Neelangshu

🎭

[All About Argentina 🛎🇦🇷 @AlbicelesteTalk]

🚨✉️ Enzo Fernández with a VERY EMOTIONAL letter dedicated to Leo Messi 🥹

"Leo, that time when you said you were leaving the national team, I was really sad.

"I was just a kid, and I used to compare your age with mine to see if one day I might get the chance to play with you. It sounds silly, but I really did it. I’d think about how many years you might have left, how many years I still needed to reach the first division, and I dreamed that, even if it was only once, we could wear the Argentina shirt together.

"Luckily, you came back.

"And life ended up being much more beautiful than that kid could ever have imagined.

"I didn’t just get to play with you. We shared training camps, the dressing room, conversations, hugs, difficult moments, incredible moments, and we ended up becoming world champions together.

"But above all, I’ll always be grateful for the way you treated me from the moment I arrived. I came with the excitement of sharing the pitch with my idol, and instead I found a person who, from the very first moment, made me feel like one of the group. You always had a word, some advice, a hug, or simply a way of making me feel calm whenever I needed it.

"I’ll never forget that.

"Today, it’s hard for me to imagine the next training camp without you. Walking onto the pitch and not seeing you up front, wearing the No. 10. After so many years of seeing you there, it feels impossible to imagine it any other way.

"How lucky I was, Leo.

"How lucky that kid was, the one who used to do those calculations without knowing if he would ever make it in time.

"Thank you for treating me the way you did, for everything you taught me, and for allowing me to share a part of your story.

"We’re going to miss you so much, captain." 💙🥺

[All About Argentina 🛎🇦🇷 @AlbicelesteTalk]

Thank you for letting us be part of this incredible journey, for all the moments and for giving us the greatest joy of our lives.

You were, you are, and you always will be the greatest.

Rest now, captain. You’ve earned it.

[All About Argentina 🛎🇦🇷 @AlbicelesteTalk]

It’s honestly crazy to think that Messi decided to leave Europe at 35 because, in his mind, he had already completed football and wanted a more comfortable life in Miami with his family.

And nobody can blame him for that. He achieved everything there was to achieve. He doesn’t owe football or anyone else anything.

But if you look at it purely from our perspective as fans, just think about how much European football lost.

Messi is 39 years old now and he’s still one of the best players in the world. There’s still nobody like him. You could put him in La Liga or Serie A tomorrow and he would still do ridiculous things at this age.

So imagine what he could have done if, back in the summer of 2023, he had decided to stay in Europe instead of going to Miami.

Football lost so much with that decision, and as fans, we lost so much too. The greatness we’ve been watching from Messi in the United States could have been happening in Europe all these years as well.

And I think no one can doubt this opinion because this year’s World Cup proved that more than anything.

[Rachel White @whitespeaking]

Such a discouraging statement for someone simply doing his job. Guess we’ve normalised Indians getting sick and dying.

[Rilwan @Real1_balogun]

God’s time.

This guy played 10 years at Arsenal and wasn’t the first choice until the final year. He wasn’t even first choice for a year. He is a product of circumstance.

The guy he came in for and who Arsenal preferred to him is nowhere near him in comparison these days.

He won the World Cup, won two Copa America, won the Europa League, played in the UCL, played another World Cup final, rated the best keeper in the world, all in the last six years. Those six years came after a decade in which he was loaned out time and again.

In six years, he’s played for Arsenal, Aston Villa and Chelsea. In ten years, he was playing to finally have a look-in at Arsenal.

Martinez is forever going to be a special story in the workings of the world.

[Ballon d'Or @ballondor]

8-time Ballon d’Or winner still doing FORMIDABLE things at 39 years old. 🌕👑

4 goals. 1 assist. Pure magic in the MLS last night. ✨

These are the records achieved with this amazing performance ➡️ https://t.co/LpMa7Jtv9b

#ballondor #messi #intermiami #mls

[Neal 🇦🇺 @NealGardner_]

12G/As at the World Cup at 39, then deals with an incredibly tragic personal loss, yet he’s back doing what he absolutely loves and thoroughly dominating.

Lionel Messi is the closest we will ever get to an athlete defying the laws of nature. Time works differently for him.

[Managing Barça @ManagingBarca]

🚨🗣️ Flick: "Why did I choose Raphinha to play as the 9? Because the striker is always the first to initiate the pressing action, and Raphinha does that extremely well.

And of course, he is one of our leaders on the pitch, and everyone knows that when Raphinha raises the intensity of the press and the rhythm, the rest of the players immediately join in with him."

[MC @CrewsMat10]

It’s the fact that you don’t even have to go back to 2008 to find Messi doing things like this. He’s still doing it at 39. 🐐

[All About Argentina 🛎🇦🇷 @AlbicelesteTalk]

🚨 Casemiro: "We have to keep helping and enjoying Messi, he keeps being the BEST, he proved it at the World Cup, so we have to enjoy him..." 🇧🇷🤝🇦🇷

[CentreGoals. @centregoals]

🚨🚨🎙️| Actor David Bradley on Lionel Messi:

"I'd like to thank Argentina for producing Lionel Messi. He's my 𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐎, my absolute hero and if I could meet anyone in the world it would be Lionel Messi."

[jäff @abrabor_]

If you think Pep is going support any team other than Barca that day then you don’t know Pep😂

[ganesh @breathMessi21]

I might genuinely lose my mind if I ever see a Barça player constantly praising Ronaldo and showing him the same kind of love and respect Madrid players have shown Messi. I genuinely don't know how Ronaldo fans digest this stuff.

[Jago @HEISJAGO]

United finished second on the Premier League table before he came

That season he made then finish 8th

[MC @CrewsMat10]

The fans want him gone.
The manager has agreed to let him leave.
The player himself wants to leave.

At this point, I hope Gil Marín realizes he’s the only clown in this situation.

[FC Barcelona @FCBarcelona]

Visca el Barça i Visca Catalunya 💛❤️

[Neal 🇦🇺 @NealGardner_]

What a truly bizzare individual.

[Jimmy @FCBJimmy_]

I wish he could’ve seen him win the World Cup and lead his country to another final at the age of 39. He would’ve been so proud.

[The Touchline | 𝐓 @TouchlineX]

🚨🗣️ 𝗡𝗘𝗪: An old interview with Johan Cruyff from 2010 has recently resurfaced, in which he spoke about Lionel Messi:

"One of the reasons Lionel Messi is the best player in the world is because of his short legs. His low centre of gravity means he is extremely close to the ground."

"Later in his career, he will lose some overall strengths but he will adapt his game. He will focus more on finding the right positions on the pitch and creating decisive moments from those areas."

• Will he join you, Cruyff and Maradona among the GOAT'S?

"He will."

[J. 🇭🇷 @JosipFCB93]

Rodri, born in Madrid, spat in your face when Barcelona, a pro Catalan club came calling. And nothing else matters.