Latest news with #Argentine
Daily Mirror
an hour ago
- Sport
- Daily Mirror
Lionel Messi has stand named after him at club he never played for
Inter Miami star Lionel Messi supported Newell's Old Boys as a child and played in their youth team before joining Barcelona and moving to Spain aged 13 but has often spoke of a return Newell's Old Boys have named a stand after Lionel Messi, despite never playing a single senior game for the club. The Argentina legend has featured for Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain and Inter Miami in his career but it is the Argentine club who have honoured the 38-year-old. The club, based in Rosario, Santa Fe, has already dedicated much of their stadium to legends of the team. And while Messi never played professionally for the club, he is the latest to be recognised as the side's new stand increases the stadium capacity to 50,000 spectators. The Estadio Marcelo Bielsa, also known as El Coloso, was named after the team's former manager in 2009. The stands making up the ground are named after Diego Maradona, Maxi Rodríguez and Tata Martino. Messi is a lifelong supporter of Newell's and featured for the club from the age of six until 13. After representing youth teams, Messi made the move to Barcelona to continue his development at La Masia. "Today, the Coloso writes a new page," Rosario-based club said. "For the first time, the two most powerful names in soccer history live under the same roof: OURS." Messi has long spoken of the possibility of securing a dramatic return to Newell's to live out his childhood dream. The World Cup winner's contract is set to expire in 2025, though Inter Miami are said to hold an option to extend the deal for a further year. That has not stopped Newell's president Ignacio Astore expressing his desire however. Speaking to TyC Sports, Astore spoke on a potential Messi return. "It's something he has to decide," he said. "I haven't spoken to the player. I don't think it's appropriate to speak to him because it would put him in an awkward position. Maybe he has a contract, maybe he feels it's not the right time, maybe he has other family commitments... I know the appreciation he has for the institution and how much he wants to come." A former Newell's manager was more forthright in his expectation however. Adrian Taffarel said: "According to the information I have, it's very likely that Messi will be at Newell's at the beginning of next year. There's a Newell's idol who played with him for Argentina who is talking to him about coming." Speaking in 2017, Messi said: "The desire is always playing for Newell's, it is what I dreamed as a kid," Messi told Argentine channel TyC Sports. "When I went to the club I imagined playing in the Primera Division, but I do not know what's going to happen in a few years. I cannot say I'm going back because I do not know where I'm going to be." Join our new WhatsApp community and receive your daily dose of Mirror Football content. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.
The Sun
3 hours ago
- Sport
- The Sun
SG vs Inter Miami Club World Cup clash rekindles Messi's turbulent Paris stint
PARIS SAINT-GERMAIN'S triumphant UEFA Champions League victory last month marked a new era for the club, but their upcoming Club World Cup clash with Inter Miami this Sunday reopens old wounds. The reunion with Lionel Messi, now starring for the MLS side, reminds PSG fans of a period marked by unfulfilled expectations. PSG's dominant 5-0 win over Inter Milan in the Champions League final signaled their evolution under Luis Enrique, shifting from a star-studded squad to a cohesive, youthful team. This transformation came after the departures of Messi, Neymar, and Kylian Mbappé, whose exits allowed the club to rebuild strategically. When Messi arrived in Paris in 2021, hopes were sky-high. 'My dream is to win another Champions League, and I think I am in the ideal place to have that chance,' Messi said at his unveiling. Yet, despite flashes of brilliance, his two-year stint fell short. PSG regressed in Europe, exiting in the last 16 twice, a stark contrast to their previous semi-final and final appearances. The Argentine's mammoth €30 million annual salary and the challenge of balancing his role alongside Neymar and Mbappé often left PSG disjointed. By the end, sections of the Parc des Princes crowd turned on him, questioning his commitment. Though he delivered 32 goals and 35 assists in 75 games, his impact was deemed insufficient. French sports daily L'Equipe captured the sentiment: 'PSG have not been better than they were before because of him... and he seemed to have as much desire to play in Ligue 1 as he did to go to the dentist.' Now, Messi seeks redemption in Atlanta, where his stunning free-kick last week propelled Inter Miami past Porto. PSG, meanwhile, aim to cement their global dominance. Miami coach Javier Mascherano hinted Messi might channel past frustrations: 'When he has something on his mind, he gives an extra effort.' With pride and progression at stake, Sunday's clash promises high drama—will Messi haunt his former club, or will PSG's new-look squad prove they've moved on?
The Sun
3 hours ago
- Sport
- The Sun
PSG vs Inter Miami Club World Cup clash rekindles Messi's turbulent Paris stint
PARIS SAINT-GERMAIN'S triumphant UEFA Champions League victory last month marked a new era for the club, but their upcoming Club World Cup clash with Inter Miami this Sunday reopens old wounds. The reunion with Lionel Messi, now starring for the MLS side, reminds PSG fans of a period marked by unfulfilled expectations. PSG's dominant 5-0 win over Inter Milan in the Champions League final signaled their evolution under Luis Enrique, shifting from a star-studded squad to a cohesive, youthful team. This transformation came after the departures of Messi, Neymar, and Kylian Mbappé, whose exits allowed the club to rebuild strategically. When Messi arrived in Paris in 2021, hopes were sky-high. 'My dream is to win another Champions League, and I think I am in the ideal place to have that chance,' Messi said at his unveiling. Yet, despite flashes of brilliance, his two-year stint fell short. PSG regressed in Europe, exiting in the last 16 twice, a stark contrast to their previous semi-final and final appearances. The Argentine's mammoth €30 million annual salary and the challenge of balancing his role alongside Neymar and Mbappé often left PSG disjointed. By the end, sections of the Parc des Princes crowd turned on him, questioning his commitment. Though he delivered 32 goals and 35 assists in 75 games, his impact was deemed insufficient. French sports daily L'Equipe captured the sentiment: 'PSG have not been better than they were before because of him... and he seemed to have as much desire to play in Ligue 1 as he did to go to the dentist.' Now, Messi seeks redemption in Atlanta, where his stunning free-kick last week propelled Inter Miami past Porto. PSG, meanwhile, aim to cement their global dominance. Miami coach Javier Mascherano hinted Messi might channel past frustrations: 'When he has something on his mind, he gives an extra effort.' With pride and progression at stake, Sunday's clash promises high drama—will Messi haunt his former club, or will PSG's new-look squad prove they've moved on?
