Barca hoping Neymar nourishes Messi's magic

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

In contrast to previous seasons, Barcelona played their trump card in the transfer market early this year by securing the services of Brazilian starlet Neymar for 57 million euros ($75.7 million, £49.5 million) back in May.

The 21-year-old had been on the Catalans' radar for some time with Barca having even made a down payment of 10 million euros to Santos for first option on the player a year previously.

However, the confirmation of his transfer was hastened by the feeling that Barca needed to react quickly to having been thrashed 7-0 by Bayern Munich in last season's Champions League semi-finals.

Initial scepticism as to whether Barca really needed another forward option rather than a defender subsided after Neymar's stunning performances as Brazil won the Confederations Cup in June.

One question that remains unanswered though is how Neymar's talents will dovetail with four-time World Player of the Year Lionel Messi?

As much as the Argentine is often lauded for not being the stereotypical egotistical modern footballer, the success that both player and club have had in recent years has very much depended on building the side around Messi's talents.

The need for Messi to play in a deep-lying central striking role hastened the sale of Samuel Eto'o, resulted in Zlatan Ibrahimovic ending his sole season in Catalonia on the bench and has also limited Cesc Fabregas' chances to play where he has successfully combined with Xavi and Andres Iniesta with Spain.

Those sacrifices though have been worth a return of 271 goals over the past five seasons and concerns over how Messi and Neymar will co-exist appear to have been overblown for a number of reasons.

Firstly, as much as they still need defenders, Barca also desperately needed a scoring option that isn't Messi.

Over the past five seasons in which Messi has starred, Barca have won the Champions League twice and on both occasions Messi was outscored by his striking partners over the course of the season.

In 2008/09 Samuel Eto'o and Thierry Henry combined for 62 goals to Messi's 38 and in 2010/11 Pedro and David Villa's joint tally of 55 just edged past Messi's 53.

By contrast in the last two seasons, while Messi has rattled in more than 50 goals each time, Barca's second top scorers were Villa with 16 and Cesc Fabregas' 15 in 2011/12.

Moreover, unlike Ibrahimovic or Fabregas, Neymar is naturally much more compatible with Messi as he likes to start on the left of a front three and cut inside towards goal.

With Villa's departure to Atletico Madrid last month, that position is now vacant in the Barca side and Neymar's movement should also help drag defenders away from focusing their attention solely on Messi.

Most importantly of all though, is that Neymar seems to be accepting his rung in the Barca hierarchy.

After being hammered 4-0 by Barca in the Club World Cup final just under two years ago, Neymar admitted he and his Santos teammates "had been given a football lesson" and that he "aspired to get to Messi's level."

Fast-forward to 2013 and Neymar insisted at his official unveiling as a Barca player that he had come to Barca to "help Messi continue being the best in the world."

Asked about his first impressions of Neymar this week, Xavi told Catalan sports daily Sport that "the important thing is that he is humble, he will fit perfectly into the Barca philosophy."

Should the South American duo hit it off, that philosophy will, more than ever, be based on winning with an exciting brand of attacking football.

Barca hoping Neymar nourishes Messi's magic

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

In contrast to previous seasons, Barcelona played their trump card in the transfer market early this year by securing the services of Brazilian starlet Neymar for 57 million euros ($75.7 million, £49.5 million) back in May.

The 21-year-old had been on the Catalans' radar for some time with Barca having even made a down payment of 10 million euros to Santos for first option on the player a year previously.

However, the confirmation of his transfer was hastened by the feeling that Barca needed to react quickly to having been thrashed 7-0 by Bayern Munich in last season's Champions League semi-finals.

Initial scepticism as to whether Barca really needed another forward option rather than a defender subsided after Neymar's stunning performances as Brazil won the Confederations Cup in June.

One question that remains unanswered though is how Neymar's talents will dovetail with four-time World Player of the Year Lionel Messi?

As much as the Argentine is often lauded for not being the stereotypical egotistical modern footballer, the success that both player and club have had in recent years has very much depended on building the side around Messi's talents.

The need for Messi to play in a deep-lying central striking role hastened the sale of Samuel Eto'o, resulted in Zlatan Ibrahimovic ending his sole season in Catalonia on the bench and has also limited Cesc Fabregas' chances to play where he has successfully combined with Xavi and Andres Iniesta with Spain.

