lionel-messi Page 1 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
Lionel Messi’s MLS All-Star Snub Exposes League’s Leadership Woes
Lionel Messi's All-Star Game absence sparked a suspension, a PR storm, and criticism of MLS leadership. Here's how the league let the moment spiral out of control....
Lionel Messi Just Gave MLS the Middle Finger: What Garber Does Next Will Define His Legacy
Lionel Messi skipped the MLS All-Star Game with no warning. Now Commissioner Don Garber must choose between enforcing league rules or bowing to the league’s biggest star....
MLS Is Keeping Lionel Messi Happy: But What Is the League Getting in Return?
Messi’s move to MLS was billed as a transformational moment. A year later, his growing influence at Inter Miami raises questions about what the league is truly gaining....
Lionel Messi & Four Stars to Watch in Copa America Semifinals
Lionel Messi headlines the Copa America semifinals, but don't sleep on these four superstars that will be ready to impress the world....
Countdown to Copa America: Teams, Underdogs, Names to Know
Here's our full preview of the 2024 Copa America soccer tournament with a breakdown of teams and players to follow....
Ranking the major sports networks from most elitist to Fox Sports
Prestige and journalism shouldn’t go hand-in-hand together. Sure, there are outlets with enough history and money to have ethics departments, fact-checkers, and paying subscribers, but the omnipresent tier — the ones controlling the rights to the big sports — are cost-cutting corporate slugs like th...
![Cristiano Ronaldo hit with suspension, fines for rubbing rival's merch on his junk [Update]](https://images.deadspin.com/tr:w-900/0f71fcf23a834ff9891a683fc7928084.jpg)
Cristiano Ronaldo hit with suspension, fines for rubbing rival's merch on his junk [Update]
Updated Feb. 29, 2024, 11 a.m. EST: Cristiano Ronaldo received a one-match suspension after rubbing opposing players’ merch on his genitals, according to the Disciplinary and Ethics Committee of the Saudi Football Federation....
Barcelona are truly lost
While Jurgen Klopp stole most of the manager-leaving-at-end-of-season headlines, another of the biggest clubs in the world is losing their manager come May. That would be Barcelona, as Xavi announced he would be leaving his post when this season ends. The difference between the two is that one is le...
Soccer’s had load management for some time — now there just might be more of it
As if on cue, one of soccer’s biggest stars on one of the world’s biggest clubs went down with injury in the Africa Cup of Nations. While there’s not a diagnosis yet, Mohamed Salah limped off just before the half in Egypt’s draw against Ghana on Thursday. This comes a day after Kylian Mbappé warned ...
It’s fun to watch MLS get smacked down
We get pretty used to sports leagues doing whatever they want, and whatever they want is usually not in any interest of the fans. It’s almost always about control and profit, which runs in direct opposition to fans’ desire to see competition, accessibility and the game we remember that got us all he...
Inter Miami inks noted biter Luis Suarez to deal
Hungry for more star power, Inter Miami is reportedly finalizing a one-year deal with Uruguayan forward Luis Suarez. The deal was first reported by the Miami Herald....
The case <i>against</i> Deion Sanders as Sportsperson of the Year
We are on the brink of our last full college football Saturday slate before bowl season. So, it’s apropos that Deion Sanders’ overhype earned him Sports Illustrated’s Sportsperson of the Year. After announcing Sanders as the recipient of the honor, Sports Illustrated is dodging tomatoes from the Int...
MLS is playing pretty fast and loose with Lionel Messi’s injury
The problem with hinging an entire league’s reputation and financial fortune on one man is what do you do when that man isn’t around? If you’re MLS, you kind of shut your eyes, put your fingers in your ears, and pretend it’s not a problem. ...
Apparently, it’s Inter Miami fans who are going to foot the bill for Lionel Messi
What, you thought Apple was going to pay for Lionel Messi’s deal? The other MLS owners? C’mon now, you know how this works. ...
Our national nightmare is over, the San Diego Padres won a game in extra innings
What gets to the heart of baseball, and to the heart of a baseball season, is that 162 games is supposed to be enough for any anomaly or bit of screwiness a long enough timeline to flatten out. Anyone can get hot, but no one can get unreasonably hot for 162 games and six months. Every team is going ...
Travis Kelce is running away with Sportsman of the Year
Sportsman of the year is one of those nebulous awards that checks off boxes by usually honoring a do-gooder, an activist athlete, some stereotypical quarterback, a Finals MVP, Tiger Woods, the fastest man in the world, an American gymnast or some gold medalist in the pool during an Olympic year. ...
Natural grass wouldn’t have prevented Aaron Rodgers’ injury
It’s always interesting to see how leagues and players’ unions react to injuries. Zaza Pachulia stepped under Kawhi Leonard’s foot, and now NBA defenders can’t impede a shooter’s landing zone. Buster Posey getting blasted by Scott Cousins led to MLB banning plays at the plate. On Monday, Aaron Rodge...
It's one franchise QB, how much could it cost? $10?
Sports has reached a level of spending that makes Joe Burrow’s record contract look cute. The Cincinnati Bengal quarterback’s $275 million deal is laughable if it wasn’t all too real. English Premier League clubs spent $2.97 billion in the most recent transfer window. Tiger Woods was reportedly offe...
Lionel Messi coming to MLS has had the effect you’d think
One of the bonuses for both MLS and Apple TV having an exclusive streaming deal is that they’re not forced to tell us how it’s going. Or they can decide what they want to say. Without usual ratings to gauge how the revolutionary deal is fairing, we’re usually left guessing. There were whispers that ...
Saudi money putting an expiration date on soccer stars’ charisma
There’s a weird gray area for soccer stars after they turn 30. They’re still good, maybe not great, yet are so established that they command larger sums of money than a younger player or two who is not yet a household name and could Moneyball their teams the same production. In past instances, those...