I’m going to take my time with this one. If you’re busy, save this post and read it later. If you’re a night owl like me, this is a good late-night read. Do you know the worst thing about Cristiano Ronaldo? It’s that he set the standards for what defines a legend… and in the end, he couldn’t even live up to the standards he created himself. After winning Euro 2016, Ronaldo said: “You can’t become a legend until you win a trophy with your national team.” It was an obvious dig at Messi. Argentina had just lost the 2014 World Cup final to Germany, and Messi was going through the toughest period of his international career. Those words only added fuel to the fire. Where was the respect for a rival, Ronaldo? The surprising part was that social media completely embraced that narrative. Messi was labeled a bottler, while Ronaldo was declared the winner of the rivalry—at least in the media, not on the pitch. Then Messi retired from international football, came back, won the Copa América, and suddenly they were level in major international trophies. What happened next? Ronaldo fans started saying that one Euro is worth more than a hundred Copa Américas, claiming there was no competition in South America. Not true—but that became the excuse. Then Messi went on to win the World Cup. This time, the excuses changed again. They claimed FIFA had fixed the tournament for Messi. That the World Cup was scripted in his favor. They simply didn’t know what else to say. Then Ronaldo himself came out with one of the strangest quotes imaginable: “A legend’s career can’t be defined by just seven games.” At first glance, it sounds reasonable. But beneath it was another attempt to diminish what Messi had achieved. Before the World Cup, they insisted it would be Ronaldo’s tournament. On paper, Portugal had a fantastic squad. If the manager couldn’t get the best out of them, that’s Portugal’s problem—not Ronaldo’s. Yet that same Portugal squad wasn’t any weaker than the Argentina team Messi led to the 2014 World Cup final—the same team people mocked Messi for not carrying to the title. Just a couple of days ago, Ronaldo said: “The World Cup doesn’t define my career, whether I win it or not.” A statement that directly contradicts what he had said years earlier, when he admitted that winning the World Cup would make him feel completely fulfilled. Now you’re 41 years old, Cristiano. By your own standards: * You have 5 Ballon d’Ors, not 8. * You have one European Championship, not two Copa América titles. * You never won the World Cup. * You have four European Golden Shoes, while Messi has six—even though you’re an out-and-out striker. So what now? Will you keep playing until the next World Cup and become the first player to appear in one at 45, hoping to finally win it? If we judged you by the standards you created, you wouldn’t qualify as a legend. Of course, nobody actually judges you that way. Everyone still recognizes you as one of football’s greatest legends. The real mistake was comparing Ronaldo to Messi in the first place. That rivalry was exaggerated from the beginning by the media and figures like José Mourinho. Messi conquered every major trophy available to him, shattered records that once seemed untouchable, and at 39 years old he’s still competing with Kylian Mbappé and Erling Haaland—the stars of the next generation—for the Golden Boot. And honestly, he could still win it. What made Messi beloved by so many fans is that he never tried to diminish Ronaldo’s achievements. Ronaldo, on the other hand, repeatedly made comments that many interpreted as attempts to downplay his greatest rival’s accomplishments—and that’s never an admirable trait. Cristiano helped create a generation that thinks belittling other people’s achievements while constantly glorifying your own is a way to establish dominance. Good bye. Ronaldo.

Espart being out for two months is a real problem for Flick. He had established himself as the starting right-back and was doing an excellent job in that role, enjoying a great run of form. But as always with Barça, the good times never last, and injuries just keep coming! This injury is going to disrupt a lot of things. Koundé, who is just returning from injury, will likely take his place and could feature against Alavés. That means Cancelo at left-back and Koundé at right-back. Defensively, this setup could be a disaster. Both players are likely to start against Atlético Madrid and Aston Villa, which is a worrying prospect. Against teams that are dangerous on the counterattack, Barça’s defensive weaknesses could be exposed badly.

Messi never campaigned for the Ballon d’Or or tried to convince people that he deserved to win it. Even when Cristiano Ronaldo was his biggest rival and the media was campaigning for the award, Messi never got involved in that. He would attend the ceremony without making a big deal out of it. Whenever journalists asked if he thought he was the best or deserved to win, he would often give credit to his teammates. Sometimes, he would even name Ronaldo as a deserving winner, despite competing against him for the same award. And yesterday, while the Ballon d’Or ceremony was taking place, Messi was watching his son play football instead. No player will ever have a character like Messi’s. 🐐

Harry Kane won the award yesterday based on the exact same criteria that should have made Raphinha the Ballon d’Or winner that season. The fact that Raphinha didn’t win will forever be a stain on the history of this award. He was robbed.

