Messi | Pakistan

The pitch where Spain forward Lamine Yamal honed his skills in a working-class, multi-ethnic neighbourhood outside Barcelona was buzzing with life on Thursday as locals looked ahead with pride to the World Cup final against Lionel Messi’s Argentina. “Now that the moment has come when the two of them are going to play against each other, it’s incredible,” said Keba, an 18-year-old Senegalese resident, referring to Barcelona forward Lamine Yamal’s well-known admiration for Messi. Messi, 39, enjoyed the peak years of his career at Barcelona, having come through the club’s youth academy, and a viral photograph showing the Argentine with a baby Lamine Yamal, now 19, has captured imaginations ahead of Sunday’s final in New Jersey. Pedro, 83, talks in front of a jersey of soccer player Lamine Yamal displaying on the wall of Bar El Cordobes at Rocafonda neighbourhood in Mataro, north of Barcelona, Spain on July 16, 2026. — Reuters As children from migrant families played on a pitch behind a mural featuring Lamine Yam...

Messi earns 200th Argentina cap, eyes another World Cup final

Lionel Messi came off the bench to score his sixth goal of the tournament as Argentina warmed up for their World Cup knockout match with Cape Verde by beating Jordan 3-1 on Saturday. The ageless Messi tops the scoring charts in North America as the tournament heads into the last 32. Cape Verde’s players will be wondering how they can stop Messi when the debutants ranked 67 face the champions on July 3 in Miami. With qualification already in the bag, Messi started on the bench but came on after an hour in Texas to huge cheers to get his side’s third with a free-kick. Argentina finished emphatically top of Group J with maximum points after also beating Algeria 3-0 and defeating Austria 2-0, all those goals coming from Messi. The holders and their 39-year-old talisman look formidable, albeit in one of the weaker groups. Coach Lionel Scaloni said Messi could have played the full game. “But he chose to let his teammates have minutes, he chose to think about what’s coming, and that speaks volume about him,” he said...

Angry spectators broke down barricades and stormed the pitch at a stadium in India after football star Lionel Messi, who is on a three-day tour of the country, abruptly left the arena. As a part of a so-called GOAT Tour, the 38-year-old Argentina and Inter Miami superstar touched down in the eastern state of West Bengal early Saturday, greeted by a chorus of exuberant fans chanting his name. Hours later, thousands of fans wearing Messi jerseys and waving the Argentine flag packed into Salt Lake stadium in the state capital Kolkata, but heavy security around the footballer left fans struggling to catch a glimpse of him. Messi walked around the pitch waving to fans and left the stadium earlier than expected. Inter Miami’s Argentine forward #10 Lionel Messi arrives at the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata on December 13. —AFP Frustrated fans, many having paid more than $100 for tickets, ripped out stadium seats and hurled water bottles onto the track. Many others stormed the pitch and vandalised banners and tents. “F...