MESSI & RONNIE REMAIN GOLDEN
SHEFF WEDS NORWICH
THERE must surely be a new Ballon d’Or winner this season – but that doesn’t mean that Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are now busted flushes.
Barcelona and Juventus were knocked out of the Champions League in midweek.
Messi missed a penalty with Paris Saint-Germain rocking in the face of a Barca onslaught and the French club regrouped to reach the quarter-finals.
Ronaldo turned his back on a free-kick after being asked to form part of a defensive wall – and Porto scored to go through on away goals.
Leading Ballon d’Or hopes Robert Lewandowski, Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland are still in the Champions League – and if one of them lifts that it would make their case for FIFA’s top individual award even stronger.
I thought Lewandowski was the outstanding candidate last season – but the Ballon d’Or was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Messi and Ronaldo will still feature in the voting – a flawed year for them remains much better than what 99.9 per cent of players can produce.
Since 2007 only Luka Modric has got in front of the pair when the Golden Ball is being handed out.
Both men can see the peak of their powers disappearing in the rearview mirror. Yet Manchester City and PSG will break the bank to sign Messi, 33, if he turns down the chance to stay on at Barca.
And there’s talk of Ronaldo, 36, going back to Real Madrid if Juventus decide he is too high-maintenance.
Both still have something very special to offer.
Championship, Kick-Off 12.15pm
ROSS HEPPENSTALL
EXCLUSIVE BY
FORMER Sheffield Wednesday defender Jon Newsome fears the club are sleepwalking towards oblivion under owner Dejphon Chansiri.
The Owls are fighting the drop into League One for the third time since their top-flight demise in 2000.
Darren Moore recently took over the fallen Yorkshire giants, but his first two games ended in defeat and pressure is mounting ahead of today’s visit of leaders Norwich.
Sheffield-born Newsome, who played for the club in two spells, said: “It’s been mismanagement for a long time now. Mistakes were made by signing players and breaking the wage structure.
“That left the club with major financial issues, which dragged on.
“It went from one disaster to another until Milan Mandaric took over. He was a very astute businessman who knew football and when Dejphon Chansiri came in with his bundles of cash, Wednesday appeared an attractive proposition.”
A big-money takeover by Chansiri in 2015 encouraged hopes of a genuine renaissance at Hillsborough.
In both his first two full seasons, Wednesday made the Championship play-offs under Carlos Carvalhal.
But after Carvalhal departed in December 2017, it has been a steady downward spiral and fans have lost faith in Chansiri.