Why 44 trophies are not enough for record-breaking Lionel Messi as Inter Miami boss Tata Martino delivers emphatic answer to ‘hunger’ question

Lionel Messi has a record-breaking haul of 44 trophies to his name, but Inter Miami boss Tata Martino says the Argentine is hungry for more.

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  • All-time great the most decorated player in history
  • Won silverware at Barcelona, PSG & Inter Miami
  • Also collected major honours with Argentina
  • WHAT HAPPENED?

    The Argentine icon made more history in 2023 as he helped to inspire Leagues Cup glory a matter of weeks after completing a stunning move to the United States. That success made the eight-time Ballon d’Or winner the most decorated player to have ever kicked a ball in anger.

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    THE BIGGER PICTURE

    Messi has La Liga, Ligue 1, Champions League, Copa America and World Cup honours to his name, but there will be no letting up from the mercurial 36-year-old in pursuit of trophy No.45. Martino told reporters when asked why he is so sure that that the South American superstar will have his sights set on more major silverware in 2024: “Because he loves to compete. If you could see that [training], I wouldn't be answering this question.”

  • WHAT THEY SAID

    Martino has previously worked with Messi at Barcelona and with the Argentina national team and is loving his third stint coaching the all-time great, with plenty of highs and lows already taken in during a hectic few months in Florida. He added: “We have enjoyed these five months. It’s been like a roller coaster, between so many games and tournaments. We were able to enjoy a championship. For me, it’s always a pleasure to coach him.”

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    WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?

    Alongside Inter Miami’s Leagues Cup triumph, the David Beckham co-owned franchise also reached the U.S. Open Cup final. They finished as runners-up there, with Messi nursing an untimely injury, and missed out on a place in the MLS play-offs, but attention is already shifting towards next season – with it looking like experienced Uruguayan striker Luis Suarez will be next to join the star-studded ranks at DRV PNK Stadium.

Com arbitragem polêmica, Bahia vence o Botafogo-PB e avança na Copa do Nordeste

MatériaMais Notícias

Estão definidas as semifinais da Copa do Nordeste. Em Pituaçu, o Bahia venceu o Botafogo-PB por 3 a 1, em jogo marcado por arbitragem polêmica. Na próxima fase, o Esquadrão de Aço encara o Confiança.

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O jogo

O Bahia começou o duelo com o pé no acelerador. Com velocidade, o time de Roger Machado envolvia o Belo, que apenas assistia o ímpeto do Esquadrão de Aço.

O volume deu resultado e Ronaldo, após rebote do escanteio, bateu colocado para balançar a rede, 1 a 0.

Com a vantagem, o Tricolor obrigou o Botafogo-PB a atacar. Sem inspiração, o time paraibano pouco fazia com a bola nos pés e o goleiro Anderson não tinha trabalho.

Assim como na etapa inicial, o Bahia voltou do intervalo em cima do Bota e conseguiu ampliar com Rodriguinho. O meio-campo aproveitou o passe de Capixaba e venceu Felipe.

Quando tudo parecia decidido, o Belo ressurgiu. Primeiro com Rodrigo Andrade, que descontou o marcador. Pouco depois, Kelvin foi lançado e tocou na saída do goleiro, mas o bandeira anulou o empate de maneira irregular.

Preocupado com a pressão do rival, o Bahia chegou ao terceiro gol através de Fernandão. Em posição de impedimento, o atacante completou o cruzamento. O lance gerou muita reclamação dos jogadores do Botafogo, porém não adiantou.

Messi & Higuain spearhead Champions League Team of the Round

Superstar performers from Real Madrid, Juventus, Liverpool, Barcelona and Bayern Munich helped guide their sides into the quarter-finals

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    1Gonzalo Higuain – Juventus

    Probably thought he had done enough after netting twice inside the opening nine minutes of a first leg clash with Tottenham, but saw Spurs hit back to leave the tie level. Juventus needed away goals at Wembley, and their Argentine hit-man got the first to help seal a dramatic 4-3 aggregate success after an excellent all-around performance.

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    2Wissam Ben Yedder – Sevilla

    Was only introduced in the second leg of a meeting with Manchester United in the 72nd minute, but made the most telling of contributions. Within 87 seconds of entering the fold he had fired Sevilla in front, and doubled their lead four minutes later to leave Jose Mourinho and Old Trafford stunned.

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    3Lionel Messi – Barcelona

    Messi opened the scoring in the second leg of Barcelona's tie with Chelsea with the quickest goal of his career after just two minutes and eight seconds. He then set up Ousmane Dembele for the Frenchman's first Barca goal and Messi put the seal on his club's safe passage into the quarter-finals by scoring his second of the night, which was also his 100th in the Champions League.

