Brazil president praises ‘real idol’ Lionel Messi in naked pop at Neymar

You’d have thought it wouldn’t be easy for a football-loving Brazilian to doff his cap to Lionel Messi after he won his eighth Ballon d’Or last week, but President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was highly gracious in his tribute to the Argentinian.

“A 36-year-old player, playing in the United States league, was world champion last year and this year he won the Ballon d’Or again. Messi serves as an example to Brazilian players because winning the Ballon d’Or is for professionals and does not combine with partying at night. If you don’t set an example, you’re not good for much. How many years since Brazil has had a real idol like him?”

The notion that this was a thinly veiled dig at Neymar was wrong - there was nothing thinly veiled about it, the dig as subtle as a haymaker. But, of course, there’s no love lost between the president and the player after the latter endorsed Jair Bolsonaro ahead of last October’s election, Lula suggesting he only did so because Bolsonaro had promised to write off his tax debts.

Did the Bolsonaro camp take the Neymar/Messi barb lying down? (“Brazil is full of couch specialists who don’t understand anything about football,” tweeted Flavio, Bolsonaro’s son. “There are people out there talking about being an example for the country, but they are not an example even for drunks”). No.

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Word of mouth

“Messi wasn’t even the best player at PSG. It’s shameful. I’m hallucinating.” – Jérôme Rothen, another PSG old boy, not overly impressed by the Ballon d’Or voting.

“Are you Sunderland in disguise?” – Newcastle fans crooning the ultimate insult towards Manchester United during last week’s League Cup win.

“When we played in Salzburg I meditated with [Erling] Haaland two or three times…. it didn’t help me, I didn’t believe in it as much as he did. He does a lot of things that people probably don’t know - I’ve been to his apartment. The guy is a bit sick.” – Whether Liverpool’s Dominik Szoboszlai means ‘sick’ in a good way, we’re not sure.

Wrexham’s super trooper

This time of year is, of course, Groundhog Day for James McClean, what with the nigh-on endless chat about him not wearing a poppy. But on the field, things are going very nicely, Wrexham, whom he joined in August, are up to third in League Two and on Saturday they won 2-1 away to Mansfield in the first round of the FA Cup.

He had a bit of a run-in with a couple of Mansfield fans at the end of the game, in response to abuse being hurled at him, but at least he was serenaded off the pitch by his own supporters. To the tune of Abba’s Voulez-Vous: “James McClean (aha), running down the wing (aha), makes the Wrexham sing (aha), and he hates the ****ing King.” Gulp.

In words

“The money he’s spent! Some of the players have cost £70-80m! I wouldn’t have had them with me at Huddersfield.” – Neil Warnock salutes Erik ten Hag’s player purchases.

In numbers

2 — That’s how many players, other than Messi and Haaland, received first place votes in this year’s Ballon d’Or - Kylian Mbappé (five) and Bernardo Silva (one… from, eh, Portugal).

More word of mouth

“The intention was to give minutes to players, so they could use it as a training session.” – Eddie Howe on his use of substitutions during that League Cup training session at Old Trafford.

“Knowing my nature it’s unlikely. Once they’re exes, they’re exes, mate.” – Ange Postecoglou on being asked if he’d ever re-marry Celtic.

“In my humble opinion, the Brazilian national team is in great hands with Diniz. F*** Ancelotti. I want Diniz until the end.” – How enthusiastic is Romario about Carlo Ancelotti replacing Brazil’s caretaker boss Fernando Diniz? Not very.

“If I knew it was going to be that way, I’d probably have gone to Aldi for the bottles of champagne.” – Cork City’s Richie Holland regretting spending big on two bottles of Moët & Chandon for Stephen Bradley after the Shamrock Rovers boss criticised him for not granting the champions a guard of honour at Turner’s Cross.