Official: Messi, who has been recovering from a thigh injury in Argentina, has rejoined the group and is training normally this evening.

The magical healing bo0bs balm did the wonders! Lol

A very Happy New Year to all Cules! May it be a very fruitful, successful and prosperous year for us all in our individual lives, and for our Club, FC Barcelona!

philfearon:
fire no be Small..........Pedro is hotter than the Sun right now!

You're right!

We need to strengthen our defence before Champions league resumes in February. This defence would fall flat like the wall of Jericho when faced with a decent CL team.

Pedro the hero

Pedro on-fire!

Was he always the best?

Yes, even in Argentina, at Newell's Old Boys. Since he was eight he realised that he was the one that won the games on his own. In the Barcelona academy every Thursday, there used to be a meeting between the managers from different levels and they decided who was going to use Messi that weekend. They asked: "who needs to win?" and Messi played with that team.

EXCLUSIVE Guillem Balague Tells IBTimes UK About His Lionel Messi Masterpiece

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/exclusive-guillem-balague-tells-ibtimes-uk-about-his-lionel-messi-masterpiece-1429475

^^^^^^^ @bolded;

Messi's thigh injury had completely healed. The player will now have more intense training sessions, with the club's physical coach. [sport #fcblive]

This is the most heart-warming news on a day we were drawn against Man City in the Champions League. With Messi and Neymar firing on all cylinders, City would suffer both home and away. The form and fitness of Messi along with Neymar, will greatly determine the outcome of this fixture come February. We will have to display two stellar performances in order to win this fixture. Man City are not push-overs. If we play average or subaverage games like we did against Ajax in Amsterdam, then City would kick us out effortlessly. We have to be at our best. We can do it, because we are Barca. We can win any team! Come on Barca!!

Neymar gets his 5th Liga yellow of the season and is suspended for next week's game against Getafe #fcblive

How do we handle Getafe without Neymar? I dey fear o.

Another 3 points from a difficult match. Messi, please get well soon and come back before Montoya, Fabregas and co. give me high blood pressure. No be small something o! Thanks to Neymar, Iniesta and Xavi. Congrats to all Cules!

ddippset: ronaldo only talks about boycotting when he thinks he will NOT win. If you'd observed closely before the play offs when ribery and messi were the favourites he talked about boycotting the awards, then the play offs came and he shone like a million stars and automatically became favourite over messi and frank. At that point ronaldo never said a word about boycotting. Now there have been rumours of messi's victory as leaked by agencia who have leaked many events that turned out positive and all of a sudden, ronaldo might boycott the ballon dor.

Below are the reasons for the recent threat to boycott the awards:

Ballon D'Or mystery as odds on Lionel Messi beating Cristiano Ronaldo AGAIN plummet

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/ballon-dor-mystery-odds-lionel-2889213

Lionel Messi Has Beaten Cristiano Ronaldo to Ballon D'Or, Claims News Agency

"It seems the momentum is behind Messi. The market has changed over the last few days. Ronaldo remains the 4/6 favourite - although he has drifted from 4/11.
Messi has come in the betting from 4/1 into 11/10 - this is market forces and punter support - which is probably linked to the Agencia story. Ribery is out to 10/1 having been even money favourite in June. It's a really strange market - and certainly we've never seen anything like it."

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1876768-lionel-messi-has-beaten-cristiano-ronaldo-to-ballon-dor-reports-leak-agency

Some of the votes someone posted from the Agencia News website:

guatamala manager and captain =1-messi
senegal manager=1- messi
ecuador manager=1-messi
colombia manager =1-messi
iran captain=1-messi
argentina manager=1-messi
brazil captain=1-messi
cameron captain=1-messi
andorra manager=1-messi
many voters are voting for messi .

Yahoo1: Not the best of time to be sending this,but i thought you guys should see this



www.barcablaugranes.com/2013/12/1/5163576/report-lionel-messi-wins-the-2013-fifa-ballon-dor

With all the injury woes and the current losses we have had, there's no better time to receive something like this. Be it true or a rumour, at least the news is something of hope one can only wish becomes reality on January 13th, 2014. Nothing would be as satisfying as seeing millions of cry-babies in Madrid, Portugal and the world over accusing Fifalona, Uefalona, Blatterlona and Platinilona.......lol

On a more serious note, the AgenciaNews have also claimed that Luis Felipe Scolari won the Coach of the year, with Jupp Heynckes (2nd), and Vicente de Bosque (3rd). Let's see if these three coaches make the final shortlists next week.