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  • 4Thomas Muller – Bayern Munich

    Netted the first of Bayern’s eight goals across two legs against Besiktas, with a brace in a 5-0 victory on home soil helping to end the tie as a contest. The World Cup winner was also heavily involved in the return date, with his inch-perfect cross allowing Thiago Alcantara to break the deadlock.

Corinthians e Grêmio se acertam, e Luan fica muito próximo do Timão

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O meia-atacante Luan tem tudo para ser o primeiro grande reforço do Corinthians para 2020. Nas últimas horas, a diretoria do Timão chegou a um acordo com o Grêmio e acertou a compra de 50% dos direitos do jogador pelas próximas cinco temporadas. O clube do Parque São Jorge desembolsará pouco mais de R$ 20 milhões para tirar o melhor jogador das Américas em 2017 de Porto Alegre. O anúncio deve ser feito nas próximas horas.

As negociações entre Corinthians e Grêmio levaram mais de uma semana. Pesou o fato de Luan querer mudar de ares e vestir a camisa do Timão, seu clube de coração na infância. Outro fator determinante para o sucesso alvinegro nas tratativas com o Imortal foi o técnico Tiago Nunes, que vê o jogador como vital para o Alvinegro na temporada 2020.

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No fim da tarde desta sexta, os representantes do jogador estiveram reunidos com as diretorias dos dois clubes e bateram o martelo. Mesmo com o Corinthians oferecendo alguns nomes de seu elenco para compensar financeiramente o negócio, os gaúchos foram irredutíveis e não aceitaram a proposta. A informação foi publicada pelo UOL e confirmada pelo L!

Sendo assim, o clube do Parque São Jorge pagará ao Grêmio algo em torno R$ 20 milhões. Luan assinará contrato válido por cinco temporadas com o Timão e se apresenta no CT Joaquim Grava no dia 6 de janeiro para fazer exames médicos e iniciar a pré-temporada com seus novos companheiros de trabalho.

Decisivo na campanha vitoriosa do Grêmio na Copa Libertadores de 2017, Luan deu os primeiros passos no Tanabi, de São Paulo, e passou por América-SP e Catanduvense antes de assinar com o Tricolor Gaúcho. Em Porto Alegre, foram 288 jogos como profissional e 75 gols anotados, além dos títulos da Liberta (2017), Copa do Brasil (2016), Recopa Sul-Americana (2018) e Campeonato Gaúcho (2018 e 2019).

USACA could face more court time

The USA Cricket Association may be on the road back to court after a California sports lawyer has filed a request for arbitration on behalf of the family of a junior cricketer claiming “unfairness and lack of transparency in the USACA U-19 selection proce

Peter Della Penna25-Jun-2015After fighting off legal action from a dismissed board member and contested election results in recent years, the USA Cricket Association may be on the road back to court, after a California sports lawyer has filed a request for arbitration on behalf of the family of a junior cricketer claiming “unfairness and lack of transparency in the USACA U-19 selection process” held from May 23-25 in Los Angeles.Jeremy Evans, the lawyer representing Shyam Patnam whose son Aravind was not selected in the final 14-man squad due to travel to Bermuda next month for the ICC Americas U-19 Division One tournament, states that Mr. Patnam personally requested an arbitration hearing with USACA and filed the paperwork within the two-week deadline laid out in the USACA Constitution but that USACA’s failure to respond is a violation of due process. Multiple USACA administrators who were contacted by ESPNcricinfo about Evans’ legal notice declined to comment. Evans has requested an expedited hearing due to the USA U-19 team’s scheduled departure for Bermuda on July 4 for a tournament whose winner will advance to the ICC U-19 World Cup next year in Bangladesh.”Mr. Patnam does not wish to challenge whether his son is a bad or great cricket player,” Evans wrote in his notice to USACA dated June 8. “He wishes that his son would have had a fair shot to make the team where, among other reasons, clearly several players did not try out yet made the team thus raising serious questions as to the selection process.”Mr. Patnam also sent a letter on June 1 to USACA to demand not just an arbitration hearing, but that a total of seven players included in the 14-man squad be removed for various reasons. Three players selected did not attend trials while Patnam claims the other four underperformed but benefited from nepotism by being the sons or close friends of current or former USACA administrators. Patnam requested that their spots in the USA U-19 squad be filled by his son Aravind, former USA U-15 player Anirudh Srinivas, and five other players “who performed well during the trials.””The whole ordeal and the unfair process, which we think has been unethical, has caused our children severe agony and depression,” Patnam wrote. “They have seen that it helps to be the child of a selector or a USACA official, or an ex-official, with no need for any talent of significance to be on the US team. The agony they are going through right now is severe and indescribable.”

