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Lionel Messi ended his wait for a first major international title as Argentina beat Brazil in the Copa America final in Rio's Maracana stadium.

Messi, 34, dropped to the ground in joy at the full-time whistle and was swiftly mobbed by his team-mates, before being hurled in the air in celebration, as he finally claimed top-level honours with his country in his 10th major tournament.

He also helped end Argentina's 28-year spell since they last won the competition and was named player of the tournament after his four goals in the competition.

Angel di Maria proved the matchwinner with his superb lob, after taking down Rodrigo de Paul's lofted pass.

Messi had a chance to sign off the win but slipped with the goal at his mercy, in what would have been the perfect finale for the Argentine captain.

Defending champions Brazil were disappointing, with their only chances of note coming when Richarlison and Gabriel Barbosa forced saves from Emi Martinez.

In a contrast of emotions, Messi's opposite number 10 and former Barcelona team-mate Neymar sank to his knees in tears at the final whistle, as his own personal pursuit of international success continues, having missed Brazil's 2019 Copa win through injury.

Neymar reacts after Brazil lose to Argentina in the 2021 Copa America final
Neymar reacts after Brazil lose to Argentina in the 2021 Copa America final

The pair, who played together at the Nou Camp between 2013 and 2017 before the Brazilian's move to Paris St-Germain, embraced in a long-lasting hug while they waited for the trophy ceremony.


The game was watched by a small crowd of 7,000 invited guests, because of Covid-19 restrictions, but was the first of the tournament to have spectators in attendance.

The sparse home supporters made their voices heard, though, particularly every time Messi touched the ball, booing and jeering the forward.

The tournament, delayed by a year because of the coronavirus pandemic and moved from initial co-hosts Colombia and Argentina, was switched to 2019 hosts Brazil in a last-minute decision which received criticism in light of a surge in coronavirus cases in the country.

Messi finally shines on international stage
It was clear from the ecstatic Argentina celebrations at full-time, with Messi the focal point, that this squad's drive to triumph against their old rival was as much for their legendary forward as it was the nation.

It has been 15 years since Messi first represented Argentina at a major tournament and after four World Cups and six Copa America appearances, taking in 53 matches, he finally has the major international title he - and his country - has craved.

Despite being one of the most decorated and brilliant players of the modern era - and arguably all time - with 10 La Liga titles, four Champions Leagues and six Ballons d'Or, questions over his lack of impact on the international stage have hung over his legacy.

Messi at the World Cup
Country Played Won Lost Minutes Goals Stage
2006 3 2 0 121 1 Quarter-final
2010 5 4 1 450 0 Quarter-final
2014 7 5 1 693 4 Runners-up
2018 4 1 2 360 1 Last 16
TOTALS 19 12 4 1624 6
Figures provided by Stats Perform

And while many will say his greatness has been cemented, regardless of what he achieves with Argentina, this lengthy wait for a maiden senior trophy with his country will go a long way to silencing any doubters.

Repeated failures with Argentina have been painful for the forward, who went as far as announcing his retirement - before later reversing the decision - after losing a second consecutive Copa America final in 2016, his third defeat in the final of the competition and coming just two years after suffering a loss in the 2014 World Cup final.

He was not explosive against Brazil, with few opportunities to get on the ball after Argentina showed defensive resolve once taking the lead in a niggly game disrupted by 41 fouls, but he carried the ball well, particularly in the latter stages, to help relieve pressure.

Messi at Copa America
Country Played Won Lost Minutes Goals Stage
2007 6 5 1 456 2 Runners-up
2011 4 1 0 390 0 Quarter-final
2015 6 3 0 570 1 Runners-up
2016 5 4 0 374 5 Runners-up
2019 6 3 2 487 1 Semi-final
2021 7 5 0 630 4 Winners
TOTALS 34 21 3 2,907 13
Figures provided by Stats Perform

Questions about his immediate future will now continue to be asked, with Messi now a free agent after his Barcelona contract ended two weeks ago - although Barca have stepped up their attempts to keep hold of their star man with negotiations continuing.

