When Cristiano Ronaldo left for Juventus last summer the transfer not only saw Real Madrid lose one of their greatest ever players but it also meant the end of his La Liga rivalry with Barcelona’s Lionel Messi.

After nine seasons of going head-to-head in Spain Ronaldo is now plying his trade in Italy’s Serie A while Messi continues to score the goals for La Liga leaders Barca. On Saturday Messi scored his 40th and 41st goals of the season as Barcelona beat Espanyol 2-0 in the Catalan derby at the Camp Nou.

Although currently injured Ronaldo’s first season in Italy has seen him score 24 goals for Juventus. The Italian champions are 15 points clear at the top of Serie A and also through to the Champions League quarter-finals.

It’s this form and influence that makes Messi miss playing against his great rival. In an interview with Club 947FM radio, Messi said: “It was nice playing against Cristiano even if it was difficult. I enjoyed winning cups when he was at Madrid. It would be nice if he were still there.”

Signing Ronaldo from Real Madrid has made Juventus even better, says Messi, and the Barca No.10 believes the Italian side will be a huge threat in the Champions League. Ronaldo scored a second-leg hat-trick for Juventus as they came back to beat Atletico Madrid 3-2 on aggregate in the last 16.

Juventus play Ajax in the last eight and Barcelona play Manchester United. Should Juve and Barca win their quarter-final and semi-final ties Ronaldo and Messi would face each other in the final on 1 June at the Estadio Metropolitano in Madrid, Spain.

Messi added: “I have a lot of respect for Juventus; I think they are a very strong team, with very good players – and with the arrival of Cristiano, even more so. With the victory against Atletico Madrid they’ve got a big advantage. But I hope we can be there too.”

Top two in the world

Messi was also asked about which players he regards as the best in the world. While praising Kylian Mbappe, Neymar, Luis Suarez and Eden Hazard, Messi believes he and Ronaldo are leading the way.

“Today, there are very good players, Neymar, Mbappe, Suarez, Hazard, any of them could be the best in the world,” he said. “But I took Cristiano off that group and put him with me.”

Real Madrid and Croatia midfielder Luka Modric speaks after winning the trophy for the Best FIFA Men's Player of 2018 Award

Luka Modric was named Best Fifa Men's Footballer of the Year at a ceremony in London, beating Mohamed Salah and an absent Cristiano Ronaldo to the top prize.
Ronaldo had won the award for the last two years, but Modric's exceptional 2017/18 season was deemed to have surpassed the Portuguese's dominance.
The 33-year-old Croatian won his third Champions League trophy with Real Madrid in May and led his national side to their first World Cup final in Russia, where he was awarded the Golden Ball for his outstanding individual performance.
Afterwards Modric dedicated the award to his Croatian and Madrid teammates.

"It's a great honour and beautiful feeling to stand here with this trophy," he said.
Modric poses with his Best FIFA Men's Player Award alongside Marta with her Best FIFA Women's Player Award

"This trophy is not just mine. It is for my Real Madrid team-mates, the Croatia national team and all my coaches. This is also for my family, without who I would not be the player I am."

Voted for by national team coaches and captains, select members of the media and an online vote, the win shows a shift from Lionel Messi and Ronaldo sharing the spoils for the past decade of Fifa individual awards.
Messi's omission from the category altogether garnered particular attention ahead of this, the third edition of The Best awards, which were created after Fifa's six-year partnership with the Ballon d'Or ended in 2015.

Barcelona's talisman was however included in Fifa's team of the year, the Fifpro World XI, as were David de Gea, Dani Alves, Raphael Varane, Sergio Ramos, Marcelo, Modric, N'Golo Kante, Eden Hazard, Kylian Mbappe, and Ronaldo.
Fifa Fifpro World11 (minus Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi) pose with their trophies.

Meanwhile, Salah was handed a consolation prize for his record-breaking season with Liverpool, taking home the Fifa Puskas award for his goal in the Merseyside derby.
Other winners included Thibaut Courtois for Best Goalkeeper, Brazilian and Orlando Pride player Marta was named Best Women's Player.

Best Men's Coach went to French national team coach Didier Deschamps, and Reynald Pedros won the Best Women's Coach award for his work leading Lyon to their fifth Champions League title. The Fifa Fan Award went to Peru's supporters after the country appeared at a World Cup for the first time in 36 years with Germany's Lennart Thy winning the Fifa Fair Play Award.

