"Messi is good but I was better '- Maradona

Always controversial, Diego Armando Maradona was considered himself better than Lionel Messi, player he trusts to give Argentina the win at the next World Cup.

"I hope that Messi gives Argentina the World Cup but will not be easy, because they know him and know what he can do.

In the game with Milan, they built him a cage. For me, Messi is a great kid but I think I was better, said "El Pibe" in a press conference in Italy, even before the "classic game" between Barcelona and Real Madrid, which ended with the triumph (3-1) of Madrid.

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Messi misses Barcelona training

Barcelona started this Friday morning the preparation of the league match against Osasuna on Sunday without Lionel Messi, who underwent a physiotherapy session.
According to the club, the Argentinian star will be able to play.

 However, it is almost certain that Messi will be resting against Osasuna in order to play against Real Madrid, in the best physical condition.

Messi donates 150 000 euros

Lionel Messi, the Barcelona footballer, donated one million pesos, about 152 thousand euros for the rehabilitation of a sports complex in a depressed area of Rosario, Argentina.

"The rehabilitation of this sports complex will benefit thousands of people in this area of ​​the city," said Rolando del Lago, the municipality responsible for sports.

Messi, who at age 13 left the Newell `s Old Boys from Rosario to head to Barcelona, has a foundation that has made several works of charity in the town.

Fourth Ballon d'Or for Lionel Messi and dominance looks unstoptable

Lionel Messi with his fourth FIFA Ballon d'Or award

Lionel Messi began 2013 by winning the Fifa Ballon d'Or (with 41.6% of the votes), Cristiano Ronaldo (23.7%) came second and Andrés Iniesta (10.9%) third. It is the fourth time Messi has won it and no one else has won it so often. Because the award is a merger of the old European Footballer of the Year and the Fifa World Player of the Year which was inaugurated only in 1991, Diego Maradona never won it and nor did Pelé but it is doubtful if they would have matched Messi's achievement. Marco van Basten won the European award three times in five years, Johan Cruyff three in four and Platini three years in a row. Alfredo Di Stéfano won it twice. Messi has superseded all of them.

Months of speculation slowly gave way to a growing realisation, especially as the European Championship was left behind and Messi accelerated towards the end of the year: it was going to be him again. He scored twice in each of eight successive games and they were almost all goals of barely plausible brilliance; when he scored only once in his final game of 2012, it was as if he had underachieved. On Monday night, finally it was confirmed. "The good thing about the Ballon d'Or is that it's being handed out tomorrow," the Barcelona coach, Tito Vilanova, had said the night before. Everyone could get on with their lives, talk about something else for a change.

Hardly: first there will be the reaction and then it will not be long before talk turns to next year's award – except that right now it is hard to imagine anyone else walking away a winner from Zurich in 12 months' time. 2012, like 2010, was an opportunity for others but Messi swept all before him again – all the excitement, all the debates, all the headlines and the same winner. "To tell you the truth this is really quite unbelievable," Messi said. "The fourth award that I have had is just too great for words."

Michael Owen recalls how Gérard Houllier had to pull him aside after he won the Ballon d'Or in 2001 and impress upon him the significance of the award. Owen had taken it in his stride; Houllier was shocked at how blasé he was. In France, he insisted, it is huge.

So it is in Spain. The Ballon d'Or has become more important in England over the decade since international football, projected by the Champions League, carried by a television and internet boom, accessible in a way unthinkable 10 years ago, is followed far more closely than it was then and European exposure brings European tastes. But, at least while the candidates all reside south of the Pyrenees, the interest still does not match that of the Spanish.

Only one Spaniard has won the award: Luis Suárez in 1960. Many have never forgiven Owen. Some consider it a grave injustice that Raúl did not become the second; 2001 was the year when Raúl's candidacy was at its strongest; the England striker's Ballon d'Or was "rightfully" Raúl's. Similarly, had Owen not been a former winner, Real Madrid's president Florentino Pérez would surely have been less interested in signing him: here was another one for the collection, status guaranteed. An "objective" measure of the best player in the world.

Just as with Raúl, a sense of injustice exists now. It is quieter but it is there. This Spain side is the most successful international team there has ever been. But none of its players have won the award. In 2010 even Messi seemed surprised to finish ahead of Xavi and Andrés Iniesta. Here Iniesta was Spain's sole representative – the winner of Uefa's Best Player in Europe award following Euro 2012. "I don't need individual awards to feel recognised; football is a collective game," he said. But that collective success, some argue, should have been recognised in this award.

Spain's media and fans remain divided along club lines, though. Over 60% of the country declares itself a fan of Madrid or Barcelona and sports newspapers wear their club colours unashamedly. Even the idea of a Spanish winner only unites them at a superficial level: they want a club winner. When the list for the team of the year was released the front cover of AS said it all: "Madrid 6 Barcelona 5".

And so it is that the battle comes back down to the two men who have come to represent Spain's biggest two clubs, the personification of the greatest rivalry. Messi had already admitted that he would be voting for Xavi, Iniesta and his Argentina team-mate Sergio Agüero; asked why he did not vote for Messi, Ronaldo said the reason was simple – he had not voted at all. Injury meant that he missed international duty and his voting papers were passed to a team-mate – who voted for him.