Diretoria do Bahia aposta em visita a clubes na Europa: 'Construir relações'

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Nos últimos dias de janela internacional, o Bahia anunciou o empréstimo com opção de compra do meia Ramires ao Basel, da Suíça. Com possibilidades de se tornar a maior transação da história do clube, ela foi fechada pessoalmente pelo presidente do Bahia Guilherme Belintani, o vice Vitor Ferraz e o diretor de futebol Diego Cerri, que viajaram à Europa para finalizá-la.

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Após a concretização do negócio, a diretoria do clube tricolor aproveitou para viajar a outros países do continente e, segundo Diego Cerri, aproximar relações com alguns clubes da Europa visando abrir mercado ao Bahia.

‘Eu, o presidente (Guilherme Belintani) e o vice-presidente (Vitor Ferraz) entendemos que era importante aproveitar a nossa vinda à Europa para abrir ainda mais o mercado para o Bahia. Achamos que é sempre importante você construir essas relações internacionais para intensificar as negociações que estamos realizando. Creio que na história do Bahia é a primeira vez que isso é feito. Foram inúmeras negociações nos últimos dois anos, aproveitando oportunidades de mercado’, disse Cerri.

‘Fomos a alguns clubes em Portugal, Inglaterra, na própria Suíça, em que negociamos o Ramires com o Basel. Esta janela internacional que se encerrou já foi muito positiva para nós, fizemos grandes negociações, tanto de venda quanto de busca de reforços para a nossa equipe’, disse.

Nos últimos anos, o Bahia tem se intensificado como um clube que fez boas vendas de jogadores, como o goleiro Jean ao São Paulo, Juninho Capixaba ao Corinthians, Zé Rafael no Palmeiras, Douglas Augusto no PAOK, da Grécia, Becão a Udinese, da Itália, entre outros. Segundo Diego Cerri, essas visitas ajudam para que o clube que se posicione ainda mais no mercado.

‘Também queremos construir uma visão de que é preciso intensificar a relação direta com os clubes compradores para que possamos atingir metas de receitas com negociações. Às vezes existem casos de atletas que estão com dificuldades momentâneas de fazer a transição para o profissionais e, emprestados a clubes do exterior, podem seguir por lá e abrir novas expectativas na carreira. Queremos, definitivamente, inserir o Bahia nesse ciclo internacionalizando o clube’, finalizou.

Knights coach in fight to prove worth

Domestic cricket competitions provide a place for players to audition for higher honours, but for the rest of the South African summer, the trial will extend to at least one other person as Sarel Cilliers, coach of the Knights franchise, gears up for a fight to prove his worth.Cilliers’ contract with the Bloemfontein-based franchise expires at the end of March 2015 and he has not been offered an extension. Instead, Knights have put out a job advertisement for his post, which they plan to fill once the season ends. Cilliers confirmed to ESPNcricinfo that he will be reapplying for the job he has been in for the last five years but knows he will need the team to deliver strong results for him to be successful.”It’s important that we get a few trophies,” Cilliers said. “We’ve produced some players for the national side, we’ve lost some players and we’ve been rebuilding but we have to win as well.”Knights’ last triumph came four seasons ago in 2010-11, when they were victorious in what was then a 40-over, limited-overs competition. That was the last in a long line of success that had stretched for seven seasons during which the team claimed six trophies.Despite their drought in subsequent seasons, they remained a competitive force thanks to the likes of Dean Elgar, Rilee Rossouw and Reeza Hendricks, who were always among the country’s top run-scorers, and the experience of Johan van der Wath, Quinton Friend and Dillon du Preez, who kept their attack incisive. More recently though, other outfits have emerged stronger, while the Knights have stagnated and their stability has been shaken.Two season ago, Morne van Wyk moved to Dolphins and this summer, Ryan McLaren followed him while Elgar has joined Titans. Van der Wath has retired and recent national call-ups for Rossouw and Hendricks have added to the side’s resource depletion. “We have to try very hard to keep the culture going,” Cilliers explained. “And that’s not always easy.”Knights have also struggled to attract players and Cilliers did not shy away the reasons: “We haven’t got a sea or a mountain or any of those things guys want here in Bloemfontein. It’s very different to the coastal areas or the big cities. If players are not from here, they don’t play here.”As Bloemfontein does not have the pull of the other cities where franchises are based – Johannesburg, Centurion, Cape Town, Port Elizabeth and Durban – Knights have to rely on the school system for a pipeline. Establishments like Grey College, the alma mater of Kepler Wessels and McLaren, and St Andrews, provide that but recent trends show the situation could change. Talented schoolboys at sports-oriented establishments often excel at both cricket and rugby and Cilliers admitted the “financial side of rugby” ends up being more attractive to them. As a result, Knights “haven’t had the production line we would have liked” and are now searching for answers.Former national player Nicky Boje may provide some. He has started an academy in Bloemfontein with a view to keeping promising cricketers in the system but Cilliers admits there’s more to be done and he would know. The coach has been involved with Free State cricket since 2002, before the franchise system formed. When Free State merged with Griquas to become the Eagles (the predecessor to the Knights), Cilliers acted as an assistant to Corrie van Zyl, who went on to coach South Africa and now heads the National Performance Programme.It was on van Zyl’s promotion that Cilliers was appointed and he has occupied the post since but has only managed one trophy in his tenure, and pressure is mounting on him to produce. For that, Cilliers need the current crop to step up and so far, the signs are fairly positive.Knights are currently on top of the first-class competition points table after two rounds and are the only franchise to have won both their games so far. They also enjoyed a winning start to the 20-over tournament with a 74-run victory over Warriors on Sunday. That event is still in its infancy and with their other limited-overs competition results – second from bottom in the 50-over cup with just one win from six matches – Cilliers does not want to get ahead of himself.”There is still a lot of cricket to be played this season,” he said. “But I hope it all goes well and then we will see.”Applications for the position close on December 15, with the appointment expected to be finalised by March.