I completely understand Lamine Yamal’s disappointment at not winning the Ballon d’Or, especially when he finished 3rd behind Harry Kane and Mbappé. Just think about it. A player who contributed to 45 goals in 57 games as a winger operating far from goal, averaged 5 successful dribbles per game, created 52 big chances, and won a league title, a Super Cup, and the World Cup, yet somehow, that still wasn’t enough! What made Yamal even more disappointed was his injury against Celta Vigo in April. It kept him out for 2 months, and he almost missed the World Cup. He eventually returned to play the tournament while still struggling with his vision. And since journalists tend to be influenced by the final impression, with the World Cup being the last major event before voting, more votes went to Harry Kane and Mbappé. Here’s what I want to say: a player who has finished 2nd and 3rd in the Ballon d’Or in consecutive years at just 18 and 19 will sooner or later win it, and he could dominate the award for years to come. This result could be the motivation Yamal needs to take his game to another level, especially considering how brilliantly he has started this season. Of course, it hurts not to win, but no other player has a future as long and as promising as Yamal’s, with so many more opportunities to try again. And that might be the biggest win of all.

Lamine Yamal needs to learn when to stay quiet and focus on football. Unfortunately, he got caught up in the media game Mbappé started and began talking about the Ballon d’Or himself, almost as if he were trying to win the voters over, despite previously saying he would never do that. The problem is that he never needed any of this, especially when Mbappé was doing it out of desperation. At the end of the day, Lamine is still young and has a lot of growing up to do. Making mistakes at his age is normal. What matters now is that he learns from this and understands that the best way to win the Ballon d’Or is not to campaign for it in the media, but to prove himself on the pitch and let his performances and numbers do the talking.

Messi said back in 2019 that his body couldn’t do it anymore… and now, in 2026, he ranks 5th in the Ballon d’Or standings. One of a kind. 🐐👑

When the current Ballon d’Or winner faced a player who was on the verge of retirement at the last World Cup. Messi is unbelievable. 🐐

I swear, when the news broke that Mbappé had won the Ballon d’Or, I was genuinely upset because I thought Kane might miss out on it. After the season he’s had, with Lamine not showing up at the World Cup and Mbappé ending the season trophyless, Kane absolutely deserves this recognition. A striker who plays like a midfielder, someone you find everywhere on the pitch, even in defence, only to suddenly appear inside the box to score or create a goal. The kind of striker every team and every manager in the world dreams of having. 100% deserved. I’m genuinely happy for him, as if he were one of our own. A classy, hardworking player who deserves this after everything he went through at Tottenham. Congratulations to the Prince! ❤️

Someone broke his club’s boycott and travelled all the way from Madrid to London just to watch Lamine and Kane lift their awards in front of him while he clapped. France Football should’ve made it up to him by giving him the Best Clapper in the World award. 😭

Before Lamine Yamal made his debut for Barcelona’s first team, someone at La Masia discovered him and kept posting videos of him on social media until he became the academy’s most talked-about talent. One day, Lamine approached that same person and told him about his friend Pau Cubarsí, saying he was the best defender at La Masia in his eyes. The man took Lamine’s word for it and started posting videos of Cubarsí too. Before long, Cubarsí had also become one of the most talked-about defenders in the academy. Eventually, both made it to Barcelona’s first team and became two of the brightest young talents in world football. And today, as Lamine Yamal received the award for the world’s best young player, he said: “Pau Cubarsí deserves it, not me.” The friendship between Lamine Yamal and Pau Cubarsí is one of the most beautiful stories you could ever see in football.

Lamine Yamal has been crowned 2026 Men’s Young Talent of the Year! ✨ 19 years old and already achieving things most players can only dream of. While people his age are still figuring out life, he’s winning trophies, breaking records and collecting individual awards. And he’s only getting started. Imagine what this kid could achieve in his prime. 🐐

Let me remind you of something. Last season, Madrid beat us and celebrated as if they had won everything. But what happened next? We crushed them in the Spanish Super Cup, won La Liga, and Raphinha reminded everyone that titles are decided in May, not October. That’s why we shouldn’t get carried away by one result. Let’s stay optimistic while waiting for a proper reaction from both the coaching staff and the players. We need to learn from this defeat and make sure we come back stronger. We also need to remember the context. Our entire backline has been hit by injuries, with Eric García, Koundé, Xavi Espart and Christensen all unavailable. Getting them back will make a huge difference, and having Dani Olmo available again would give us another player capable of solving problems, particularly with his quality and decision-making in the final third. There’s still a long way to go. Stay focused, stay patient, and remember that nothing is decided in October.

With Spain, we rarely see Lamine Yamal constantly trying to take on defenders in 1v1 situations just to prove he can beat them. Whether at the Euros, the World Cup or even in friendlies, he plays more for the team, releases the ball when necessary and doesn’t force unnecessary dribbles. De la Fuente won’t allow him to play selfishly. Lamine himself said that he sacrificed some of his dribbling for the team during the World Cup. He was also more disciplined defensively, working hard to help Pedro Porro and maintain Spain’s defensive shape, especially when the team had to defend in a low block. He understood that football isn’t just about dribbling past opponents or winning individual duels. Sometimes, you have to sacrifice parts of your own game for the benefit of the team. That’s the mentality I want to see from him at Barça. At Barça, however, he sometimes becomes too obsessed with beating his direct opponent, as we saw against Cucurella. He also keeps looking for Raphinha or Fermín even when they’re surrounded by two or three players, ignoring Gordon or another teammate who is completely free on the left. Yes, we love Lamine’s dribbling and the way he takes on defenders. Nobody wants him to lose that part of his game. But in big games, especially against teams with dangerous counterattacking threats and players who can punish us the moment we lose possession, he needs to be more careful with his decisions. If he sees a 1v1 situation he knows he can win, by all means, take the defender on. But forcing a dribble when better options are available can hurt the team far more than it helps. Losing possession in those situations can expose the entire team, particularly when the opposition is ready to counterpress and attack the space we leave behind. His talent is unquestionable. I just want him to recognise when to take risks and when to keep things simple, trust his teammates and make decisions that benefit the team. That’s how he’ll become an even more complete player. I hope we see this version of Lamine at Barça.