By the time the ceremony came round, Ronaldo had got used to the idea that he was not going to win: "This is not a life and death issue," he said. In August he had insisted: "I only want justice to be done." José Mourinho, who did not attend despite being short-listed for the managerial award, bemoaned that Messi would win, "after the campaign that has been carried out". Yet the most aggressive campaign had been his own in favour of Ronaldo. "How can Messi win the Ballon d'Or without winning the league or the Champions League?" Mourinho asked.

Last year Messi picked up almost half the votes; there was no question. This time a case can certainly be made for Ronaldo, who helped carry Real Madrid to the league title, taking it from Barcelona for the first time in four years and breaking an all-time points record. He scored the goal that effectively clinched the title at Camp Nou, one of 63 he scored in 71 games. Ronaldo, like Messi, reached the Champions League semi-final and, like Messi, missed a penalty. But Ronaldo missed his in the shootout having scored in normal time.

At Euro 2012 Portugal reached the semi-final where they were defeated by Spain; Ronaldo was down to take the final penalty but never got the chance. Messi, of course, was not there. At team level Messi won only a Copa del Rey.

But then he scored more goals than anyone in a calendar year (the last man to hold the record, Gerd Müller, did not win the Ballon d'Or: Franz Beckenbauer did in 1972). Messi finished as the Champions League's top scorer for a fourth year in a row. And he started to do the one thing that everyone agreed he still had pending: perform brilliantly, consistently, for Argentina: his 12 international goals included a hat-trick against Brazil.

This is a wider electorate now than the ones used for either of the awards that preceded it. With the old system, where only journalists voted, Messi would not have won in 2010. With 600 in the electorate now, the criteria are widened and yet also narrowed; virtually no one is going to leave Messi out of their top three.

Beyond the analyses there is a very simple question: who is the best player in the world? Few would doubt that the answer is Messi. "For as long as Messi is around, the Ballon d'Or makes no sense," Dani Alves said, and Agüero concurred: "The Ballon d'Or will always be for Messi."

Messi is 25. It may be a long wait for someone else.

sources : guardian ( writer by : Sid Lowe )

Lionel Messi is speechless with a fourth Golden Ball

"To be honest, this is unbelievable. Winning the award for the fourth time is too awesome to describe in words," said Messi when he received the Golden Ball, the main prize of the FIFA Gala, held in Zurich, Switzerland.

The FC Barcelona player wanted to recognize the role of the Argentine national team colleagues and the Catalan team, with particular emphasis on Andres Iniesta, also named: "It has been a pleasure to train and play with you."

Lionel Messi, who defeated the Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo and Iniesta, do not forget the coaches he worked with, family, friends and especially his wife and son, to whom he dedicated the prize.

Why Lionel Messi should win FIFA Ballon d'Or 2012

Final three candidate FIFA Ballon d'Or 2012 (Andres Iniesta, Lionel Mess, Cristiano Ronaldo)

For the last three years, one man has been honored as the best player in the world. In 2012, he has an opportunity to make it four. That man is Lionel Messi and a Ballon d'Or victory on Jan. 7 would be another historic milestone for Barcelona's franchise star.

Messi is far and away the front-runner for the award, but there is one compelling argument against his victory: Messi did not win a major team trophy in 2012. The Spanish League title was wrestled away from Barcelona for the first time in three years by none other Cristiano Ronaldo's Real Madrid. While Ronaldo scored the game winner against Barcelona in the spring Clasico that essentially won them the trophy, Messi was held scoreless. During the Champions League, Messi had a prime chance to score on the penalty shot for Barcelona against a 10-man Chelsea, but he also failed and his team was eventually eliminated in the semi-final. During the Spanish Super Cup, he also failed to deliver the championship for Barcelona. The only trophy he delivered was the 2011-12 Copa Del Rey, but he only scored three goals in that one.

His two opponents did win major trophies in 2012. As aforementioned, Ronaldo won the Spanish League title and the Spanish Super Cup while Messi's Barcelona teammate Andres Iniesta picked up a major victory at the Euro 2012. He also won the MVP for that tournament and was awarded with the award for the Best Player in Europe by UEFA.

However, Messi's 2012 has been like no other. At the top of everyone's list of recognition will be the superhuman feat of scoring 91 goals in a calendar year. The feat broke Gerd Müller's new record and established Messi as the greatest goal scorer of all time. He ended the 2011-12 season with 50 goals scored and 15 assists. In the Champions League he led all players with 14 goals and five assists. He ended the season on an even better run with 26 goals and five assists in 17 matches for Barcelona and is on pace to top the 50 goals he scored last season. He ended 2012 by scoring 15 goals in his last nine matches. He also has five goals in the Champions League and has finally shown his ability to lead his national team. Messi and Argentina are currently sitting atop the qualification table for the 2014 World Cup thanks to some big goals and plays from him.

For pure individual success, no one was better than Messi and that reason alone should enable him to win a record fourth Ballon d'Or.

sources : latinospost.com

Lionel Messi's Best Goal Ever

Lionel Messi : " I wish Argentina as succesfull as Barcelona"

Lionel Messi

Lionel Messi has often been accused of caring more about the fortunes of the Blaugrana than his national team, but he said that he wants nothing more than for la Albiceleste to thrive under his captaincy.

"I wish we could win as many titles as we can in Barcelona and qualify for the World Cup with Argentina," the 25-year-old told.

"I’ve had many nice moments with the national team (Argentina) and others that were not so good. Throughout this last year, we have enjoyed things and got together. I always expect to improve in everything, and that includes my career."


Sources : Goal.com