There also remains the prospect of Messi going for what would likely be his last chance of winning the World Cup - something Argentina have not done since 1986 - should he lead his country out in Qatar at the age of 35 in December 2022.

All the salty Ronaldo fans saying "it doesn't mean anything, Copa America is easy"



Can I remind you that Argentina had to get past Chile, Uruguay, Colombia and Brazil to win this tournament. All teams ranked in the worlds top 20



Meanwhile when Portugal won Euro 2016, they finished 3rd in a group of Iceland, Hungary and Austria. Before being Switzerland, Poland and Wales on the way to the final!

Please I need an advice on something.


Yesterday made my itel P33 2year old but lately it's really not giving me what I am cos it's a 3G,there at times I'd really really need to do quick browsing but it ends in a hr or so and Thanks to my location (am schooling at Ekiti) only 4G users browse well.

The phone is still looking new tho except that the two volume control button went missing 2wks ago, that's all, every part is okay. So if there's any need to get a new phone(aside and itel product), good network is the priority,then camera and space.

There's no means to get a new phone actually There's this friend of mine I've,which I told I need a phone but the person doesn't have much,so he said he's giving me 30k that I should pls manage it.

Now,i don't want my parents to know about the phone or money till I get a new one.

So am confused on what to do? Maybe sell my phone and add the money to the 30k and get something nicer or get a 30k phone or keep the money till whenever..

Thank you so much

Please I need an advice on something.


Yesterday made my itel P33 2year old but lately it's really not giving me what I am cos it's a 3G,there at times I'd really really need to do quick browsing but it ends in a hr or so and Thanks to my location (am schooling at Ekiti) only 4G users browse well.

The phone is still looking new tho except that the two volume control button went missing 2wks ago, that's all, every part is okay. So if there's any need to get a new phone(aside and itel product), good network is the priority,then camera and space.

There's no means to get a new phone actually There's this friend of mine I've,which I told I need a phone but the person doesn't have much,so he said he's giving me 30k that I should pls manage it.

Now,i don't want my parents to know about the phone or money till I get a new one.

So am confused on what to do? Maybe sell my phone and add the money to the 30k and get something nicer or get a 30k phone or keep the money till whenever..

Thank you so much

Please I need an advice on something.


Yesterday made my itel P33 2year old but lately it's really not giving me what I am cos it's a 3G,there at times I'd really really need to do quick browsing but it ends in a hr or so and Thanks to my location (am schooling at Ekiti) only 4G users browse well.

The phone is still looking new tho except that the two volume control button went missing 2wks ago, that's all, every part is okay. So if there's any need to get a new phone(aside and itel product), good network is the priority,then camera and space.

There's no means to get a new phone actually There's this friend of mine I've,which I told I need a phone but the person doesn't have much,so he said he's giving me 30k that I should pls manage it.

Now,i don't want my parents to know about the phone or money till I get a new one.

So am confused on what to do? Maybe sell my phone and add the money to the 30k and get something nicer or get a 30k phone or keep the money till whenever..

Thank you very much

BBC News

Freddie Owens (L) and Brad Sigmon (R)
IMAGE COPYRIGHTSOUTH CAROLINA DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS
image captionFreddie Owens (L) and Brad Sigmon (R) were due to be executed this month

A high court in the US state of South Carolina has blocked two executions until the inmates are given the choice of death by electrocution or firing squad.

A new law requires inmates on death row to decide between the two methods if lethal drugs are not available.

But as prison authorities have not yet formed a firing squad, the executions have been halted by the supreme court.

Inmates Brad Sigmon and Freddie Owens were due to be executed this month.

The convicted murderers were denied lethal injections - their favoured option - because prison authorities did not have the drugs needed.

A shortage of these drugs has led to a 10-year pause in this method of execution in the state.

The new law, which came into effect last month, was designed to close a loophole that allowed inmates to indefinitely postpone their executions if the drugs were not available.