Pablo Marí é regularizado e pode estrear pelo Flamengo no domingo

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Regularizado nesta quinta-feira, o zagueiro Pablo Marí é mais um jogador à disposição de Jorge Jesus e pode estrear pelo Flamengo já neste domingo. O espanhol teve o nome publicado no BID (Boletim Informativo Diário) da CBF. Treinando no CT desde segunda, o defensor pode ser relacionado para a partida contra o Corinthians, em São Paulo, pela 11ª rodada do Brasileirão.

O zagueiro de 25 anos é um dos três reforços do clube da Gávea para o segundo semestre. O lateral-direito Rafinha, inclusive, já estreou, enquanto o meia Gerson também pode fazer sua estreia no domingo. Negociado junto ao Manchester City, da Inglaterra, Pablo Marí assinou até dezembro de 2022.

Pablo Marí será um dos nomes inscritos pelo Flamengo para as oitavas de final da Libertadores. O zagueiro Rafinha e Gerson substituirão na lista o atacante Fernando Uribe, o meia Ronaldo e o goleiro Thiago. O clube pode até fazer cinco trocas entre os 30 inscritos para a fase de grupos até esta sexta-feira.

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Mesmeric Ajmal does it again

Saeed Ajmal took six wickets for 13 runs in a magical 36-ball spell to give Worcestershire a 234-run victory over Leicestershire on the final day of their LV= County Championship Division Two game at Grace Road

Press Association18-Jun-2014
ScorecardSaeed Ajmal destroyed Leicestershire with a six-wicket burst•Getty Images

Saeed Ajmal took six wickets for 13 runs in a magical 36-ball spell to give Worcestershire a 234-run victory over Leicestershire on the final day of their LV= County Championship Division Two game at Grace Road.The home batsmen had no answer to the mystery spin of the Pakistan star and crashed from 145 for 4 to 169 all out.It was Worcestershire’s fourth win of the season and Leicestershire’s fourth successive home defeat. Worcestershire are now second in the table one point behind Hampshire, while Leicestershire have not won a Championship game since September 2012.Even so the manner of their collapse in this game was extraordinary. Set a victory target of 404 they began the day on 20 without loss and took 19 runs off the first two overs from Jack Shantry and Charles Morris.The first nine overs of the day produced 50 runs and a flurry of boundaries, and it began to look as though Leicestershire might make a decent fist of it.But Angus Robson chopped a ball from Morris on to his stumps, Greg Smith and Ned Eckersley were both lbw to Shantry playing across the line and Josh Cobb was bowled by Joe Leach to leave Leicestershire at 98 for 4.All that was left for them then was a battle for survival. A partnership of 47 runs between Dan Redfern and Niall O’Brien suggested they could stretch the game out – but then Ajmal took centre stage.He had hardly been in the game for three and half days, claiming just one wicket for 46 runs in Leicestershire’s first innings. But a fourth-day pitch that was at last offering some assistance, was right up his street.He had taken a career best 7 for 19 against Essex earlier in the season and almost matched it again. In less than hour after lunch he picked up the last six wickets to leave Leicestershire in a spin.O’Brien edged to slip, Redfern was bowled leg stump, Ramnaresh Sarwan and Richard Jones were both caught off bat and pad, Ben Raine top-edged a slog sweep and Charlie Shreck was trapped lbw.Ajmal finished with 6 for 19 to take his wicket-haul for Worcestershire to 44 in seven Championship games. They will miss him when he joins up with Pakistan for a tour of Sri Lanka in August.Steve Rhodes, Worcestershire director of cricket, said: “The plan is always to try and take a few wickets with our seam attack to provide a platform for Ajmal. In these sort of conditions he can be devastating.”Ben Smith, Leicestershire’s senior coach, said: “Ajmal’s spell was brilliant and blew us away. But we would not have been in that position if we had taken a 150-run first innings lead as we should have done.”

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