When Lionel Messi's Argentina teammates surprised him for his birthday while he was sleeping ๐
Today, Messi turns 39 and is still balling on the biggest stage ๐๐
Historian Bill Federer: "By 2030, there will be a majority Muslim population in Europe, and they will just flat out vote in Sharia law.
People forget Egypt was completely Christian for 6 centuries. It's not anymore. All of North Africa was completely Christian for 6 centuries. It is not anymore.
Constantinople was the largest Christian city in the world, and the largest Christian church in the world for hundreds of years was the Hagia Sophia. And it was turned into a mosque.
They want to do the same thing with the Vatican."
Pay attention to what heโs saying!
How Ukrainian priests and firefighters raced to save sacred relics after a Russian drone strike set Kyivโs historic Dormition Cathedral ablaze.
Read more about the efforts, and see inside the cathedral: ๐ https://t.co/t42tWWaecS
Lionel Messi on the 100-year-old fan holding the โ100 YEAR OLD MESSI FANโ banner:
๐ฃ๏ธ โWhen I saw her in the standsโฆ I honestly had to hold myself together. In that moment, football disappeared for me. It wasnโt a stadium anymore, it wasnโt noise, it wasnโt pressure it was just emotion.โ
โSomeone who has lived a whole century of lifeโฆ through wars, through generations, through everything the world has enduredโฆ and she is still here, smiling, holding my name in her hands. I donโt even know how to explain what that feels like.โ
โIt made me think about everything my first steps in football, the dreams I had as a child, the sacrifices my family madeโฆ and somehow, through all those years, my name reached someone like her. Itโs overwhelming.โ
โI donโt deserve something like that. No player does. Because this goes beyond football. This is love from a lifetime, not just a moment.โ
โI looked at her and I just wanted to stop time for a secondโฆ to say thank you properly. Not as a footballer, but as a human being who understands how rare it is to be loved like that for so long.โ
โThere are goals that make noise, trophies that make headlines, but thisโฆ this was something completely different. Pure, unconditional connection between two lives that were never meant to meet, but somehow did through football.โ
โIf I could give her anything, it wouldnโt be a shirt or a photo. It would be time. Because the fact she spent part of her life supporting meโฆ I will carry that forever.โ
โWhen I retire, I will remember nights like this more than anything else. Because at the end of everything, football is not about recordsโฆ it is about hearts that connect without even speaking.โ
โAnd in that moment, I realized something very simpleโฆ I am not just playing for trophies. I am playing for people like her.โ
All the records broken by Lionel Messi today:
Most FIFA World Cup finals goals by a football (soccer) player - 18
Most FIFA World Cup matches played in by an individual - 28
Most matches won by a player at the football (soccer) FIFA World Cup - 18
Most minutes played in the football (soccer) FIFA World Cup - 2,489
We are witnessing history.
๐ พ๏ธ๐ พ๏ธ Wayne Rooney: On Lionel Messi performance against Austria:
โIโll say this now, what weโre witnessing right now is just completely mental. Iโve played at the absolute highest level, I know what the physical toll of this game is, and Messi scoring twice today to break the all-time World Cup goal record? Itโs just insane.
How are we all sitting here acting like this is normal? The man is 39 years old. At 39, most lads are sitting on a beach, or struggling to get out of bed for a Sunday league kickabout, let alone dominating the biggest tournament on Earth. It defies logic.
Heโs out there gliding past players, reading the game three steps ahead of everyone else, and finishing like heโs still in his mid-twenties.
Iโve said it before and Iโll say it again: anyone who still doubts Lionel Messi as the greatest to ever play the game simply is not mentally OK. Itโs that simple.
Thereโs no footballing argument left to have. Even if your brain has been completely disconnected, your eyes alone just sitting there watching what he is doing on that pitch should tell you absolutely everything you need to know. You don't need a tactical breakdown. You just need to look at the screen. To do what heโs done throughout his career was incredible, but to reach the pinnacle of the World Cup record books at 39?