Demonstrators protest federal executions of death row inmates, in front of the US Justice Department in Washington
IMAGE COPYRIGHTGETTY IMAGES
image captionLawyers for the inmates argued that electrocution was cruel and unusual

Given the lack of a firing squad, electrocution was the only method of execution available in the state.

But lawyers for Sigmon and Owens challenged the use of the method in court, arguing their clients have the right to die by lethal injection.

They petitioned the South Carolina Supreme Court to stop the planned executions of their clients until their appeals had been heard.


On Wednesday, the court ruled in their favour, saying the inmates had not been given the choice "to elect the manner of their execution".

The court said no further execution notices should be issued until "protocols and policies to carry out executions by firing squad" are in place.

In response to the court order, the state's prison authorities said it was "moving ahead with creating policies and procedures for a firing squad".

"We are looking to other states for guidance through this process. We will notify the court when a firing squad becomes an option for executions," the South Carolina Department of Corrections said.

A view of the death chamber from the witness room at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility
IMAGE COPYRIGHTGETTY IMAGES
image captionOnly four US states allow executions by firing squad


South Carolina is one of four states that allow executions by firing squad. Oklahoma, Mississippi and Utah are the others.

Sigmon, 63, was scheduled to be executed on Friday. He has spent nearly two decades on death row after he was convicted in 2002 of killing his ex-girlfriend's parents with a baseball bat.

Owens's execution was planned for 25 June. The 43-year-old has been on and off death row since 1999, when he was convicted of murdering a shop worker during a robbery spree.

BBC News

A screengrab taken on 24 March 2014 from a video obtained by AFP showing Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau
IMAGE COPYRIGHTAFP
image captionAbubakar Shekau took over the leadership of Boko Haram in 2009

Abubakar Shekau, the infamous leader of the Nigerian Islamist group Boko Haram, is dead, a video published by its militants has confirmed.

Last month, a rival faction said Shekau, who masterminded the kidnapping of nearly 300 schoolgirls in 2014, had been killed during a confrontation with its fighters.

Boko Haram did not respond for weeks, but the BBC has now seen a video in which the militants confirm the commander is dead.

The Nigerian authorities have not commented on the news.

In the three-minute clip seen by the BBC, a man dressed in white clothes with a black turban urged his faction's followers to remain loyal to the group despite the loss of their commander.

The man speaking is said to be Boko Haram commander Bakura Modu, who analysts believe may be the group's new leader.

Global infamy
The list of atrocities that Abubakar Shekau was behind is long, but the mass kidnapping from a girls' boarding school brought him global infamy.

Having taken over Boko Haram in 2009, Shekau turned it into a ruthless force that terrorised people in north-east Nigeria and beyond.

In 2014, its global profile changed after its fighters raided the school in Chibok.

A global campaign under the slogan Bring Back Our Girls brought the tragedy to light, but also provided publicity to Shekau.

A chilling video clip of him laughing about how he would sell or marry off the girls gave an indication of the kind of man he was.

Most of the girls have been freed. Some, however, are still being held and for them, their parents and many others in the region, the fallout from Shekau's actions will be felt long after his death.

Nigeria's most-wanted man was said to be a fearless loner, a complex, paradoxical person - part-theologian, part-gangster.

A poster displayed in Maiduguri, Nigeria, shows the photograph of Abubakar Shekau, leader of the militant Islamist group Boko Haram, declared wanted by the Nigerian military with a reward for information that could lead to his capture -1 May 2013
IMAGE COPYRIGHTAFP
image captionA 2013 poster listing wanted militants, including the Boko Haram leader, did not lead to their capture

Fondly called imam or leader by his followers, Abubakar Muhammad Shekau was born in Shekau village in Nigeria's north-eastern state of Yobe.

Some said he was in his late 30s, others believed he was in his mid-40s - an uncertainty which added to the myths surrounding him.

Radical theology
Shekau was said to have been killed by security forces in 2009 - only for him to reappear in videos posted on the internet less than a year later presenting him as Boko Haram's new leader.

