🚨🌕 Lamine Yamal on Ousmane Dembélé not including him into his top 3 for the Ballon d’Or: “He’s Kylian Mbappé’s friend, right?”. 😅
“I’m very happy with the season I had. I think every time we faced each other, I probably did something that made them dislike me! And that’s normal. My relationship with Ousmane is very good, and I understand that he wants to choose other players”.
“But I’m very happy with what I delivered this year, and I’m confident that everyone watched it, even if he didn’t”.
May money find value in our hands.
May opportunities find usefulness in our gifts.
May good people find peace in our presence.
May the right rooms need exactly what we carry.
May the ground beneath our feet favour us.
May we never spend our entire lives running after things that are constantly running away from us.
May what belongs with us recognise us.
May the beautiful things of life we crave for… crave us too.
spiRituaL 🦉
🩵🤍 Full statement by Lionel Messi: “I wrote these words on July 21, two days after the final… today, after what happened with my dad, I’m even more convinced of this decision than before”.
“After all this time since the final, and after thinking about it a lot, I want to tell everyone that I’m retiring from the national team.
"It was a decision that hurt and still hurts deep inside, but I understand that this is the right moment.
"I swear I always gave everything, not only in these last few years when we won everything, but before that too. I always fought and gave everything for this shirt, to bring you happiness and make you feel proud to be Argentine through football.
"There isn’t much time left, and different chapters are coming to an end. This is one that hurts me a lot. I love, I loved, and I will always love being part of the national team. I gave everything I had, and I don’t have anything more to give.
"Also, there are great young players coming through who deserve to be here.
"Thank you for all the love during these 20 years. I’m going to miss hearing you from the inside. Now I’ll be one of you, always supporting from the outside, in the good times and even more in the bad ones.
"Thank you to my family for always being there and for being with me throughout this beautiful but difficult journey. Thank you to every coach, teammate and director I had the chance to share it with. I take with me unforgettable memories and moments.
"I leave with peace and pride, knowing that together with my teammates we gave you moments we once dreamed of. It was crazy to experience all of this with you. I love you!
"Thank you God for making me Argentine.
"Vamos Argentina!
You have permanently etched your name in the sands of time, Leo
O thou little boy from Rosario - the legacy of your boots shall remain unlaced for generations to come.
Long after stadiums grind in silence, and goals get forgotten - we will always remember how you made us feel.
To the little boy from Rosario 🇦🇷,
One who was once too quiet, too fragile, too weak, too small - with a body that betrayed him but with dreams strong enough to power through.
The little boy from Rosario who left home before he was ready, burdened with the hopes of millions before he was old enough to carry his own.
To that little boy, I write as tonight might be your final dance. 🇦🇷 🇪🇸
You conquered Europe, conquered every record that they said would never fall - to the world, you were an undisputed genius but everytime you put on the Argentine camiseta, he felt like a curse trailed you.
One final lost after another. What mattered to you the most, to bring joy to the cot that cradled you was constantly out of your reach.
Every defeat you suffered kept reminding us, that maybe, you're just as human as we are.
Every time you cried from the bench with swollen feet, we watched and are reminded, maybe you're just as human.
You retired and we thought your story was over - we could still make peace with the joy you've given us from club spectacle.
Like the Phoenix that you are, you rose from the ashes that was designed to bury you - you walked back into storms that was orchestrated to sink you.
My dear little boy from Rosario 🇦🇷,
you walked back to the pitch - fingers pointed to your grandmother who first believed, doubled the joy you've always brought us, fulfilled your lifelong dreams, made new records and broke your own records.
I'm not even Argentine but you've spurred me to permanently chant:
"Soy hincha de la Selección,
La aliento con el corazón
Ganamos la tercera con Lionel
Queremos ser campeones otra vez"
Tonight is not just another final, Muchacho. Tonight is not just about the hunt for another trophy, Lionel.
Tonight is about the compression of a 2-decade story line from 2006 to 2026.
All the tears, heartbreaks, all the doubts & how you repeatedly resurrected with no points left to prove.
We might not have existed in the times of Shakespeare, Alexander the Great, Michangelo, Plato, Isaac Newton - but it's been the absolute privilege of our lives to have existed while you did, the absolute honor of our lives to have been your audience.
Long after stadiums rot into the ground in silence, and goals get forgotten - we will always remember how you made us feel.
One day when we're all frail and rottening in our grandpa era, our grandchildren will feel electric surges just from touching us - and it will be difficult for us to explain that it was your gift to us 70 years back.
Maybe your last dance, maybe one more dance - but we're privileged to be dancing with you again, Mi Capitan.
🐐 🇦🇷
I can't wait to see how the world will honor Messi after he retires from international football.
He deserves every praise, payers, gifts, honor and recognition that he would get.
We are blessed to be alive to witness the greatest footballer that has ever lived.
End.
Messi is a leader. He made all the difference. He understands he doesn’t have to score for Argentina to win. This is the closest England will ever come to winning the World Cup. In the end, men were separated from boys. Messi is the Greatest Of All Time. That’s the full story.