After a grueling 120 minutes, the last 78 of which were played 10v10, Chile and Argentina went to penalties in a Copa America final for the second straight year. Sergio Romero gave Argentina a huge boost by saving Arturo Vidal’s shot to start things off, but then the unthinkable happened: Leo Messi missed the goal entirely. Argentina went on to lose the shootout. Again.
Tag: Lionel Messi
Lionel Messi breaks Argentina scoring record with absolutely perfect free kick against the U.S.
Going into the Copa America Centenario semifinals, there was a lot of optimism in the U.S. Once the home side made it through the group stage, there was a sense that anything could happen. Unfortunately for them, it was Lionel Messi that happened.
Leo Messi’s Argentina teammates think his beard is the key to finally winning a trophy
Lionel Messi only played a total of 74 minutes in Argentina’s three Copa America Centenario group-stage matches. This was still enough to make him the competition’s joint-top scorer with (eliminated) Brazil’s Philippe Coutinho, but his three goals aren’t the reason his Argentina teammates think he is the key to them finally winning a trophy after two consecutive near misses. In fact, it has nothing to do with his otherworldly skill at all. It’s all down to the new hair on his face.
Bearded Leo Messi casually dominates 10-man Panama, jumps atop Copa America scoring list
When we last saw Lionel Messi on the pitch, he was walking off with an injury and a bit of Beckham-like stubble on face. Exactly two weeks later, a fully bearded Messi made his belated first appearance in Copa America Centenario and promptly scored three goals and set up a fourth in a span of 29 minutes to lift Argentina to a 5-0 win over 10-man Panama and become joint-top scorer for the tournament with Brazil’s Coutinho.
Pele and Maradona make peace for money, turn negativity towards Messi and Neymar
After decades of trading insults in the media, Pele and Maradona have come together in friendship thanks to the money of a mutual sponsor. The pair made an appearance in Paris ahead of Euro 2016 (a tournament neither of them ever played in) to make their declaration of peace.
Lionel Messi’s open letter to Gonzalo Higuain ahead of Copa America Centenario
Conspiracy Theory: Lionel Messi is paying Cristiano Jr. to troll his father
How to tell when Barcelona are actually in crisis
Barcelona were eliminated from the Champions League by Atletico Madrid for the second time in three years and have now lost three of their last four matches. This has prompted an all too familiar round of “BARCELONA IN TROUBLE” alarmism that past experience has proven is rarely warranted. So how is one to tell when we’re actually in the midst of a true Barcapocalypse? Here’s a handy guide…
Unintentional burns with Lionel Messi
When asked about his relationship with Diego Maradona, Lionel Messi revealed that the two haven’t spoken since professional circumstances last required them to. But he said this in an interesting way.
From ESPNFC:
“We haven’t spoken in a long time, since the World Cup [2010] we may have crossed paths once or twice,” Messi said in Spanish on Egyptian TV. “He has his life, his things and I have mine. We haven’t spoken at all. Considering that we don’t speak to each other, I have a great relationship with him.”
Though almost certainly unintentional, that last sentence is a pretty wicked burn and amusing coming from someone like Messi, who is almost superhumanly inoffensive. It also got me thinking about some other unintentional burns Messi might say. Here are a few…
Lionel Messi hits woman with errant shot
الـMILF من المادريغال pic.twitter.com/IiP3m6lBKk
— سَيِدُكُمُ آي نَعَم (@iRaufex) March 20, 2016
Barcelona’s war on fans continued during their match against Villarreal on Sunday when a Lionel Messi shot went over the bar and hit a woman in the hand.