We will never, ever see anything like this again. We just need to stop trying to analyze it and appreciate that we're looking at the absolute best to ever lace up a pair of bootsโ
Necesito que Messi se encuentre con esta seรฑora, por favor hagamos viral y que sea LA imagen.
Estuvo ahi parada con su cartel durante todo el partido ๐ฅน
๐จ๐๏ธ ZLATAN IBRAHIMOVIฤ ON LIONEL MESSI'S INFLUENCE ON ARGENTINA AFTER THEIR WIN OVER AUSTRIA:
โI'm obsessed with watching Messi.
Not because he's my friend.
Not because of nostalgia.
Because after all these years, I'm still trying to understand how one player can control a football match without touching the ball every minute.
I watched Argentina today and the first thing I noticed wasn't the scoreline.
It was the way Austria reacted whenever Messi moved.
One step to the left, defenders follow.
One drop into midfield, the entire shape changes.
One glance over his shoulder panic.
That's not football.
That's psychological warfare.
And that's why I laugh when people reduce him to goals and assists.
They don't understand what they're watching.
Messi isn't just Argentina's best player.
He's Argentina's system.
He's their confidence.
He's their belief.
He's the reason every teammate walks onto the pitch thinking the impossible is possible.
People ask me about the GOAT debate.
What debate?
Seriously.
What debate?
For me, there isn't one.
The debate exists because television needs content and social media needs arguments.
When I watch football, I don't see a debate.
I see Messi.
Then I see everybody else.
That doesn't mean other legends weren't incredible.
It means I've never seen another player influence a match, a team and an entire generation of football the way Messi has.
And today was another reminder.
He didn't need a hat-trick.
He didn't need to score from 40 yards.
He just needed to be Lionel Messi.
And suddenly Argentina looked like a completely different team.
That's greatness.
Not when everything depends on you.
When everybody becomes better because you're there.
I've played against great players.
I've played with great players.
But Messi is the only player I've ever watched and genuinely thought:
'This isn't normal.'
The scary thing?
Opponents know exactly what he's going to do.
And they still can't stop it.
That's why I don't waste my time with comparisons anymore.
Some players become legends.
Some players become icons.
Messi became a category of his own.
And after today's performance, if you're still asking me who the greatest footballer of all time is...
You're asking the wrong question.
The right question is:
Will football ever produce another one like him?โ
Congratulazioni ad Abelardo de la Espriella, nuovo Presidente eletto della Repubblica di Colombia. Forte del suo giร profondo rapporto personale con lโItalia, sono pronta a collaborare insieme per sviluppare ancora di piรน le nostre giร solide relazioni bilaterali.
Lavoreremo uniti per la crescita economica, la stabilitร e la sicurezza internazionale e per rafforzare la cooperazione nel contrasto al narcotraffico e alle organizzazioni criminali transnazionali, nel segnodella vicinanza tra le nostre Nazioni. Auguri di buon lavoro Presidente @ABDELAESPRIELLA. Ti aspetto in Italia!
Pope Leo XIVโs father landed at Normandy on D-Day. The war in Europe ended on May 8, 1945 โ and exactly eighty years later, to the day, his son was elected pope.
Louis Prevost was a Navy officer who came home to spend his career as a Chicago-area schoolteacher and administrator.
When his youngest son, Robert, wavered in seminary and thought of leaving to marry and raise a family, it was his fatherโs quiet counsel that kept him on the path to the priesthood.
For Fatherโs Day, the largely untold story of the man who helped make Pope Leo XIV. https://t.co/wrqWDRxqi3
Un comentario delirante e irresponsable que muesta, una vez mรกs, que el presidente Petro no es demรณcrata.
