Barcelona president Joan Laporta has reacted to the unkind words of Lionel Messi’s brother. The riot was nipped in the bud with apologies.
Laporta was not tempted to make new statements about a return from Messi, who is in talks with Paris Saint-Germain about extending his expiring contract. “We are proud of Leo, but he is a PSG player and I am not talking about players from other clubs.”
The chairman does not want to know about a clouded relationship between Barcelona and Messi. “His brother’s words won’t affect that bond,” Laporta said. It was a response to Matías Messi’s comments. “He’s apologized and that’s it.”
The PSG attacker’s brother apologized for his unfriendly comments about Laporta. “If Leo were to return to Barcelona, there would be a big clean-up. We also wipe out Joan Laporta. He is ungrateful after all my brother has done for the club,” Matías said on Twitch. “There should have been a parade or something to make sure Laporta, not my brother, left. Nobody knew Barcelona before my brother arrived. There was only Real Madrid. To be thanked so much…”
Matías Messi, Lionel Messi’s brother swallowed those words. On Instagram he came with apologies and explanations. He added, “I was just joking with my son and some friends. How could I think that way about a club as big as Barcelona, a club that has given so much to Leo and to my family? Catalonia is our second home, everyone knows that. I’m very sorry and I apologize to everyone, especially the Barcelonistas.”
Cristiano Ronaldo’s 500th league goal
Speaking of Lionel Mesi, his arch-rival Cristiano Ronaldo has reached another great milestone. The 38-year-old superstar made the 500th league goal of his career on Thursday evening by scoring from Al-Nassr, for which he made his first hat-trick.
Ronaldo had not been very successful since his much-discussed move to Saudi Arabia. For example, the Portuguese star could not lead his new club to a Super Cup win. Last week CR7 did score for the first time.
Six days later, Ronaldo came on steam in a league match against Al-Wehda. After 21 minutes he opened the scoring by hitting the far corner with his left. It was the 500th league goal in his career.
Twenty minutes after Ronaldo reached that milestone, it happened again. This time, the Al-Nassr captain was sent deep on the right and simply shot in with the right: his 501st league goal of his career.
Ronaldo had a taste for it, that was clear. Eight minutes after the break, Al-Nassr received a penalty and it was the 38-year-old Portuguese who took advantage of the opportunity. Seven minutes later, CR7 also scored its fourth goal of the evening.
