🚨 Simon Jordan on Cristiano Ronaldo’s comments about Botox:
🗣️ “It doesn’t suit Ronaldo to make a statement about using Botox when he himself has a face full of fillers to look younger. 😭
🗣️ “But looking young doesn’t mean you can play like a 25-year-old. He is completely washed and is dragging himself shamelessly towards 1,000 goals through penalties and tap-ins just so he can call himself the GOAT. 💀
🗣️ “In reality, the true GOAT received the best farewell from Argentina, and he will go on to score 1,000 goals before Ronaldo does.
🗣️ “You know why? Because he is still the best player in the world, and he doesn’t need to trash-talk.” 🐐🇦🇷
🚨 Pep Guardiola on Lionel Messi saying his legs could no longer give him more:
“The problem with Lionel Messi getting older is that he has declined into still being the best player on the pitch.
So people don’t believe him.
I watched his farewell game.
One goal. Two assists. At 39 years old.
Afterwards somebody showed me the clip where Leo ran chasing a ball and people were saying, ‘This is the same man who says his legs cannot give him anymore?’
I said, ‘Yes. That is exactly what he means.’
Because you are comparing Messi with the other players on the pitch.
Leo is comparing Messi with Messi.
Those are two completely different standards.
I remember once at Barcelona, after training, one of my staff said to me, ‘Pep, he was unbelievable today.’
I asked, ‘Who?’
He looked at me like I was stupid.
‘Leo.’
I said, ‘No. Today was normal.’
He laughed.
I wasn’t joking.
That was one of the strangest things about coaching Messi. Something would happen in training that would stop everybody else, and after a while we stopped reacting.
Three players around him?
Normal.
Four?
Normal.
He receives the ball, turns and suddenly everybody is running towards their own goal?
Normal.
One day I remember telling Xavi, ‘We have a problem.’
He asked, ‘What?’
‘He is making us think these things are normal.’
Xavi smiled.
‘Then wait until he leaves.’
That sentence stayed with me.
Because I think a generation is experiencing the same problem now, just backwards.
They are meeting Lionel Messi at the end and thinking this is Lionel Messi.
They watch him at 39, see him create two goals and score another and say, ‘What legs has he lost?’
My friend, you arrived at the cinema during the final ten minutes.
You have no idea what happened before you sat down.
Imagine a boy watching this game with his father.
He asks, ‘Dad, I don’t understand. Messi is still the best player. Why is he retiring?’
His father should not show him another match from 2026.
Show him 2011.
Show him 2012.
Show him 2015.
Then tell the boy, ‘The man you are watching now used to do all of this with legs that could do whatever his brain requested.’
That is the difference.
Today Leo sees the pass before you.
Back then he saw the pass before you, played it, then arrived somewhere else before you understood what had happened.
Today he can still beat you with his mind.
At his peak, unfortunately, the mind had the body with it.
That was unfair.
I remember defenders looking towards our bench sometimes after Leo did something as though I could help them.
What did they want me to do?
Substitute him?
I was trying to win too.
And this is why I believe Leo when he says his legs cannot give him what they once did.
Of course they cannot.
He knows because he remembers what they used to give him.
We see a 39-year-old man and think, ‘Still magnificent.’
He feels something different.
A ball rolls towards the touchline and his mind says, ‘Go.’
For twenty years, his legs answered immediately.
Now sometimes they say, ‘No, Leo. Not this one.’
For us, that is one lost ball.
For him, maybe that is thirty years of football speaking to him.
That must be a very strange conversation for a genius to have with his own body.
But perhaps that is also the perfect explanation of Lionel Messi.
Even now, with the legs he says can no longer give him everything, he can play his farewell game, score once, create two more and leave people asking:
‘If this is Messi declining, what exactly was Messi at his best?’
I can answer that.
We spent four years at Barcelona trying to find the correct word.
We never did.”
With Messi retiring from international football in 2 days, I want to remind you all of this iconic moment..
During the 2018 World Cup qualifiers, Messi missed games for Argentina due to injury. The Argentine national team played 8 games without him, losing 7 of them and winning just 1. During those 8 games, Di María played every single one and didn’t score a single goal, registering just 1 assist.
Then Messi suddenly returned from injury, and what happened was unbelievable.
Argentina beat Uruguay 1-0, with Messi scoring the only goal.
They beat Chile 1-0, with Messi scoring the only goal.
They beat Colombia 3-0, with Messi scoring 1 goal and providing 2 assists.
Then, in the decisive game for World Cup qualification, Messi scored a hat trick against Ecuador and secured Argentina’s place at the World Cup after they had been on the verge of missing out entirely.
At the time, qualifying felt like winning a trophy.
The Argentina national team of Lionel Messi.
California set aside $24 billion for homelessness.
California then announced that the entire $24 billion DISAPPEARED.
Finally, it was tracked down.
It turns out that the funds were turned over to an NGO.
Instead of helping the homeless, the funds were used for a mansion in LA, a home in Greece, and a $125,000 vehicle.
All under the watchful eye of Gavin Newsom.
The dude belongs in prison.
🇺🇸 En Estados Unidos: ↓
Tu hijo dice que le gusta el fútbol.
Lo apuntas a un equipo.
A las tres semanas alguien menciona un “travel team”.
Preguntas qué es.
Error.
Ahora entrenáis tres días por semana.
El sábado hay partido.
El domingo también.
Pero a 180 km.
Reservas hotel.
Compras otra equipación.
Botas nuevas.
Bolsa nueva.
Cuotas del club.
Torneo de primavera.
Torneo de verano.
Campamento de tecnificación.
Entrenador privado.
Alguien habla de “exposure”.
Tu hijo tiene 11 años.
Hay vídeos de sus partidos.
Estadísticas.
Rankings.
Otro padre te pregunta si habéis pensado en becas universitarias.
Tu hijo sigue teniendo 11 años.
El calendario familiar gira alrededor del deporte.
Tú ya conoces hoteles de carretera de cinco estados.
El coche huele permanentemente a césped artificial.
Domingo por la noche.
Llegáis a casa.
Tu hijo pregunta:
—¿Puedo salir a jugar al fútbol con mis amigos?
Solo querías que hiciera un poco de deporte.