Barcelona coach Ronald Koeman has said Lionel Messi’s happiness is not in his hands but admits he was pleased to hear the Argentine saying on Tuesday he wants to end his disputes with the club.
Koeman also confirmed Ajax defender Sergino Dest is “almost certain” to join Barca, with the 19-year-old expected to complete his medical on Wednesday before completing the move. The signing of Dest would continue the shake-up at Barcelona, who have allowed Luis Suarez, Ivan Rakitic, Arturo Vidal and Nelson Semedo all to leave as they try to reduce the wage bill and refresh their squad.
Messi was forced to stay and expressed his disappointment at the way Suarez was pushed out to Atletico Madrid but in an interview with Diario Sport published on Tuesday, the 33-year-old said he wanted to “put an end” to the “disagreements”.
“I don’t know if after Messi’s words I will have a quiet life as coach of Barcelona, I don’t think so, there is always something, but of course it is very positive that the captain has come out like that asking us to be united,” Koeman said in a press conference yesterday. “This was very positive and hopefully everything will be a bit quieter than it has been recently.”
Koeman was asked if he thinks Messi is happy at Barcelona. “I don’t know if I have that sort of thing in my hands. As a coach we have to look to make a better team for him, where he can shine, and look for a position in the team where he can deliver the best performances that he has always delivered for this club.
“I have seen in these four weeks that he lives for football, even in training matches he does everything to win and I think that winning matches is the remedy for Leo to be happy in this team.”
Dest will offer competition at right-back after Semedo was sold to Wolves. “Sergino is doing his medical and still the contract has to be signed so until he has signed, I prefer not to give an opinion,” Koeman said.
“But it’s almost certain that he will be here and then we will have a young full-back. It’s also a matter of changing things, having young players for the future of this Barca.”
Koeman said the future of Ousmane Dembele, who has been linked with a move to Manchester United before the end of the transfer window, is not up to him.
“The first thing to say is it’s up to the club and the player,” said Koeman. “While the player is with us, I am going to count on him. He has not played the last match because there are other players and Ansu (Fati) has shown he is a very good player for this team so he has to wait for his chance to play.
“He was better physically in the first few weeks, he had a little dip last week, but today he has trained well, so I want to say I am counting on him.”
Barcelona play away at Celta Vigo today after winning their opening La Liga game 4-0 against Villarreal on Sunday.
Messi with the assist and OrCam with the goal, of providing the blind with AI-driven read-to-text:-
Israeli company OrCam Technologies is teaming up with none other than the phenomenon himself, soccer legend Lionel Messi to promote OrCam’s life-changing AI-powered technology for the blind and visually impaired. In addition, the company and Messi will collaborate to achieve a goal more divine than merely pushing product, as the two game-changers will lead awareness of the challenges faced by the blind and visually impaired community globally.
Approximately 300 million people worldwide suffer from blindness or varying degrees of visual impairment. OrCam MyEye helps to dramatically change their quality of life. The company leverages AI-powered technologies to provide a read-to-text assist. A little over a month ago, the Israeli MedTech company launched the small, easily attachable device’s newest feature, now enabling the blind the ability to read books.
As part of the partnership, OrCam will arrange encounters between the futbol legend with dozens of visually impaired people in an effort to raise awareness and make a dream come true for many. According to OrCam, Messi will engage with people who are visually impaired and provide them with the Israeli company’s device, gifting them more than just a one-on-one meeting with possibly one of the greatest athletes to ever grace the fields. These individuals will each become members of the "OrCam Dream Team," led by Messi.
The first of these meetings took place just before the coronavirus pandemic shook the world. The meeting was particularly striking for Messi, who said, "The emotion was incredible. Meeting with this amazing group of people from around the world was truly a magical and inspiring moment. Witnessing each of the members of the 'Dream Team' trying out the OrCam MyEye features, it was clear that this would be a life-changing device for each of them. I am proud to be an OrCam Ambassador to truly make a difference for so many."
The participants in the project are from various countries around the world and are blind or have varying degrees of visual impairment. The meeting with the soccer star – and the gifting of the OrCam device – comes as a complete surprise to them during the first meet and greet event.
"This is a particularly exciting point in time for me and for OrCam. The story of OrCam's founding is, first and foremost, a story of people – people who struggle with real problems and challenges in their lives. Our goal is to use sophisticated 'AI-as-a-companion' technology that helps people with disabilities in real-time, in the real world," explained Professor Amnon Shashua, co-founder and co-CEO of OrCam.
Shashua continued to explain that "during the performance of daily activities, the device offers independence, providing users with critical support to better integrate into society, especially within employment and educational settings. This technology supports users in amplifying their inherent potential. We are convinced that this collaboration with Messi – who is the embodiment of maximizing potential, and an individual who is admired worldwide – will allow us to reach millions of people in need."
Talking points from European football: Messi on song, rare humbling for Bayern, City’s leaky defence:-
Lionel Messi put his summer transfer dispute behind him, Cristiano Ronaldo defied gravity, and Mauro Icardi got back on track for Paris Saint-Germain, but there was a stunning defeat for Bayern Munich on a big weekend in Germany.
In England, Leicester stormed back to the top of the Premier League table by scoring five against a Pep Guardiola team for the first time in the Catalan’s coaching career as Manchester City’s title challenge hit an early stumbling block in a 5-2 defeat.
City conceded three penalties, but none of them were as controversial as the ones that cost Tottenham and Crystal Palace to spark more debate over the new interpretation of the handball rule in the Premier League.