They claimed that Messi won ahead pf Cristiano in a very narrow contest. They said it's the tightest in recent times. Ribery is claimed to occupy the 3rd position, Andres Iniesta (4th) and Zlatan Ibrahimovic (5th). Let's watch out next week when the shortlist for the final three candidates is released by Fifa next week. Let's watch if Iniesta and Ibrahimovic will actually make the 4th and 5th positions.

I read their predictions for last year's Ballon d'Or, but I didn't believe them. They correctly predicted the five top canditates. They correctly predicted the top four candidates for the best coach's award as well.

It seems they have an unofficial informant among the organizers of the Ballon d'Or. The AgenciaNews were the first to report (ahead of Mundo Deportivo) that the Ballon d'Or voting has been extended by Fifa. They were originally going to announce the results of the Ballon d'Or winner on the day that Fifa extended the voting. At about 15:00 hour on the day the voting was extended, the AgenciaNews twitted: "For reasons beyond our control we have decided to delay the announcement of the 2013 Golden Ball winner, we're very sorry for this delay." It was later in the night of that day (after the Portugal vs Sweden's game where Cristiano shone and scored a hat-trick) that the news broke that the Ballon d'Or voting has been extended by Fifa.

In a bid to authenticate their predictions, the AgenciaNews have been releasing votes by the different coaches, captains and journalists. Below are some of these results:

Coach Alain of Senegal: 1/Messi 2/Ribery 3/Iniesta
Coach Nestor Pekerman Colombia: 1/Messi 2/Ribery 3/Ronaldo
Coach Salvador Castillo: 1/Ribery 2/Ronaldo 3/Messi,es
Peruvian team captain Claudio Pizarro: 1/Ribery 2/Messi 3/Ronaldo
Captain of Guatemala Manuel Contreras: 1/Messi 2/Ronaldo 3/Ribery

I hope this post makes someone smiles . Let's not allow the current injury woes and losses rob us of our joy. Everything will be alright. Messi will return stronger and better. Our team will be great again. Cheer up lovely Cules! One love to all

I leave you with these lovely words from Ronaldo De Lima, words spoken today. "Messi has spent the last five years playing so many matches and he is the biggest star in world football. Now, this injury isn't serious, but maybe resting will allow him to recharge his batteries."
http://www.goal.com/en/news/1785/fifa-ballon-dor/2013/12/04/4453336/ronaldo-i-think-messi-will-win-ballon-dor

AjanleKoko:

That was prolly me.
I can't stand the guy and I've posted it here many times. He has actually posted some good performances for Brazil, but since he came to Barca, he's just been diving and generally rubbish. Is La Liga a rougher, tougher league than the Campeonato Brasileiro Serie A?

And people should spare me that horseshyt about rushing him. The guy is actually 21 for freak's sake! Same age with Ramsey and Wilsher, who have been playing in England's top flight for 3+ seasons now

Yeah, he's a half-decent player, with good assists. But that's all he is, nowhere near Messi. Certainly can put in a solid shift, has made very good contributions, but cannot change the course of a game like Messi. And he needs to dial down on the diving, nobody likes that. Does he think he is Greg Louganis?

Ah. Messi. As my fam would say 'Messi na businessman, he dey wear suit and tie, carry briefcase come pitch'
That's why he raked for Villa last season. 'My guy, na goals we come score for here oh, borrow yaself brain sharp-aly '

Baba AJ, your talk dey always make my belle sweet . I still dey think, maybe na you I go finally give that my beautiful house-girl to.. ..lol

Honestly, I love the bolded quote. It has made my afternoon already.

Pinto for Fifa Ballon d'Or 2013. Lol

Johnpaul88: Official: Pique (groin) and Cesc
(knee) get the medical green
light and are available for
tomorrow's league game
against Granada #fcblive

A breath of fresh air. GEJ is working! Lol

Someone made this comment and I liked it: "If only Argentina would have qualified 5th in South America to play Jordan in play-off, and Messi scores 15 goals!"

dmcdad:
Case closed... God bless you

Thank you my brother! God bless you too.

barack_o_handso: Messi: I will come back stronger

This comment got me cracked up big time!