Yahoo
8 hours ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Blackpool sign Argentine keeper Ravizzoli
Blackpool have signed Argentine goalkeeper Franco Ravizzoli following his release from Wycombe Wanderers at the end of last season. The 27-year-old made 42 league appearances for the Chairboys across two seasons following his move from MK Dons in 2023. Advertisement He represented both Independiente and River Plate's youth teams before moving to England and then sixth-tier club Eastbourne Borough in 2020. "Franco has had an impressive couple of seasons at this level, and we're looking forward to watching him progress further in his career here at Blackpool," Tangerines boss Steve Bruce told the club website.
Sydney Morning Herald
8 hours ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
Last stop, end of the world: Take a train to the tip of Tierra del Fuego
This story is part of the June 28 edition of Good Weekend. See all 21 stories. Standing at the end of the world felt a lot like home to me. At the train depot, overlooking evergreen forests and a bay of mountains, I stopped to grasp the scene. The piercing morning sun stalked low, out of sight behind the summits of Tierra del Fuego National Park. But for the signposts in Spanish and unfamiliar trees – Magellan's beech, not Atlantic oak – I could have been on Scotland's rugged west coast. I'd come south – all the way south – to the Argentine city of Ushuaia, at the southernmost tip of South America, in search of epic landscapes, adventure and a historic frontier in train travel. Tierra del Fuego National Park, the shoreline trails of which I was exploring, is home to the 'End of the World' train (El Tren del Fin del Mundo), and it is a fragile leftover from one of the world's most remote penal colonies, of which more later. It also represents a profitable money-spinner for the blossoming tourist industry in this complex region of wild sea channels, twisting fjords and ferocious winds on the borderlands between Argentina and Chile. For my part, I've had similarly thrilling train experiences across the continent. A journey on the Machu Picchu train 25 years ago in Peru; a rooftop ride on Ecuador's zig-zagging Devil's Nose railway; a sunset visit to Bolivia's 'Great Train Graveyard', near the pearly salt pans of the Salar de Uyuni. But this one on Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego is by far the toughest to get to and so has a particular air of abandon – and freedom. The irony is that this is the railway line first built in 1909 by convicts as a 24-kilometre freight line to transport materials by steam locomotive between sawmills and Ushuaia prison. As local guide Grisel Guerrero tells it, no one wanted to live in this far-flung region with little or no opportunities in the 1890s. But the overflowing jails in Buenos Aires, nearly 3200 kilometres away, presented the unlikely solution. 'It was our Siberia,' Guerrero told me, while we strolled Ushuaia's waterfront that morning. 'Like the history of the British in Australia, our government formed a penal colony, sending many of the worst offenders here. It would take up to six months to arrive by ship, so before then it was almost impossible for the Argentinian government to populate this land.' Surrounded by the Beagle Channel and hemmed in by the Fuegian Andes, the landscape is far more dramatic than Russia's vast and unwelcoming North Asian province. As improbable, hard-to-believe-in places go, it's also worth the expense and time to get to. Lining this largely unpeopled coast are empty beaches and river estuaries teeming with brown trout. There are silvery sawtooth peaks and abrupt glaciers. In such beautiful surroundings, it's small wonder that many prisoners decided to stay after earning their right to freedom. By 1952, following an earthquake and landslide, the train had closed. These days, the UK-built convict train – revived in the mid-1990s as a heritage railway – wouldn't rival many for glamour. Nor would it match any Tube line in London for efficiency. The distance you travel is only eight kilometres, with one intermediary stop at gently gushing Macarena Waterfall. Besides that, the toy-town-like train takes one hour to reach the end of the line. In Ushuaia itself, the former prison complex, Museo Marítimo y del Presidio de Ushuaia, now charts the intriguing time line of the country's early penal colony. But the rewards of riding the slowest train in South America are profound. After the clanking of gears, there is the screech of wheels on the 500mm gauge track and the shrill blow of a whistle carried on the wind. The ride from platform to national reserve is admittedly the stuff of a theme park, with staff garbed in cosplay inmate uniforms, but you realise, excitedly, that this is also an invitation into one of the wildest corners of the Americas. Loading For me, the highlight was the intricacy of land and sea that surrounded us at journey's end within Tierra del Fuego National Park. On board, you only have to look out of the window to feel awe. 'This is the end of the world for us,' Guerrero told me, upon the train reaching its last stop. 'Some say that's a negative way of describing Ushuaia, so now we also say it's the beginning of everything. South America, the Pan-American Highway, the start of our lives here. There is no shortage of opportunity and adventure.'
