lionel-messi Page 15 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

So, How Did The World's Best Soccer Team Manage Without The World's Best Player?
Barcelona traveled to Paris yesterday to take on Paris Saint-Germain in the first leg of what might be the most intriguing matchup of the Champions League quarterfinals round. PSG, bought by a group of Qatari investors last year, has quickly become one of the richest clubs in the world. This season,...

How The 3-4-3 Beat Milan And Rethroned Barcelona As The World's Most Dangerous Team
Well, this is awkward. Just two weeks ago many outlets, us sheepishly included, were shoveling dirt on top of Barça's reign as the world's best team. But following a string of terrible results—three losses in 11 days, once to Italian upstarts AC Milan and twice to bitter rivals Real Madrid—Barcelona...

Is This The Beginning Of The End For FC Barcelona?
In tonight's Copa del Rey, Real Madrid traveled to Barcelona and throttled them 3-1 to oust their rivals from the Spanish Cup. It was a shocking result in what many consider to be the world's greatest derby. Since former Barcelona manager Pep Guardiola's hiring in 2008, Barça has dominated El Clasi...

Pitch Invader Rushes Onto Field During Argentina-Sweden Match, Kisses Lionel Messi
While the U.S. was busy losing to Honduras in a vital World Cup qualifying match, other nations around the globe spent their Wednesday engaged in international friendly matches. One such bout became especially friendly, as Argentina's road trip to Sweden turned romantic when a Barcelona jersey-cla...

Here Are All Of Lionel Messi's 91 Goals In 2012
On Saturday, Lionel Messi scored another beauty—a dribble through the defender's legs, finished with a left-footed strike into the far corner. It was the 91st and final goal of his calendar year, an all-time record. A crack Youtuber has put together a compilation of every single one, so let Messi ...

It's That Time Again: Ray Hudson Freaks Out About Another Messi Goal
Lest you think Barcelona's Lionel Messi would relax after breaking Gerd Müller's goals-in-a-year record (a record now disputed) it seems the Barça magician has found inspiration in being denied his home nation's honors as athlete of the year. Today at Valladolid, Messi pulled out some tricks from ...

Meet Godfrey Chitalu, The Zambian Lionel Messi
Barça's Lionel Messi scored a lot of goals this year. 86 of them, apparently.* That's a record for a soccer player. Or is it? Zambia's Godfrey Chitalu—whose heyday as a player came in the late 1960s and 70s, before he began coaching in the 80s—may have scored 116 goals in 1972. On this week's excerp...

Lionel Messi Named The Third-Best Argentine Athlete Of 2012
How was your calendar year, Messi? Oh, not too bad, only the greatest of all time. (I know. He scores too many in the box. He needed more games than Müller. You could net 20 getting fed by Xavi and Iniesta. Whatever, it was amazing and he's amazing.) But great enough to be named the country's best a...

Lionel Messi Scores Record-Breaking 86th Goal Less Than A Week After Going Down With Injury
Call him "MESSI-ah." The world's greatest association footballer capped off his best year ever by breaking Gerd Müller's 40-year-old record of 85 goals in a calendar year midway through the first half of a La Liga match at Betis after tying the record minutes earlier.. That he did so mere days aft...
![Lionel Messi Suffers Knee Injury In Meaningless Match; Run At Breaking Goals-In-A-Year Record May Be Over [UPDATE]](https://images.deadspin.com/tr:w-900/187g6j1n9dke9jpg.jpg)
Lionel Messi Suffers Knee Injury In Meaningless Match; Run At Breaking Goals-In-A-Year Record May Be Over [UPDATE]
Lionel Messi came into today hoping to break Gerd Müller's 1972 record of 85 goals in one calendar year. Now, after suffering what appears to be a knee injury during this evening's Barcelona-Benfica match, fans are wondering if Messi will even take the pitch again in 2012. ...

Lionel Messi Couldn't Hide Being Shocked When Barcelona Found Themselves Down 1-0 To Celtic
Barcelona's home leg of their UEFA Champions League tie with Celtic was supposed to be easy—let Barça's superstars overwhelm the Scottish champs and build an early lead. That isn't how it worked, though, as a 17th-minute Celtic goal silenced the Camp Nou crowd—and superstar Lionel Messi. Barça woul...

Lionel Messi Scores Breathtaking Goal On Impossible Free Kick
Real Madrid clinched the Spanish Supercopa with today's victory over Barcelona, but Lionel Messi still did something remarkably Messi-like on this free kick at the end of the first half. Be sure to watch the replay that begins at the 45-second mark to see the way Messi managed to get the ball outs...

Man City Accidentally Put In Bid For Lionel Messi Literally Because Of The Telephone Game
According to former Manchester City chief executive, Gary Cook, the offer was made in 2008 while the club was in the process of being purchased by Sheikh Mansour. Cook copped to the mistake in the directly-named book "The Manchester City Years."...

Who Is The World's Most Recognizable Athlete?
Saw this photo over at TBJ, of Kobe Bryant making an appearance on his annual Nike tour of China, and it's no surprise. China loves Kobe. Loves him. That's a billion people who go nuts at the very sight of Bryant, a global superstar for 15 years now. It got me thinking: who's the most recognizable a...

Breaking Down The Athletes Of The <i>Time</i> 100
Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People list is out, and I checked, you aren't on it. But some athletes are! But how did they get there? How can a pro athlete who's not Muhammad Ali or Jackie Robinson or Maximus from Gladiator possibly qualify as "influential?" Time's metric for selection is top...

Lionel Messi Tries His Hand At Basketball In A New Herbalife Ad
Okay, so the punch line is kind of ridiculous and would be a clear violation in an real basketball contest. Given the one-on-one game between Barcelona star Lionel Messi and a random basketball player has a clock counting down, we're pretty sure Herbalife isn't particularly concerned with the deta...

Are Messi And Barcelona Sending Secret Messages To Help Rebels Smuggle Guns Into Syria?
The answer is, no, obviously not. That would be stupid. But we can't ignore it, because at least one entity is buying into the conspiracy theory that Messi, Pedro and their Barcelona teammates are sending hidden messages to the Syrian resistance via their on-field play in a recent Clásico: Syrian...

Watch All 234 Goals Leo Messi Scored To Break The Barcelona Record
It's sometimes easy to forget how good Leo Messi is. He performs extraordinary feats with such regularity they seem routine. Messi scores. Again. Messi dribbles through five defenders and scores. Again. Messi dribbles through five defenders, is hacked mercilessly, refuses to go down, dances around...