Those sacrifices though have been worth a return of 271 goals over the past five seasons and concerns over how Messi and Neymar will co-exist appear to have been overblown for a number of reasons.

Firstly, as much as they still need defenders, Barca also desperately needed a scoring option that isn't Messi.

Over the past five seasons in which Messi has starred, Barca have won the Champions League twice and on both occasions Messi was outscored by his striking partners over the course of the season.

In 2008/09 Samuel Eto'o and Thierry Henry combined for 62 goals to Messi's 38 and in 2010/11 Pedro and David Villa's joint tally of 55 just edged past Messi's 53.

By contrast in the last two seasons, while Messi has rattled in more than 50 goals each time, Barca's second top scorers were Villa with 16 and Cesc Fabregas' 15 in 2011/12.

Moreover, unlike Ibrahimovic or Fabregas, Neymar is naturally much more compatible with Messi as he likes to start on the left of a front three and cut inside towards goal.

With Villa's departure to Atletico Madrid last month, that position is now vacant in the Barca side and Neymar's movement should also help drag defenders away from focusing their attention solely on Messi.

Most importantly of all though, is that Neymar seems to be accepting his rung in the Barca hierarchy.

After being hammered 4-0 by Barca in the Club World Cup final just under two years ago, Neymar admitted he and his Santos teammates "had been given a football lesson" and that he "aspired to get to Messi's level."

Fast-forward to 2013 and Neymar insisted at his official unveiling as a Barca player that he had come to Barca to "help Messi continue being the best in the world."

Asked about his first impressions of Neymar this week, Xavi told Catalan sports daily Sport that "the important thing is that he is humble, he will fit perfectly into the Barca philosophy."

Should the South American duo hit it off, that philosophy will, more than ever, be based on winning with an exciting brand of attacking football.

Messi's polished image faces first scandal

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

The sporting world was shocked on Wednesday by the news that four-time World Player of the Year Lionel Messi is being pursued by the Spanish tax authorities for an alleged fraud worth over four million euros ($5 million).

Messi is rightfully the world's most lauded and admired footballer as, on the pitch, he has achieved feats barely plausible in the modern game, such as his 91-goal haul in the calendar year of 2012 that overhauled German Gerd Mueller's 40-year-old European record.

However, in contrast to many of his contemporaries, it is his camera-shy, humble attitude away from the pitch that has allowed many to warm to him.

And that image is precisely why Wednesday's news came as such a surprise.

Messi, who is accused along with his father Jorge Horacio, strongly denied the allegations via his Facebook page, saying that he had not even been informed by the tax authorities of the complaint.

"We have just known through the media about the claim filed by the Spanish tax authorities. We are surprised about those news, because we have never committed any infringement," he said.

Ironically, given his squeaky clean image, it appears to be how he has handled money earned from image rights that the authorities are challenging.

They claim that the player and his father used tax havens in Belize and Uruguay to avoid paying tax on image rights from a number of the player's huge endorsement deals.

The pair are accused of defrauding the state of taxes related to that income in 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009, the year the Argentine won the first of his four Ballons d'Or.

Since that time Messi's exceptional performances on the field have seen his value as a marketable commodity soar.

He scored in both the Champions League finals of 2009 and 2011 as Barca overcame Manchester United to claim their third and fourth European crowns respectively.

Meanwhile, his individual goalscoring feats have become legendary. His 91 goals in 2012 helped him smash Real Madrid rival Cristiano Ronaldo's previous record of 40 goals in a La Liga season, as Messi registered 50 in the league and equalled the record number of goals in a single Champions League campaign with 14.

Those feats allied to the winning of his fourth Ballon d'Or in January saw him move up one place in this year's Forbes list of highest-paid athletes to 10th with an annual income of $21 million from endorsements alone.

Off the field, things appeared to be going very smoothly for Messi too as his long-term girlfriend Antonella Roccuzzo gave birth to their first child, Thiago, in early November.

And the 25-year-old's relatable image was evidenced once more when he carried his seven-month old son around the Camp Nou field as Barca celebrated winning their fourth Spanish title in five years last month.

However, this latest news rounds off a frustrating few weeks for the world's best player as his brilliance on the field has also been tempered by injury.