Similar subsequent claims of his death also turned out to be false.

The US government had offered a reward of up to $7m (£4.6m) for information about his location, but his whereabouts were never discovered.

Boko Haram's founder, Muhammad Yusuf, died in police custody in July 2009, and hundreds of others were killed during a massive crackdown - which many blame for making the group even more violent.

Shekau is said to have been introduced to his predecessor in the Borno state capital, Maiduguri, by a mutual friend, Mamman Nur, who himself was wanted for masterminding a bomb attack.

Mohammed Yusuf, bare-chested and with a bandage on his arm, surrounded by soldiers
image captionBoko Haram's founder Mohammed Yusuf was killed in police custody in 2009
All three were theology students - and Shekau was seen as the quietest and perhaps the most radical.

"He hardly talked, he was fearless," said Ahmed Salkida, a journalist with such good access to Boko Haram that, at one stage, he was suspected of being a member.

"He is one of those who believed that you can sacrifice anything for your belief," Salkida said.

Shekau and Nur carried on after the founder's death but both men would later disagree on operational and ideological reasons, causing a split in the group.

Nur and other senior commanders were critical of Shekau's leadership and in 2016 split from Boko Haram, according to the International Crisis Group.

The Nur faction which also had Abu Musab al-Barnawi, a son of Mohammed Yusuf, as a key figure, allied itself with the Islamic State group and took the name Islamic State in West Africa Province (Iswap).

Iswap accused Shekau of many crimes, including violating Islamic doctrine and in June 2018 called the Boko Haram leader a "tumour" to be removed.

Nur was reportedly killed in August 2018 by allies in Iswap who disagreed on his "softer" ideological views.

line
Boko Haram at a glance:
Founded in 2002
Initially focused on opposing Western education
Launched military operations in 2009
Gained attention in 2014 with Chibok kidnappings
Split into two factions in 2016


Shekau was fluent in his native Kanuri language, as well as Hausa and Arabic. He also added English sentences in the tapes his group released to journalists.

When Muhammad Yusuf was killed, Shekau was said to have married one of his four wives and adopted their children - perhaps, said sources who did not want to be named, to preserve Boko Haram's cohesion or "purity".

Shekau did not communicate directly with the group's foot soldiers - he was said to wield his power through a few select cell leaders, but even then contact was minimal.

"A lot of those calling themselves leaders in the group did not even have contact with him," Salkida said.

Shekau had neither the charismatic streak nor the oratorical skills of his predecessor - but he had an intense ideological commitment and ruthlessness, said people who study the group.

He issued a message in one of his video appearances which provided a major insight into his leadership.

"I enjoy killing anyone that God commands me to kill - the way I enjoy killing chickens and rams," he said in the video clip released just after Boko Haram had carried out one of its deadliest attacks, in January 2012, killing more than 180 people in Kano, northern Nigeria's largest city.

A soldier standing guard in front of burnt buses after an attack blamed on Boko Haram in Abuja, Nigeria - 14 April 2014
IMAGE COPYRIGHTAFP
image captionBoko Haram was blamed for deadly attacks in Abuja not long before the city hosted the World Economic Forum in May 2014

Shekau was also the group's spiritual leader and, judging by video footage, he seemed comfortable delivering sermons to his followers.

"He had a photographic memory and was well-versed in theology," Salkida said.

His followers nicknamed him "Darul Tawheed", which translates as a specialist in Tawheed - an orthodox doctrine of the uniqueness and oneness of Allah, which is the very cornerstone of Islam.

But Nigeria's mainstream Muslim clerics did not regard Shekau as a scholar and questioned his understanding of Islam.


They regularly condemned the bombings and drive-by shootings committed by his followers against anyone who disagreed with them, including many Muslims.

At Shekau's death, Boko Haram is not the force it once was but it is still able to carry out attacks and has not been snuffed out by the military despite an extensive campaign.

His grim legacy though will live on in the suffering caused by the killings and kidnappings that he was responsible for.