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Lionel Messi and other Barcelona stars skip The Best FIFA Football Awards
Barcelona president Jose Maria Bartomeu will take the place of his players, as they skip the awards to prepare for a Copa del Rey match. FIFA is not happy.
David Ramos/Getty Images
The Best FIFA Awards — the rebranded former Ballon d'Or awards, if you're confused — are on Monday. FC Barcelona's players won't be there. Barca's president and some other board members are going in their place, saying that the players needed to focus on their upcoming Copa del Rey match against Athletic Bilbao.
FIFA is pissed and thinks it’s a disrespectful move. They don’t think Barca would have done this if Messi was favored to win the award, which he’ll probably lose to Cristiano Ronaldo this time around.
If you’d like to follow Monday’s awards, here’s all the info from FIFA.
Juke of the day
This is from September, but a video of Ascoli wonderkid Riccardo Orsolini juking a defender on his shoes got popular on the internet this weekend. It’s unbelievable. He’ll probably join a big club soon. (r/soccer)
Here’s a bonus goal of the weekend: Lionel Messi’s amazing free kick.
In the news
FIFA is going to officially mess up the World Cup on Tuesday. (BBC)
Philippe Coutinho is back in full training and should play in the League Cup semifinal. (Telegraph)
Wolfsburg have signed attacker Paul-Georges Ntep from Rennes. (Wolfsburg)
U.S. Soccer has sanctioned both NASL and USL as Division 2 leagues, but NASL is scrambling to get teams together by the spring. (SI)
Roberto Firmino had his house robbed. (Guardian)
Atlanta United is openly shopping the No. 2 pick in the MLS SuperDraft. (MLS)
Thiago Alcantara is hurt, and Thomas Müller could move into his position against Arsenal. (Bild)
German-American Gedion Zelalem is rumored to be close to a move from Arsenal to Borussia Dortmund. (ESPN FC)
You should be reading
Ted Knutson on a few Premier League subjects, but mostly Iheanacho vs. Rashford vs. Abraham, the debate over England’s top young striker. (Stats Bomb)
Rahul Warrior on Victor Lindelof, the Benfica defender who’s emerged as Manchester United’s top target. (Just Football)
Hayden Vernon on Qatar importing players that they hope play for the national team, and how players might get exploited. (Vice)
What happened this weekend
Real Madrid steamrolled Granada. (Managing Madrid)
Barcelona dropped points, and is now a massive underdog in the La Liga title race. (Barca Blaugranes)
None of the big teams got knocked out of the FA Cup. Here’s a recap of the action. (Guardian)
Juventus maintained their control over Serie A with a comfortable win. (Black and White and Read All Over)
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