Barcelona coach Luis Enrique said he believes Lionel Messi will sign a new contract with the Spanish champions despite reports the five times World Player of the Year is stalling over a new deal.
Cristiano Ronaldo, Luka Modric and Mohamed Salah were named as the three finalists.
Barcelona's Lionel Messi scored twice in a 3-0 win over Las Palmas in a match played without fans following clashes between police and voters in Catalonia over a disputed independence referendum.
Messi agreed the new contract with Barcelona in July but the club did not release the usual photo of the player putting pen to paper, fuelling speculation he could depart in June 2018, when his previous deal ran out, for free.
Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu has reassured his club's supporters that Lionel Messi's new contract has been signed, albeit by the player's father.
He is the third sportsperson with the most followers on Instagram behind footballing greats Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.
La Liga leaders Barcelona were held to a 2-2 home draw by Celta Vigo on Saturday as their former assistant coach Juan Carlos Unzue dented the title hopes of the Catalans, who dropped points for the second game in a row for the first time this campaign.
Leander Paes is ready to unleash his 'new version' when the sport resumes but the veteran tennis star fears that the organisers may not be able to pull off Tokyo Games and the legacy he wants to create by playing his eighth successive Olympics could remain an unrealised dream. Paes, who turned 47 on Wednesday, had announced that 2020 would be his last season and Tokyo Games was expected to be his swansong event but the COVID-19 pandemic upset his plans.
The eyes, the smile, the style, the attitude... Diana Penty was a doll on the ramp.
An Argentine football club has recreated the Sistine Chapel on the ceiling of its gymnasium, with Diego Maradona as God, Lionel Messi as Adam and a host of angels that include Mario Kempes, Sergio Aguero and Gabriel Batistuta.
Meet Google's Most Searched Sportspeople This Year.
Lionel Messi requires two more goals to reach 500 for Barcelona and will have his sights set on achieving the milestone against great rivals Real Madrid in Sunday's Clasico.
'What happened to Raj and Simran after running away on the train at the end of DDLJ 20 years later? Have they become flatmates instead of lovers? What happens when the initial chemistry has worn off and love becomes a habit? This has always fascinated me.'
Becks caught up with the Ambanis on Thursday.
Lionel Messi was lauded by opposition supporters on Sunday after he scored an outstanding hat-trick in Barcelona's 4-1 win at Real Betis, which put the Catalans 10 points clear at the top of La Liga with 10 games remaining.
The South Indian actress is all about good looks and simplistic styles.
"It's better for Messi to play as he is the best in the world and he gives you a boost but we should be very proud as a team, as we showed that we are a great team without Messi and we have a great coach (Ernesto Valverde)," Suarez said.
Barcelona removed Pere Gratacos as their institutional sporting relations director on Friday after he claimed that Lionel Messi "would not be as good" without his teammates.
IMAGES from the Champions League 2nd semi-final first leg match between Barcelona and Liverpool at Nou Camp on Wednesday
Defending Copa America champions Argentina and South American heavyweights Brazil were drawn in favourable groups for next year's edition on Thursday, while hosts the United States will come up against 15-time winners Uruguay.
Barcelona manager Luis Enrique has labelled Lionel Messi has the 'best' player he has seen after the Argentine forward spurred a 2-0 victory over Ajax Amsterdam that secured the Spanish side a place in the Champions League knockout stages.
Barcelona striker Lionel Messi is expected to play in Wednesday's King's Cup semi-final against Valencia despite missing training on Monday to have tests on his kidneys, the La Liga club said.
Love them, hate them but the Oscars have a way of sneaking up on you.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Lionel Messi had to wait 12 years and endure a goal drought of eight games against Chelsea but he finally broke his duck in Tuesday's 1-1 Champions League last 16, first leg draw.
The Messi Experience Park, which is being launched by the five times world player of the year in collaboration with Chinese broadcaster Phoenix Group and Spanish media company Mediapro, is set to open in 2019 in the Chinese capital.
Barcelona's five-time soccer World Player of the Year Lionel Messi went on trial on Tuesday along with his father on accusations of defrauding the Spanish state of millions of euros (dollars).
Lionel Messi was back in scoring business for Barcelona on Sunday, leading them to a resounding 4-0 win at home against Villarreal in a near-perfect La Liga opener for the Catalans under new coach Ronald Koeman.
Lionel Messi scored twice as King's Cup holders Barcelona moved comfortably into the quarter-finals by thrashing Celta Vigo 5-0 at the Nou Camp in their last 16 second leg game on Thursday.
A summary of Sunday's action in Serie A and Bundesliga.
The Argentine is reportedly unhappy with coach Enrique's way of running the dressing room at Barcelona.
It rains hard and often and is a far cry from the beaches of Barcelona, yet Argentina striker Sergio Aguero believes world player of the year Lionel Messi would find Manchester to his liking. Manchester City striker Aguero said he had extolled the virtues of England's north-west city to his compatriot and Barcelona forward who is the most valuable player in the game. Messi, 28, has expressed no desire to leave Barca, where he is contracted to until 2019, but Abu-Dhabi owned Manchester City, backed by the billions of Sheikh Mansour, are one of the few clubs who could afford to buy him. "He already knows there's no beach!," Aguero, who has scored 120 goals in 185 appearances during his four-and-a-half years at the Etihad, told Sky Sports. "We play every three days so we just eat, rest between games -- so the weather is not really that important.
A Spanish court said on Friday it has exchanged a 21-month prison sentence handed to Soccer player Lionel Messi for tax fraud last July for a quarter-of-a-million-euro fine.
Messi ran amok at Wembley Stadium, slicing Spurs apart with incisive passes from deep, such as the one that allowed Philippe Coutinho to open the scoring, and was as dangerous as ever in front of goal, firing in the Catalan side's final two goals to end their winless run of three games.
The rest of Barcelona's squad will have to do "a little bit more" to make up for the absence of five-times World Player of the Year Lionel Messi for the next three weeks, according to captain Andres Iniesta.
Images from the matches played across football leagues in Europe on Sunday.
Barcelona fell to a first home defeat in any competition for more than two years
A superb strike from Jose Luis Morales condemned Real Madrid to a 1-0 defeat away to Levante on Saturday which saw them unseated at the top of the La Liga standings by Barcelona. Real's problems deepened with a suspected ankle injury to Eden Hazard, who limped off the pitch four days before their Champions League showdown with Manchester City and a week before their showdown with Barca in the 'Clasico'. Real's problems deepened with a suspected ankle injury to Eden Hazard, who limped off the pitch four days before their Champions League showdown with Manchester City and a week before their showdown with Barca in the 'Clasico'.
Images from the football matches played across Europe on Sunday.
Argentina have called up Mallorca's Spanish defender Pablo Maffeo for the first time ahead of this month's World Cup qualifiers against Uruguay and Brazil in the squad announced by its FA on Friday.
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