Flick got his substitutions wrong yesterday, and he deserves criticism for that. But my opinion remains the same: I won’t fully judge him until he has a squad with the depth and quality of PSG, Real Madrid, Man City or Arsenal. Let’s be realistic. If someone had told you five years ago that Barcelona would have this squad in 2024, 2025 and 2026, competing against teams packed with world-class players and backed by huge transfer budgets, would you have believed Barça could still win trophies and beat Madrid in the Clásico? If someone had told you that Flick would inflict the same kind of humiliating defeats on Real Madrid that they have suffered under Guardiola, Luis Enrique, Vilanova and Xavi, you probably wouldn’t have believed it. Yet Flick has managed to do it. Barcelona are still a team in transition, building towards becoming a complete side, yet people already expect them to compete for the Champions League as if they had a world-class squad in every position. Criticize Flick all you want, but don’t ignore the limitations of this squad and then expect him to compete on equal terms with clubs that have far greater depth, stronger benches and more options off the bench. You cannot expect a manager to deliver everything when he hasn’t been given the tools to do so. Once Flick has a complete squad, quality depth in every position and a strong bench, judge him as harshly as you want. Until then, the squad’s limitations have to be taken into account. This is my opinion, and one defeat or one bad substitution won’t change it. End of discussion.

The most frustrating moment of yesterday’s game was when a simple pass to Cancelo could have led to a perfect cross to Raphinha and the second goal But Lamine stupidly decided to shoot or cross, I honestly don’t even know what he was trying to do there.

Did Pedri have a poor first half? Yes. But in the second half, he wasn’t just Barcelona’s best player. He was the best player on the pitch, doing absolutely everything possible and carrying the entire midfield on his own. I genuinely wonder what game the people criticizing him were watching.

The reality check we needed. At the start of the season, we thought we were the best team in the world and went into this week ready to challenge everyone, only to end up looking like clowns. This is the reality check we needed. It’s time to wake up, work harder, and let our football do the talking instead of making noise before proving anything on the pitch. The season is far from over. We need to learn from these defeats and come back stronger. Visca Barça! 💙❤️

How did you know that Christensen would return from injury in January, only for the board to put their faith in him once again, claiming he would return to his best level and that the team didn’t need to sign a centre back in the winter window? Then, once the window closes, he’ll get injured again and miss the rest of the season. The exact same mistake we saw in the previous seasons could be repeated in the upcoming transfer window, with Flick agreeing to the board’s decision.

The funniest thing about Flick is this idea that strengthening the attack should always be the priority, while the defence doesn’t matter as long as you have a powerful attack. When PSG won the Champions League, their defence was built around two of the best fullbacks in the world, Hakimi and Nuno Mendes, alongside experienced players like Marquinhos, Pacho, Lucas Hernández and others. Pep Guardiola also had an entire defensive arsenal, both in his starting XI and on the bench: Rúben Dias, Stones, Akanji, Aké, Laporte, Walker, Rico Lewis, Sergio Gómez and Cancelo. And both Pep and Luis Enrique had historic attacking talent at their disposal. Meanwhile, we’re relying on Cubarsí, Gerard Martín, who is naturally a left back, Cancelo, Christensen, who spends more time injured than playing, and both Koundé and Eric García, who are naturally centre backs but play at right back. This defence simply isn’t good enough to win the Champions League or consistently deliver in the biggest games. We could bring back prime Messi, Neymar and Suárez, and I still don’t believe we’d get our hands on the trophy with this defensive line. Barcelona need a genuine defensive overhaul. Big games and Champions League titles aren’t won through attacking quality alone. You need a complete system capable of defending and attacking at the highest level.

Why didn’t Flick adapt his tactics to the situation? We were drawing, and the gap at the top was still 6 points. Real Madrid were the ones who needed a win to cut that gap to 3 points, so why keep pressing so high and leaving so much space behind our defence? We could have dropped into a low block in the final minutes and looked to hit them on the counter. Adeyemi’s pace, Frenkie’s ability to carry the ball and Gabriel Jesus’ movement gave us the perfect options to exploit the spaces Madrid would have left behind while pushing forward for a winner. We didn’t need to take unnecessary risks when a draw was still a decent result for us. Madrid had to chase the game, not us. Let them commit players forward and punish them in transition. We learned nothing from the Inter game. We learned nothing from the Atlético game. And now we’re making the same mistakes again. At some point, Flick has to understand that adapting to the game doesn’t mean abandoning your philosophy. It means knowing when to take risks and when to manage the result. You cannot play every single minute the same way and expect to win the biggest games.