Here are some of the main talking points from the action across the continent:
Messi scores, Koeman off to winning start
After such a turbulent summer, Barcelona could not have asked for a better way to start the season as they crushed Villarreal 4-0 at the Camp Nou, with all the goals in the first half.
Lionel Messi captained the home side and scored a penalty in his first competitive outing since trying, and failing, to force through a move away from his boyhood club.
The early signs are Messi will let his football do the talking in the coming months, which can only be good news for a Barca side beginning life under new coach Ronald Koeman.
Messi was actually upstaged on Sunday by Ansu Fati, with the 17-year-old scoring Barcelona’s first two goals.
“It is always good and important to win matches. If you win, you have tranquility,” said Koeman. For now anyway. The Catalans go to Celta Vigo on Thursday.
Bayern humbled to give hope to rivals
Less than 72 hours after they added more silverware by winning the UEFA Super Cup against Sevilla in Budapest, Bayern Munich’s aura of invincibility was blown away in stunning fashion as Hansi Flick’s team lost 4-1 at Hoffenheim.
After 32 games unbeaten, and 23 successive victories in which time they also won the Bundesliga, the German Cup and the Champions League, the Bavarians suffered a first loss since last December.
With Robert Lewandowski left on the bench at kick-off, they suffered their worst defeat since the 5-1 loss at Eintracht Frankfurt last November which cost previous coach Niko Kovac his job.
This is surely just a blip for Bayern though, and credit must go to Hoffenheim, for whom Andrej Kramaric scored twice. He now has seven goals in three games this season, after ending last season by scoring four goals against Borussia Dortmund.
Hoffenheim coach Sebastian Hoeness was appointed in the summer, poached from Bayern’s second team. He is the son of former Bayern player Dieter Hoeness, and the nephew of ex-Bayern president Uli.
No case for Man City defence
In his 686th game as a manager with City, Bayern Munich and Barcelona, Guardiola was hit for five as his side collapsed when faced with the pace and cunning of Jamie Vardy on the counter-attack.
Vardy scored a hat-trick to take his tally to nine in five seasons against Guardiola’s side, leaving huge question marks over City’s title challenge.
Despite the signing of Bournemouth centre-back Nathan Ake, City looked even worse at the back than last season as Kyle Walker, Eric Garcia and Benjamin Mendy all conceded rash penalties.
According to reports, Benfica centre-half Ruben Dias is heading for Manchester, while Aymeric Laporte’s return after testing positive for coronavirus will come as a huge relief.
But the arrival of Dias could take Guardiola’s spending on defenders alone at City to £400 million.
The Catalan has been unable to get the best out of John Stones, Joao Cancelo, Mendy and many others and the pressure is on him to turn to his coaching, rather than just the club’s cheque book, for solutions.
Wagner pays price at Schalke
As Germany’s third richest club with a huge fanbase, it was surprising to see Schalke keep faith in coach David Wagner despite a shocking end to last season in which thay failed to win any of their final 16 Bundesliga games.
The ex-Huddersfield Town manager was on decidedly shaky ground before opening the new season with a humiliating 8-0 loss at Bayern. Saturday’s 3-1 home defeat by Werder Bremen means Schalke’s start is the worst in Bundesliga history. Wagner was sacked on Sunday.
“We hoped that we could turn things around. Unfortunately, the first two matches did not produce the necessary performances and results,” said Schalke sporting director Jochen Schneider.
Ronaldo saves Pirlo from first defeat
Juventus needed Cristiano Ronaldo at his best to prevent Andrea Pirlo suffering his first defeat as coach as the Italian champions came from behind to draw 2-2 at Roma.
A Ronaldo penalty cancelled out Jordan Veretout’s spot-kick before the same player put Roma back in front. Adrien Rabiot was then sent off for Juve, but Ronaldo equalised in the 69th minute with a tremendous leap, hanging in the air to head in Danilo’s cross.
Now 35, Ronaldo remains arguably the best header of a ball in the world. Juve, for whom Alvaro Morata started after returning to the club on loan from Atletico Madrid, remain a work in progress though, and it is Napoli who have made the best start to the season. They are top after crushing Genoa 6-0.
Icardi hits back for PSG to answer critics
Mauro Icardi has struggled desperately since Paris Saint-Germain paid a reported 50 million euros ($58.3m) to make his loan move from Inter permanent.
The Argentine looked slow and overweight, was dropped for the Champions League semi-final and final in August, and did not play in PSG’s first two league games this season after testing positive for coronavirus.
On Sunday, though, he got back on track, converting two Kylian Mbappe assists for a brace as PSG won 2-0 at Reims in Ligue 1.
It was PSG’s third straight win, and it was Icardi’s first goals in almost exactly seven months.
Hand-wringing over handball
The Premier League’s adoption of a new interpretation of what constitutes handball is causing consternation just three weeks in.
Tottenham and Palace were the big losers this weekend, but there is already a consensus among coaches that something needs to be done now to prevent farcical scenes from continuing all season.
Joel Ward was harshly penalised for Everton’s winner in a 2-1 victory at Selhurst Park leaving Palace manager Roy Hodgson despairing for the game he’s been involved in for over 50 years.
“I find it very disappointing that the game I love and believe in is being reduced to this level,” said Hodgson. “I have despair about a rule that I believe is ruining the game of football.”
Hodgson has support in Newcastle boss Steve Bruce, even though his side benefitted to snatch a 1-1 draw at Tottenham thanks to Callum Wilson’s 97th-minute penalty.
“I can understand why Spurs will go berserk and Roy Hodgson reacted like he did. It is a total nonsense,” said Bruce. “We should be jumping through hoops, but I would be devastated if that was us.”
