IFFHS NEWS AND STATISTICS OF THE WEEK 36
Picture : Ansu Fati breaks one record more !
RECORD
Ansu Fati became yesterday the youngest ever Spanish Goal Scorer in the History at 17 years and 311 days with Spain against Ukraine. He has already beaten other records : 1 - August 31, 2019 : he became FC Barcelona’s youngest League Scorer ever. 2 – December 10, 2019 : he became the youngest ever Goal Scorer in the Champions League !
MESSI AND FC BARCELONA
Lionel Messi, Barcelona’s captain, is finally staying with the Blaugrana and confirmed his decision in a long interview with Goal.
Messi had earlier indicated he wanted to trigger a clause in his contract that would allow him to unilaterally terminate his deal at the end of the 2019-20 season.
But the season's extension meant the clause had expired, with LaLiga siding with Barca.
With no club - despite reported interest from Manchester City - able to pay his €700million release clause, Messi has opted to stay, doing so in a wide-ranging interview in which he pulled no punches.
Lionel Messi has won the most Awards (10) in the IFFHS
Below are the key quotes from his chat with Goal.
Time
"I told the club, including the president, that I wanted to go. I've been telling him that all year. I believed that the club needed more young players, new players and I thought my time in Barcelona was over. I felt very sorry because I always said that I wanted to finish my career here."
Bartomeu
"It [the decision to leave] did not come because of the Champions League result against Bayern Munich. No, I had been thinking about the decision for a long time. I told the president and, well, the president always said that at the end of the season I could decide if I wanted to go or if I wanted to stay and in the end he did not keep his word."
Somewhere better
"Every year I could have left and earned more money than at Barcelona. I always said that this was my home and it was what I felt and feel. To decide there was somewhere better than here was difficult. I felt that I needed a change and new goals, new things."
No project
"The truth is that there has been no project or anything for a long time, they juggle and cover holes as things go by. As I said before, I always thought about the welfare of my family and the club."
Rome, Liverpool, Lisbon
"I looked further afield, I want to compete at the highest level, win titles, compete in the Champions League. You can win or lose in it, because it is very difficult, but you have to compete. At least compete for it and let us not fall apart in Rome, Liverpool, Lisbon. All that led me to think about the decision that I wanted to carry out."
The clause
"They cling to the fact that I did not say it before June 10, when it turns out that on June 10 we were competing for LaLiga in the middle of this awful coronavirus and this disease altered all the season. And this is the reason why I am going to continue in the club. Now I am going to continue in the club because the president told me that the only way to leave was to pay the €700 million clause, and that this is impossible."
A trial
"There was another way and it was to go to trial. I would never go to court against Barca because it is the club that I love, which gave me everything since I arrived, it is the club of my life, I have made my life here. Barca gave me everything and I gave it everything. I know that it never crossed my mind to take Barca to court."
No happiness
"I wanted to go because I thought about living my last years of football happily. Lately I have not found happiness within the club. I will continue at Barca and my attitude will not change no matter how much I have wanted to go. I will do my best."
A new era
"There is a new coach and new ideas. That's good, but then we have to see how the team responds and whether or not it will compete at the top level. What I can say is that I'm staying and I'm going to give my best for Barcelona."
Nowhere better
"I love Barcelona and I'm not going to find a better place than here anywhere. Still I have the right to decide. I was going to look for new goals and new challenges. And tomorrow I could go back, because here in Barcelona I have everything."
TRANSFERS
Kai Havertz from Bayer Leverkusen (Germany) to FC Chelsea (England)
Lina Hurtig (Sweden) joins FC Juve (Italy)
Fabio Silva, new Player of Wolves (England)
Allan, the Brazilian Star of Napoli, signed in Everton (England)
Pernille Harder joined the Star Team of FC Chelsea
INFOS
- City Football Group, founded in 2013, is owner of Manchester City (England), New York City FC (USA), Melbourne City FC (Australia), Yokohama F.Marinos (Japan) and now also of ESTAC Troyes (France).
- Eduardo Camavinga is the youngest Player since the second war 1939-1945 to be capped in the French National Team. He played his first professionnal match in the Ligue 1 at 16 and received his first cap with World Cup Winner France at 17 !
- Alphonso Davies, the left defender of UEFA Champions League Winner FC Bayern München, was born in Ghanaian refugee camp in 2000, moved to Canada to escape civil war in 2005, became the second youngest starter in MLS History in 2016, moved to FC Bayern for record MLS fee in 2017, won his first Bundesliga title in 2019 and won the UEFA Champions League in 2020 ! A great story !
- Joachim Löw is the National Coach of Germany since July,12 in 2006 ; that means exactly since 14 years and 57 days ! This is the World Recrd for a National Coach of a National A team. Behnd him, Koldo Alvarez (10 years and 98 days for Andorra) and Luc Holtz (10 years and 35 days for Luxembourg) complete the World Podium !