"I pray you come back on time, your deputy cr7 is planning to crown himself king, and enslave everyone"

dmcdad:
I was surprised when I read it... Na wa ooooo. Make 13th of January reach make them carry am give Ronaldo as him wan die follow the award, so that him body go come down...

They (Fifa) are acting strange. They also asked people to change their votes if they desire to do so. Blatter wants to give the Ballon d'Or to Ribery or Ronaldo by all means. Even if the rules have to be changed. I'm sure they are under pressure to 'prove' to the media that they are not just handing the award to Messi every year. I don't mind Ribery or Ronaldo winning the award. They are great players and surely deserve the award. However, things must be done the proper way.

It's not impossible that they have counted the votes already and they found that Messi won again. Hence the reason for this strange development.

Ronaldo did brilliantly last night. That was a super fantastic performance from him. People must remember that the achievement of Ronaldo/Ribery last night is akin to a resit student who made an 'A' grade in his second attempt, whereas his mates made the same grade at first sitting. The 'real big boys' got their teams qualified directly for the WC. They didn't have to go through a play-off.

Meanwhile, the 'good boy', Messi doesn't cheat; so, why wouldn't Blatter and 'every father want to have him as a son'?..lol

ddippset: hahahahahahahahaha. R u for real? Ronaldo get sense o!

I'm for real bro! The last time Cristiano voted was in 2010 when it was obvious he was not in the contest at all. That year, he voted for Xavi, Casillas and Sneijder. Thereafter, he's been relinguishing his captaincy to his national teammates so as to get votes from them. This might be one of the reasons 'he's not loved by FIFA and other voters' as alleged. That's like cheating in broad daylight whilst the whole world is watching you. See the proves below by checking all the votes for Portugal:

ddippset: but how could del bosque vote for xavi and iniesta? I thought since he's spanish he is not supposed to vote for any spanish player.

Brother, me I dey watch Del Bosque o!...lol. Actually, there's no FIFA's law which forbids him or other voters from voting for their own players. You can vote for anyone you feel like voting for. Even CR7 indirectly votes for himself every year by relinquishing his Portuguese national team captaincy to another team member at this time of the year, so that they would vote for him. Once the voting is over, he becomes the national team captain of Portugal again...lol. Let's watch and see if he does the same this year too...lol.

This news about Jordi Alba is heart-warming:

Left back Jordi Alba, who is recovering from a thigh muscle injury since September, will join the group on training this week. #fcblive [as]




Xavi: "If I'd be captain, I'd vote Messi-Ribery-Cristiano for Ballon d'Or. Messi is the best in the world. For 2013, you can discuss."

Xavi: "Having won 4 consecutive Ballons d'Or could work against Messi. Maybe voters say: he already won four, it's time for someone else."

Del Bosque (coach ESP): "For the Ballon d'Or, I've voted for the two Spaniards - Xavi and Iniesta - and for another player..." [cope]

philfearon:
I couldnt have said it better bro!
Having Messi on the field,whether or not he is playing well,is alwaz a +2! His presence alone breeds Terror! And like the commentators will alwaz say,"He is the magician......He is alwaz the magician!"

Thanks my brother for having a read through my epistle..lol (The epistle according to Yourangel) lol.

logica:

You only noticed Messi? Johan Cruyff was a striker (probably the first ever False 9) and Pele was a supporting striker, yet they are put in the mid-field. I guess he's doing it the Barcelona way; flexibility. After all though Cruyff and Pele were strikers, they were decent ball players (to fit in the mid-field). But he completely snubbed great mid-fielders like Lothar Matthäus, Matthias Sammer, Xavi, etc. Only Maradona was a mid-fielder.

Thanks my brother! Yeah, I only noticed Messi's position for obvious reasons....lol

ddippset: you're right my brother, but I think he had already given garrinca the right wing. But his soul and conscience told him he had to fix the genius messi in somewhere. Lol. He just couldnt imagine his list being complete without lionel.

I'm grateful my brother for kindly responding! One of the guys that commented on the blog was screaming that the baba left the commander (CR7) on the bench.........lol. Thanks again bro!

barack_o_handso: 'Barca will always depend on Messi' -
Valdes


http://m.goal.com/x/en-ng/news/4403936/


What do you guys think?

I am not an expert in football analysis like most our Cule brothers on this thread. You could describe me as a layman or at best, a football enthusiast. That notwithstanding, I think Valdes is right. If you carefully analyse his words, you would notice that the premise has an underlying caveat; "For me, Barca will always depend on him because he is the best in the world". Barca will always be Messi-dependent as long as Messi continues to play at the top of his game. Once he slows down, that dependence would wane.

