La Liga
BARCELONA PRESIDENT’S CAR FILMED CIRCLING MESSI’S DAD FLAT
Lionel Messi transfer saga took a bizarre twist on Wednesday afternoon as Josep Bartomeu’s car was spotted circling superstar’s father Jorge’s flat in Barcelona
The scene attracted the media men most of whom made a video recording of the incidence.
The Barcelona president was however reportedly absent at the scene. Jorge Messi, who doubles as the player’s agent, flew in earlier in the morning to have a talk with the club president.
The absence of Bartomeu was given several bizarre interpretations. One interpretation on twitter had it that Bartomeu was probably in the car boot as he tried to fool media with a decoy.
Another had it that he had been left behind by mistake by an absent-minded chauffeur. Both Jorge Messi and Bartomeu were to meet for a showdown talk today. The world is still anxiously waiting for the outcome.
However, the transfer saga took another twist after Bartomeu’s car – without the Barca chief inside – rocked up at the flat on Wednesday before turning around and driving off again.
Messi’s father arrived in the Catalan city on Wednesday morning to negotiate his son’s exit with the first face-to-face talks with Bartomeu since the Argentine sent a burofax informing the club he wants to move on – with Manchester City his expected landing spot.
Bartomeu was reportedly only planning to use the meeting as a way to convince Messi to remain at the club.
The beleaguered president has a better relationship with Jorge than he does with Messi and is hopeful that could work to the club’s advantage.
But Messi’s father – before talks were set to get underway – confessed it is ‘difficult’ to see his son staying in Barcelona this summer.
As he emerged out of a taxi, a reporter quizzed Jorge for any updates on the situation and while he remained tight-lipped, he did express that he feels it is tough for Messi to stay given the player and club are at war now over his contract.
He was also asked if there had been any contact with current frontrunners City, and any negotiations with manager Pep Guardiola, but he remained dismissive.
Messi is said to be keen to move to Manchester City so as to reunite with Guardiola, who managed him so successfully at Barcelona.
‘I don’t know,’ Jorge said. ‘There’s nothing yet’.
Messi – who has scored an astonishing 634 goals and created 285 assists in 731 appearances for Barcelona – is desperately searching for a new chapter after growing increasingly frustrated with life on and off the pitch at the Nou Camp.
Messi was hoping to leave for free but LaLiga have ruled that Messi’s astronomical £630million (€700m) release clause is still active, given that the player did not issue his desire to trigger an option to depart for nothing before June 10.
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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