neymar jr

Brazilian star and two former FC Barcelona presidents absolved of wrongdoing over 2013 transfer from Santos

Footballer faces up to 5-year sentence over FC Barcelona transfer corruption allegations

The Club refers to the buy-out clause of 222 million euros

A sweet victory for Luis Enrique on Wednesday night, soundly defeating his friend and former teammate, Pep Guardiola, 4–0, in the third Group C game for FC Barcelona and Manchester City. Lionel Messi, of course, was the star of the show, scoring thrice to leave not just his former manager on the losing end but his leaving his current manager almost lost for words. “He was decisive,” Luis Enrique said after the game. “He was involved in all the game’s key moments.” Guardiola was handily defeated at Camp Nou for the second time in two matches since leaving his lifelong club five seasons ago.  Besides Messi’s seventh career Champions League hat-trick, Neymar Jr added a late goal.

The victory in the Vicente Calderón strengthens FC Barcelona's position as the most successful team of recent years as they claim the Copa del Rey for the second successive season. Jordi Alba’s goal in the seventh minute of extra time capped a stunning turnaround of events and handed FC Barcelona a well-deserved 2–0 victory over Sevilla in the 2016 Copa del Rey final on Sunday night at the Vicente Calderón Stadium in Madrid. With the La Liga championship already in the bag, Sunday’s Copa del Rey win — the 28th in Club history — means Barça have emerged on top in both of this season’s national competitions, giving them the coveted domestic double and ensuring the 2015/16 season will be hailed as a success for years to come.

Messi is going for his fifth Ballon d'Or, a jaw-dropping feat considering the fact that in the history of the award, he is the only person to have won it more than three times. Four other players have won it exactly three times, Johan Cruyff, Michel Platini, Marco van Basten and Cristiano Ronaldo, while just five other players have ever won it twice. Messi won his unprecedented fourth straight Ballon d'Or in 2013 and is now looking to distance himself from the pack. Messi and Ronaldo have scooped up every Ballon d'Or for the last seven years. That number is almost certain to rise to eight this Monday.

Lionel Messi and Neymar Jr. will face off with Cristiano Ronaldo for the award for world's best player in 2015. The two Barça players both were the main drivers of FC Barcelona’s success, forming the so-called trident alongside Suárez, who was another semi-finalists, together with Barça players Andrés Iniesta, Ivan Rakitic and Javier Mascherano. Leo Messi’s four Ballons d’Or are the most in history and he has never been left off the podium since 2007, when he was third. The FC Barcelona coach, Luis Enrique Martínez is also in the mix after winning the treble and the European Super Cup in his first season is contender along with Pep Guardiola and Jorge Sampaoli. The winners will be announced on 11 January at a gala to be held in Monaco. 

FC Barcelona turned in a virtuoso performance on Saturday night at the Santiago Bernabéu, meticulously carving up Real Madrid up and down the pitch to take the first El Clásico of the 2015/16 season by a score of 4-0. Suárez scored a double, while Neymar and Iniesta added one each, as the Catalans moved to six points up at the top of the table. With Real Madrid facing the ignominy of a whipping in front of their home fans, tempers began to flare, and in the 84th minute Isco was shown a straight red card for coming in high with the studs on Neymar and catching the league’s leading goalscorer. Following Barça's 0-4 demolishing of Real Madrid, head coach Luis Enrique appeared in the press room and expressed a high-degree of satisfaction with the way the game went. “I’m satisfied not just for the victory, but for the way we did it”, he stated.