A hamstring problem forced him to watch on from the sidelines as Bayern Munich hammered Barca 3-0 in the second-league of their Champions League semi-final to seal a record 7-0 aggregate defeat for the Catalans.

And a recurrence of the injury against Atletico Madrid early in May forced him to miss Barca's last four league games of the campaign.

He returned just in time to take part in Argentina's two World Cup qualifiers against Colombia and Ecuador in the past week, but again his lack of fitness reduced his role to merely that of a substitute for the last half-hour of both matches as La Albiceleste could only manage two draws.

As a result, they are still a few points short of mathematically sealing their place at next year's World Cup in Brazil.

And on the very day on which he was due to start his holidays after an exhausting 10-month long season, the Argentine star now must face up to the first serious scandal to affect his career.

Messi's polished image faces first scandal

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

The sporting world was shocked on Wednesday by the news that four-time World Player of the Year Lionel Messi is being pursued by the Spanish tax authorities for an alleged fraud worth over four million euros ($5 million).

Messi is rightfully the world's most lauded and admired footballer as, on the pitch, he has achieved feats barely plausible in the modern game, such as his 91-goal haul in the calendar year of 2012 that overhauled German Gerd Mueller's 40-year-old European record.

However, in contrast to many of his contemporaries, it is his camera-shy, humble attitude away from the pitch that has allowed many to warm to him.

And that image is precisely why Wednesday's news came as such a surprise.

Messi, who is accused along with his father Jorge Horacio, strongly denied the allegations via his Facebook page, saying that he had not even been informed by the tax authorities of the complaint.

"We have just known through the media about the claim filed by the Spanish tax authorities. We are surprised about those news, because we have never committed any infringement," he said.

Ironically, given his squeaky clean image, it appears to be how he has handled money earned from image rights that the authorities are challenging.

They claim that the player and his father used tax havens in Belize and Uruguay to avoid paying tax on image rights from a number of the player's huge endorsement deals.

The pair are accused of defrauding the state of taxes related to that income in 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009, the year the Argentine won the first of his four Ballons d'Or.

Since that time Messi's exceptional performances on the field have seen his value as a marketable commodity soar.

He scored in both the Champions League finals of 2009 and 2011 as Barca overcame Manchester United to claim their third and fourth European crowns respectively.

Meanwhile, his individual goalscoring feats have become legendary. His 91 goals in 2012 helped him smash Real Madrid rival Cristiano Ronaldo's previous record of 40 goals in a La Liga season, as Messi registered 50 in the league and equalled the record number of goals in a single Champions League campaign with 14.

Those feats allied to the winning of his fourth Ballon d'Or in January saw him move up one place in this year's Forbes list of highest-paid athletes to 10th with an annual income of $21 million from endorsements alone.

Off the field, things appeared to be going very smoothly for Messi too as his long-term girlfriend Antonella Roccuzzo gave birth to their first child, Thiago, in early November.

And the 25-year-old's relatable image was evidenced once more when he carried his seven-month old son around the Camp Nou field as Barca celebrated winning their fourth Spanish title in five years last month.

However, this latest news rounds off a frustrating few weeks for the world's best player as his brilliance on the field has also been tempered by injury.

A hamstring problem forced him to watch on from the sidelines as Bayern Munich hammered Barca 3-0 in the second-league of their Champions League semi-final to seal a record 7-0 aggregate defeat for the Catalans.

And a recurrence of the injury against Atletico Madrid early in May forced him to miss Barca's last four league games of the campaign.

He returned just in time to take part in Argentina's two World Cup qualifiers against Colombia and Ecuador in the past week, but again his lack of fitness reduced his role to merely that of a substitute for the last half-hour of both matches as La Albiceleste could only manage two draws.

As a result, they are still a few points short of mathematically sealing their place at next year's World Cup in Brazil.

And on the very day on which he was due to start his holidays after an exhausting 10-month long season, the Argentine star now must face up to the first serious scandal to affect his career.

Messi's dad 'relaxed' over tax case

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

Lionel Messi's father has reaffirmed that he and his son have done nothing wrong following their court summons as part of an inquiry into alleged tax fraud.

It was announced on Thursday that the pair had been summoned to a Gava court on September 17 to face questioning over an alleged scheme to avoid tax on the player's image rights, therefore defrauding the Spanish tax authority of 4million euro (£3.4million) between 2007 and 2009.