By Euronews

Five continents one ball: the sixth edition of the Football for Friendship program, implemented by Gazprom, this year got bigger. 12-year-old boys and girls, came to Moscow from 211 countries. Young international players were the ambassadors of football promoting values such as friendship, equality and peace.
Victor Zubkov, the chairman of Gazprom's board of directors, says: "Football for friendship is a social program, and it is not only about football, it is also about friendship and getting children to communicate. So while they are communicating with each other they implement the nine values being promoted by this program such as, peace, equality, which is important. And I think they manage to do it.”
Thirty-two international Teams of Friendship, named after rare and endangered species, met at the Sapsan Arena Stadium in Moscow.
They proved that different cultures, languages and traditions are not an obstacle to fair play and that friendship can overcome borders.
Chanwoo Kim, from South Korea, said: "I am happy because I made many friends from all over the world. am from South Korea he is from North Korea, we met each other here and we became best friends!”
The players traditionally exchange blue and green Bracelets of Friendship, the blue symbolizes the peaceful sky and green – the football field.
The matches took place a day before the World Cup kicked off, and all the participants got tickets for the game between Russia and Saudi Arabia.
Swan Dram, from France, said: "It’s a great honour to be able to play here at the World Cup in Russia. Because this really is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I am lucky. I can’t find the words. It’s just wonderful."
Wadia Chery, from Haiti, said: Girls and boys play together, equality – is one of the most important values this program promotes.
Wadia Chery from Haiti, said: I am really proud to be here. I want to become a big football star like Mata
Fourteen-year-old Bogdan Batalin was the youngest referee on the Football for Friendship field. He came al the way from Irkutsk in Siberia to get closer to his lifetime dream.
Bogdan Batalin, a referee, said: "Football allows you to be friends because players on the field are connected by equality. This is a great experience because I want to be a referee. Here I can exchange experiences with other referees and see how footballers from other countries play."
This time luck in the final smiled on the Chimpanzee team. Jeronimo Rodriquez Uruena from Colombia was one of the best players, scoring numerous goals to pu his team on top of the podium.
Uruena said: “I feel very very very happy, this is wonderful!”
Cameron Gregory Philip, a goalkeeper from Dominica, said: “It’s an amazing experience, we won a tournament in Russia!”
In five years, the number of participating countries in Football for Friendship has grown tremendously and it has more than 3 million supporters. The most prolific goalscorer in the history of Russian football (233 goals) Aleksandr Kerzhakov explained the secret of hi success.
Kerzhakov, a Zenit St Petersburg striker, said: “Football for friendship” stretches to more countries and more continents, every year, thanks to those boys and girls themselves, and to the message that they bring back home where they are trying to change the world for the better."
Jeronimo from Colombia and Gameron from Dominica swore to stay friends forever as all others who found new friends while kicking the ball.

By Chris Harris

Europe’s new international football contest kicks off tonight ... and it’s complicated.

Here we explain why it was introduced, how it will work and its link to qualification for the continent’s next soccer showpiece: Euro 2020.

So what’s happening?

Tonight will see the first fixtures of the new UEFA Nations League, including European heavyweights France versus Germany in Munich.

How does it work?

Europe’s football governing body, UEFA, has divided its 55 teams into four leagues, based on their records.
The top-ranked teams are in League A and the lowest in League D.
Each league has then been subdivided into groups of three of four teams. For example: France, Germany and the Netherlands will play each other in Group A1, while Belgium, Iceland and Switzerland will contest Group A2.
Group fixtures will take place September to November this year, with teams playing each other home and away.

How is each league and sub-group divided?

League A
Group A1: Germany, France and Netherlands.
Group A2: Belgium, Switzerland and Iceland.
Group A3: Portugal, Italy and Poland.
Group A4: Spain, England and Croatia.

League B
Group B1: Slovakia, Ukraine and Czech Republic.
Group B2: Russia, Sweden and Turkey.
Group B3: Austria, Bosnia & Herzegovina and Northern Ireland.
Group B4: Wales, Republic of Ireland and Denmark.

League C
Group C1: Scotland, Albania and Israel.
Group C2: Hungary, Greece, Finland and Estonia.
Group C3: Slovenia, Norway, Bulgaria and Cyprus.
Group C4: Romania, Serbia, Montenegro and Lithuania.

League D
Group D1: Georgia, Latvia, Kazakhstan and Andorra.

Group D2: Belarus, Luxembourg, Moldova and San Marino.

Group D3: Azerbaijan, Faroe Islands, Malta and Kosovo.

Group D4: FYR Macedonia, Armenia, Liechtenstein and Gibraltar.

What are teams competing for?

The winners of the four groups in League A will qualify for Nations League Finals that will be played between June 5-9, 2019.
They will compete in semi-finals with the winners going head-to-head to be crowned the inaugural champions.

What do teams in the other leagues have to play for?

The winners of each group gain promotion up a level for the next edition of the Nations League, which begins in 2020 and has its final the following summer. The tournament’s climax is timed to coincide with the summers when there is neither a football world cup or a European championship. Basically, odd years.

Does the Nations League replace qualifying for Euro 2020?

No, but they are linked.
Qualifying for Euro 2020 — the championship played every four years — begins in March 2019 and is separate from the Nations League.
Teams play in groups entirely disconnected to the Nations League, with the winners and runners-up qualifying for the tournament.
But if a country doesn’t qualify in this traditional way, the Nations League will provide a second chance.
All of the 16 group winners from the Nations League will go forward to play-off for the remaining four spots at Euro 2020.
But if — and this is where it gets even more complicated — a group winner has already qualified for Euro 2020 via the traditional route, its play-off place goes to the next best-placed team below them in the Nations League.
For example: Sweden fails to qualify for Euro 2020 via the traditional qualification route. It also finishes second in its Nations League group, meaning it does not qualify for a Euro 2020 play-off place. But it is handed a lifeline when Turkey, the winner of its Nations League group, qualifies for the finals via the traditional route. Its play-off place for coming top of the group B2 passes to Sweden, handing it a lifeline.
It essentially means you could lose all your Euro 2020 qualification games and still qualify for the tournament via the Nations League.

Why has this been done?

UEFA says it has introduced the Nations League to improve the standing of national team football, in the face of intense competition from money-spinning domestic leagues, like the Premiership, and the Champions League, Europe’s club tournament for the creme de la creme of the continent’s teams.
There is also a belief that friendly matches between countries do not provide adequate competition and can be a distraction for the under-pressure star players.