Alejandro Sabella, the national team coach of Argentina once opined that it would be impossible in this world for any team to have a player like Messi and not be dependent on him. I don't see any problems in the club being Messi-dependent. The problem is how to take that dependence out of the way if Messi is not playing or having a good game. There should be a plan B or C which would create an environment for other team members to step up their games when Messi is not playing at his best, or not playing at all.

Dependence on a talented individual in a team's setting is a natural phenomenon which occurs whenever you find a rare gem or genius around. Imagine having Albert Einstein on this thread and we are all working together to solve one very complex mathematical problem. Do you think Seun's eyes would be on me? No way! He would focus on Einstein, because he's the genius among the team members. Even we, the remaining members of the team would give him the freedom to take the centre stage, afterall, we are talking about Albert Einstein here. I tell you this bro, Messi is like the Albert Einstein of football. Who wouldn't depend on Einstein to solve his mathematical or classical physics problem for him? So, it's natural for any team to depend on Messi. Barca is not an exception to this.

Meanwhile, if Messi's injury woes persist and he no longer performs at his best, naturally Barca would gradually release him and remove their dependence because he would no longer be deemed reliable and dependable. But, as long as Messi continues to dazzle the world the way he currently does, any team on Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Mercury, etc, would naturally depend on him. This is what I think bro.

Pele, Maradona, Messi and more: Jimmy Greaves picks his all-time world XI

The England legend certainly prioritised attack when picking his best-ever side


http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/pele-maradona-messi-jimmy-greaves-2801770

Someone should please kindly educate me. I saw this Baba's all-time world XI (shown below) and was wondering if Messi also plays as a left-winger? I used to think he (Messi) plays on the right wing and not left. Please tell me if I'm wrong? Thanks!

ddippset: yeah congratz too. But what's the essence of the 'first' that you people are just talking about. I thought we were first because we scheduled our own qualifier before others?

Brother, you're very right. However, na the maggi wey dey the soup be that..lol.

I called my Ghanaian and South African friends to inform them that we were the first in Africa to qualify for next year's WC. It's actually baseless, senseless and meaningless to say 'first to qualify', yet it's a sweet bragging right...lol. It's all part of the fun bro, don't mind us o.

Lionel Messi will get back to his brilliant best, says fellow Barcelona superstar Xavi

The Spanish international believes the diminutive Argentine will return from his muscle injury woes better than ever


http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/lionel-messi-back-brilliant-best-2799302

Great people have great hearts. Thanks Xavi for those generous and encouraging words. Please, the team should continue in one love!


Meanwhile, congratulations to us (Nigerians) for being the first in Africa to qualify for the world cup in Brazil next year! Well done Super Eagles!

In another development, Leo's brother, Matias Messi has sparked a new debate on the Ballon d'Or, by posting photos of trophies won by Messi and Ronaldo between 2009 and 2013 on twitter.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2507443/Lionel-Messi-beat-Cristiano-Ronaldo-Franck-Ribery-Ballon-dor-says-Barcelona-stars-brother.html

ddippset: bros I agree that fifa erred in that regard but it was a welcomed error. Why? Because people were begining to forget what messi achieved in may this year. People were beginning to see it as balon dor october and november not balon dor 2013 so that error by fifa reminded everyone. I won't accept that 'ronaldo scored 14 champions league goals in 2013. That is not a record. You cannot add two champions league seasons together. Yes ronaldo was top scorer in champions league 2012/13 with 12 goals, yes ronaldo scored 63 goals in 2013, yes ronaldo is the current la liga top scorer with 16 goals, yes ronaldo is the current top scorer in the champions league with 8 goals. Let me tell you messi's own- messi won the pichichi in may with 46 goals, messi won the european golden shoe with 46 goals, messi was top scorer in all competitions with 63 goals, messi became the first man in history to score consecutively in 20 matches including all 19 league opponents, messi has masterminded his country to top spot in the south america world cup zone and then messi won la liga and the spanish super cup. Now compare these two feats and sincerely tell us who deserves the ballon dor more!

You're a darling! Nwaan

barack_o_handso:

…and what's he commanding by the way, Fuji music?

Our man is the commander of all hairdressers in Spain and Portugal.