Lamento haber algรบn dรญa pensado lo contrario.
https://t.co/qIZX3XK1og
Se puede cuestionar, criticar o denunciar a Abelardo por decenas de temas. Yo lo he hecho en diversas publicaciones desde hace aรฑos y lo confrontรฉ en una fuerte entrevista.
Pero, igualmente, no se puede negar que gana la Presidencia contra un candidato que tuvo el mรกs alto, descarado y abierto respaldo de un gobierno nacional y de un Presidente que violรณ todas las normas electorales.
Invirtieron centenares de miles de millones de pesos del presupuesto nacional para Cepeda; movieron todo el poder de ministerios y entidades en contra de Abelardo, el Presidente hizo campaรฑa todos los dรญas, mucho mรกs hoy.
Y sumen grupos armados criminales en varias regiones empujando con el fusil. Y centenares de miles de empleados pรบblicos miedosos ante la posibilidad de perder sus cargos si se llegase a reducir drรกsticamente el gobierno.
Y una maquinaria nacional y regional que hoy se moviรณ a todo tren para que Cepeda subiera 3 millones de votos.
Abelardo de la Espriella es el primer outsider en ganar una Presidencia en Colombia. Y gana contra el candidato mรกs โoficialโ, mรกs del gobierno en la historia.
ZELENSKYY: Ukraine has begun the process of bringing the war back to Russia.
Yesterday we struck oil refinery in Tyumen region, thatโs already 2,070 km from our border.
We used brand-new drones with flight range of 2,500 km. They will soon be able to fly more than 3,000 km.
We will fly even further, beyond 3,000 km, because we know exactly where all Russian military plants, oil bases, gas storage facilities, and similar targets are located.
We need longer-range tools, and we are developing them right now. Of course, the number of our deep strikes into Russia will also increase every day.
รLTIMA HORA: Un aficionado iranรญ en el Mundial sostenรญa un cartel que decรญa: "ยฟDรณnde estรก Rashid Mazaheri?"
Mazaheri, el exportero de Irรกn, fue secuestrado por la Guardia Revolucionaria en enero tras denunciar los asesinatos injustificados de manifestantes por parte del rรฉgimen.
โI carry with me a photo of a Muslim child who, during my visit to Lebanon, was standing there holding a sign that said โWelcome, Pope Leo,โ and in this latest phase of the war, he was killed.
โThere are many human situations like this, and I believe we must have the ability to think in this way.
โAnd as a Church, I say again: as a pastor, I cannot be in favor of war.
โI would like to encourage everyone to make efforts to seek answers that come from a culture of peace, not of hatred or division.โ โ Pope Leo XIV
Last night, our long-range sanctions targeted the occupiersโ military logistics, oil industry, and air defense. All of this is a just response to Russiaโs brutal attacks against our people. I thank the warriors of the Security Service of Ukraine, the Unmanned Systems Forces, the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine, and the Special Operations Forces for their successful work at a distance of about 300 kilometers from the frontline.
Facilities on both sides of the Crimean Bridge were hit: maritime logistics used to transport oil in the Krasnodar region and an oil depot in temporarily occupied Kerch. In addition, military logistics facilities were successfully struck, along with four radar stations belonging to S-400 systems and two Pantsir systems.
I am grateful to all our warriors for their precision and professionalism. Russia understands only strength, and our long-range strength is certainly working for peace. Glory to Ukraine!
Queridos colombianos, hoy tienen una oportunidad histรณrica para reafirmar, a travรฉs del voto, el futuro de democracia y libertad que desean para su paรญs y para sus hijos.
Muchos pueblos descubren demasiado tarde el valor de poder elegir libremente a sus gobernantes, cuando ese derecho les es arrebatado. Y entonces deben librar largas luchas, e incluso dar la vida, para recuperarlo.
Voten hoy con plena consciencia de la oportunidad que tienen y de la responsabilidad que representa vivir en democracia. Hรกganlo tambiรฉn con alegrรญa, esperanza y convicciรณn.
Vivan Venezuela y Colombia libres!!!