Messi and his father, Jorge Horacio Messi, have both denied the allegations and Messi Senior told radio station Cope: "I can assure you that what (Lionel) pays every year is an eight-figure sum. We are relaxed because we have never missed a payment to the tax authority."

He added: "It's normal that there's a difference in opinion between the authorities and our advisers, because there always is with people who pay a lot of tax.

"We know that there will be an agreement, but we are angry because certain sections of the media have conducted a slur campaign and tried to whip up hate. It's very cruel, but we will know what to do when this is all cleared up."

The four-time Ballon d'Or winner's lawyers also lamented the role played by the media in the situation and reiterated his innocence in an official statement published in Spanish newspaper Sport, which read: "We respect and will obey the judicial decision and put ourselves at the disposition of the judiciary to help resolve this case and establish the truth.

"We declare our confidence in being able to clear up the disparity of criteria and regret that the honour of our client has been put in doubt, because he has always scrupulously complied with Spanish law.

"We declare that our client will pay the final amount that is agreed upon, but we are convinced he has already paid everything he has legally been required to.

"We firmly believe in the innocence of our client and trust that the judicial investigation can be resolved in the shortest time possible. This case has left our client in a helpless situation with regards to the media, which we profoundly lament."

Messi's polished image faces first scandal

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

The sporting world was shocked on Wednesday by the news that four-time World Player of the Year Lionel Messi is being pursued by the Spanish tax authorities for an alleged fraud worth over four million euros ($5 million).

Messi is rightfully the world's most lauded and admired footballer as, on the pitch, he has achieved feats barely plausible in the modern game, such as his 91-goal haul in the calendar year of 2012 that overhauled German Gerd Mueller's 40-year-old European record.

However, in contrast to many of his contemporaries, it is his camera-shy, humble attitude away from the pitch that has allowed many to warm to him.

And that image is precisely why Wednesday's news came as such a surprise.

Messi, who is accused along with his father Jorge Horacio, strongly denied the allegations via his Facebook page, saying that he had not even been informed by the tax authorities of the complaint.

"We have just known through the media about the claim filed by the Spanish tax authorities. We are surprised about those news, because we have never committed any infringement," he said.

Ironically, given his squeaky clean image, it appears to be how he has handled money earned from image rights that the authorities are challenging.

They claim that the player and his father used tax havens in Belize and Uruguay to avoid paying tax on image rights from a number of the player's huge endorsement deals.

The pair are accused of defrauding the state of taxes related to that income in 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009, the year the Argentine won the first of his four Ballons d'Or.

Since that time Messi's exceptional performances on the field have seen his value as a marketable commodity soar.

He scored in both the Champions League finals of 2009 and 2011 as Barca overcame Manchester United to claim their third and fourth European crowns respectively.

Meanwhile, his individual goalscoring feats have become legendary. His 91 goals in 2012 helped him smash Real Madrid rival Cristiano Ronaldo's previous record of 40 goals in a La Liga season, as Messi registered 50 in the league and equalled the record number of goals in a single Champions League campaign with 14.

Those feats allied to the winning of his fourth Ballon d'Or in January saw him move up one place in this year's Forbes list of highest-paid athletes to 10th with an annual income of $21 million from endorsements alone.

Off the field, things appeared to be going very smoothly for Messi too as his long-term girlfriend Antonella Roccuzzo gave birth to their first child, Thiago, in early November.

And the 25-year-old's relatable image was evidenced once more when he carried his seven-month old son around the Camp Nou field as Barca celebrated winning their fourth Spanish title in five years last month.

However, this latest news rounds off a frustrating few weeks for the world's best player as his brilliance on the field has also been tempered by injury.

A hamstring problem forced him to watch on from the sidelines as Bayern Munich hammered Barca 3-0 in the second-league of their Champions League semi-final to seal a record 7-0 aggregate defeat for the Catalans.

And a recurrence of the injury against Atletico Madrid early in May forced him to miss Barca's last four league games of the campaign.

He returned just in time to take part in Argentina's two World Cup qualifiers against Colombia and Ecuador in the past week, but again his lack of fitness reduced his role to merely that of a substitute for the last half-hour of both matches as La Albiceleste could only manage two draws.

