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.
Real Madrid forward Vinicius Jr scored a hat-trick to help the LaLiga champions snap a two-game winless run in all competitions with a commanding 4-0 victory over Osasuna on Saturday.
The Brazilian forward opened the scoring in the 34th minute after taking a Jude Bellingham pass in his stride to beat the offside trap and firing an unstoppable strike past goalkeeper Sergio Herrera.
Bellingham recovered his scoring instinct by netting his first goal of the season with a brilliant finish eight minutes later, lobbing the ball over the goalkeeper to extend Real’s lead.
Vinicius wrapped up the home side’s win with strikes in the 61st and 69th minutes, helping second-placed Real climb to 27 points, six behind leaders Barcelona. Osasuna are fifth on 21 points.
-Reuters
Super Eagles striker Kelechi Iheanacho has expressed delight after opening his goal-scoring account for Sevilla.
The Nigerian striker, Iheanacho, bagged a brace for the club in a dominant second-half display as Sevilla cruised to a 3-0 victory over Las Rozas in their Copa del Rey opener at Dehesa de Navalcarbón on Wednesday night.
Reflecting on his performance, Iheanacho expressed satisfaction with breaking his goal drought for Sevilla.
“I’m very happy to have scored my first goal for this club,” Iheanacho said via El Sevillista.
“It’s great for my confidence and that of the team, which hopefully will finish in the top six.”
Speaking ahead of their La Liga clash against Real Sociedad, Iheanacho said: “I hope we win. We want to win at the Sanchez-Pizjuan, and the support of the fans will be important.”
Barcelona fell victim to a €1 million scam after being deceived by a fraudster posing as a representative of Robert Lewandowski’s agent.
Lewandowski, who joined the Catalan giants from Bayern Munich in the summer of 2022 for an initial fee of €45 million), has proven his value on the pitch, netting 71 goals in 106 appearances.
However, behind the scenes, the club faced a significant issue, as the fraudster exploited the high-profile transfer to swindle the Catalan giants.
Following the transfer deal, Barcelona were contacted by someone claiming to be working with Robert Lewandowski’s agent, Pini Zahavi, who demanded €1 million be sent to a Cypriot bank account.
The fraudster, using the false identity of “Michael Hermanus Gerardus Demon,” pretended to be Lewandowski’s lawyer and persistently pressured the club until they agreed to the payment.
Barcelona wired the funds to an account at Banc de Xipre, but the bank’s compliance department flagged the transaction as suspicious.
According to an investigation by Cadena SER, the fraudster had no prior banking history with the institution and was asked to verify their identity.
When Barcelona reached out to Zahavi, Lewandowski’s agent he denied any knowledge of the fraudulent individual, leading the bank to freeze the funds.
The fraudster, ‘Mr. Demon’ later escalated the pressure on Barcelona, threatening to report them to UEFA if they didn’t pay and demanding an additional €250,000 for silence.
Fortunately, Barcelona managed to recover part of the money from the Cypriot bank, though no criminal investigation has been launched as the club has not filed a formal complaint.
Barcelona confirmed to Cadena SER that they were the target of an attempted fraud, which has led them to strengthen their anti-fraud protocols.
-MSN
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