World Cup
Messi: “Lewandowski’s statements bothered me in 2021, I intentionally let him dribble at the World Cup”
Lionel Messi revealed in an interview that he was annoyed by Robert Lewandowski’s statements about him in 2021 and therefore tried to dribble him at the Argentina – Poland World Cup a year later.
Lionel Messi and Robert Lewandowski have mutual respect, but there was a time when their relationship was tested and the reason for that was winning the Ballon d’Or in 2021.
It was won by Lionel Messi, with Pulga mentioning at the time that ‘Leva’ deserved the special award last year which was not awarded due to the pandemic, however Lewandowski’s statements reportedly questioned the sincerity of the Argentine’s claims.
Later, the Polish striker spoke of a misinterpretation by the media, but Messi did not forget it and had his blood drawn during the Argentina-Poland World Cup in Qatar, referring to the match at that time in his interview:
“Lewandowski’s comments bothered me because when I won the Ballon d’Or I said things the way I really felt about them and it was annoying for him to talk about me like that.”
I ignored him during the argument between us and was angry with him. “I was very angry and deliberately tattled on him.” Messi first emphasized, then referred to the de-escalation of tensions:
“After what happened, we spoke and agreed it was a misunderstanding. He was upset because what he said wasn’t spelled correctly. Then he went to Barcelona and we talked about a lot of things about the club and the city.”
It is noted that the game against Poland was not the only one that caused Messi to “escape”, as the same thing happened in the quarter-final against the Netherlands, with the eight-time Ballon d’Or winner referring to the conflict created with Louis van Gal.
“The thing with Holland was very similar to that with Lewandowski. It bothers me when people talk off the field and disrespect their opponents. Before the game I didn’t try to make Van Gaal angry.”
I wasn’t disrespectful, I never do that and I don’t like being disrespected. I think Van Gaal did it on purpose, as did their goalkeeper before the game. I don’t like these things. A million things can happen on the field, but they stay there.”
Source: sport 24
I am a sports writer and journalist who has written for various online publications including Sportish. I’m originally from the UK but currently live in Toronto, Canada. I’m also an author on Sportish and have written several articles on a variety of sports-related topics.
World Cup
INFANTINO: “If there was no FIFA, there would be no football in 150 countries of the world”
FIFA President Gianni Infantino He commented on World Cup ticket prices, saying they reflected “absolutely insane” demand for next summer’s tournament:
“We have six to seven million tickets and in 15 days we received 150 million ticket requests. So every day we have 10 million requests. This shows how strong the World Cup is.”
FIFA has sold just 44 million tickets in almost 100 years of the World Cup. So we were able to sell tickets for the 300th anniversary of the World Cup in two weeks. Just imagine. “This is absolutely crazy.”
Infantino also noted that funds from ticket sales would be reinvested into world football, but did not specify a specific amount:
“The important thing is that the revenue from this goes back into football around the world. If it weren’t for FIFA, there would be no football in 150 countries of the world. Football exists thanks to the revenues we get from the World Cup, and we reinvest that into football around the world.”
Previously, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer called on FIFA to further reduce 2026 World Cup ticket prices.
Source: Sport UA
I am a writer at Sportish, where I mainly cover sports news. I’ve also written for The Guardian and ESPN Brasil, and my work has been featured on NBC Sports, SI.com and more. Before working in journalism, I was an athlete: I played football for Colgate University and competed in the US Open Cross Country Championships.
World Cup
VIDEO. The best scorer of the year in the Ukrainian national team has been announced. All targets
The Ukrainian Football Federation has determined the top scorer of the national team in 2025.
This status was given to Polesie’s winger Alexey Gutsulyak, who scored 5 goals and made 3 assists.
Gutsulyak’s assistance became important in the decisive matches of the autumn, when the player scored a goal and made an assist in the match against Azerbaijan, and also scored and assisted in the match against Iceland.
This helped the Ukraine national team reach the 2026 World Cup qualifying play-offs against Sweden in March.
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Source: Sport UA
I am a writer at Sportish, where I mainly cover sports news. I’ve also written for The Guardian and ESPN Brasil, and my work has been featured on NBC Sports, SI.com and more. Before working in journalism, I was an athlete: I played football for Colgate University and competed in the US Open Cross Country Championships.
Former Real Madrid midfielder Toni Kroos He talked about his interaction with Brazilian striker Vinicius Junior and other representatives of Brazil within the scope of the “royal club”.
“The Brazilians aroused my sympathy even as a child. While playing for Real Madrid, I developed excellent relationships with Vinicius, Casemiro and Militao.
It is very easy to find a common language with these guys: they know how to enjoy life, and their mentality is significantly different from that of the Germans.
Casemiro and Vinicius and I understood each other perfectly on the field and developed a unique football bond with Vini.
We communicated warmly in daily life. I believe that if there is no contact between players off the field, it is extremely difficult to achieve harmony in the game.
I used Vini’s high-speed bursts effectively and he masterfully directed my passes,” AS Kroos reports.
Let’s remember that Kroos defended the jersey of Real Madrid from 2014 to 2024. During this decade the German midfielder won the Champions League five times.
Source: Sport UA
I am a writer at Sportish, where I mainly cover sports news. I’ve also written for The Guardian and ESPN Brasil, and my work has been featured on NBC Sports, SI.com and more. Before working in journalism, I was an athlete: I played football for Colgate University and competed in the US Open Cross Country Championships.
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