As a result, they are still a few points short of mathematically sealing their place at next year's World Cup in Brazil.

And on the very day on which he was due to start his holidays after an exhausting 10-month long season, the Argentine star now must face up to the first serious scandal to affect his career.

Messi's polished image faces first scandal

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

The sporting world was shocked on Wednesday by the news that four-time World Player of the Year Lionel Messi is being pursued by the Spanish tax authorities for an alleged fraud worth over four million euros ($5 million).

Messi is rightfully the world's most lauded and admired footballer as, on the pitch, he has achieved feats barely plausible in the modern game, such as his 91-goal haul in the calendar year of 2012 that overhauled German Gerd Mueller's 40-year-old European record.

However, in contrast to many of his contemporaries, it is his camera-shy, humble attitude away from the pitch that has allowed many to warm to him.

And that image is precisely why Wednesday's news came as such a surprise.

Messi, who is accused along with his father Jorge Horacio, strongly denied the allegations via his Facebook page, saying that he had not even been informed by the tax authorities of the complaint.

"We have just known through the media about the claim filed by the Spanish tax authorities. We are surprised about those news, because we have never committed any infringement," he said.

Ironically, given his squeaky clean image, it appears to be how he has handled money earned from image rights that the authorities are challenging.

They claim that the player and his father used tax havens in Belize and Uruguay to avoid paying tax on image rights from a number of the player's huge endorsement deals.

The pair are accused of defrauding the state of taxes related to that income in 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009, the year the Argentine won the first of his four Ballons d'Or.

Since that time Messi's exceptional performances on the field have seen his value as a marketable commodity soar.

He scored in both the Champions League finals of 2009 and 2011 as Barca overcame Manchester United to claim their third and fourth European crowns respectively.

Meanwhile, his individual goalscoring feats have become legendary. His 91 goals in 2012 helped him smash Real Madrid rival Cristiano Ronaldo's previous record of 40 goals in a La Liga season, as Messi registered 50 in the league and equalled the record number of goals in a single Champions League campaign with 14.

Those feats allied to the winning of his fourth Ballon d'Or in January saw him move up one place in this year's Forbes list of highest-paid athletes to 10th with an annual income of $21 million from endorsements alone.

Off the field, things appeared to be going very smoothly for Messi too as his long-term girlfriend Antonella Roccuzzo gave birth to their first child, Thiago, in early November.

And the 25-year-old's relatable image was evidenced once more when he carried his seven-month old son around the Camp Nou field as Barca celebrated winning their fourth Spanish title in five years last month.

However, this latest news rounds off a frustrating few weeks for the world's best player as his brilliance on the field has also been tempered by injury.

A hamstring problem forced him to watch on from the sidelines as Bayern Munich hammered Barca 3-0 in the second-league of their Champions League semi-final to seal a record 7-0 aggregate defeat for the Catalans.

And a recurrence of the injury against Atletico Madrid early in May forced him to miss Barca's last four league games of the campaign.

He returned just in time to take part in Argentina's two World Cup qualifiers against Colombia and Ecuador in the past week, but again his lack of fitness reduced his role to merely that of a substitute for the last half-hour of both matches as La Albiceleste could only manage two draws.

As a result, they are still a few points short of mathematically sealing their place at next year's World Cup in Brazil.

And on the very day on which he was due to start his holidays after an exhausting 10-month long season, the Argentine star now must face up to the first serious scandal to affect his career.

Thigh injury ends Messis season - club

Barcelona's Lionel Messi will not play again this season after suffering a thigh injury in his team's 2-1 win at Atletico Madrid in La Liga last weekend, the Catalan club announced on Tuesday.

The Argentine striker has a right thigh strain that will prevent him from playing for between two and three weeks and will not feature again this season, as La Liga ends on June 1.

Barcelona secured the league title -- their fourth in five seasons -- on Saturday when second-placed Real Madrid were held to a 1-1 draw at Espanyol.

The following day Messi started against Atletico at the Vicente Calderon but was forced to come off in the 72nd minute, leaving Barca with 10 men as all three substitutes had already been used.

The end of Messi's season has been plagued by injuries, with a hamstring injury suffered while playing against Paris Saint-Germain in the quarter-finals of the Champions League last month limiting his involvement in recent weeks.

The 25-year-old has scored 46 goals in La Liga this season.