.-
-Reuters
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