Lionel Messi walked up the steps at the Maracana. It was at the end of 120 minutes of Sunday's gripping World Cup final and the Argentine was collecting a revered golden trophy, one befitting his status as the greatest player of his generation.
Barcelona extended their winning start to their title defence to six games when Neymar scored his debut La Liga goal and Lionel Messi netted his seventh of the season in an entertaining 4-1 victory at home to Real Sociedad on Tuesday.
Lionel Messi converted two penalties as Argentina booked its ticket to the 2014 World Cup finals with a crushing 5-2 away win over Paraguay on Tuesday.
Gareth Bale will have to find his place within a star-studded Real Madrid line-up quickly because the world's most expensive player is sure to be compared constantly with his new team mate Cristiano Ronaldo and Barcelona's Neymar.
FC Barcelona's Asian tour schedule is tight. For its star player, Lionel Messi, it's almost suffocating.
Fact files of the top contenders in La Liga with the new season to start on Saturday:
Looking at the Spanish sports pages over the typically baking summer months, it would appear the nation's soccer was in rude health, on and off the pitch. 
Six key signings to look out for The top six La liga clubs
Neymar scored his first goal in a Barcelona shirt on Wednesday, helping his new team beat Thailand 7-1 in a preseason friendly.
Barcelona has agreed terms with a relatively unknown Argentine league coach, Gerardo Martino, to follow in the footsteps of two of European football's most successful coaches.
Real Madrid headed a trio of European soccer clubs at the top of a list of the world's 50 most valuable sports teams released by Forbes on Monday.
Lionel Messi might be the world's greatest soccer player but his reputation in the United States could take a dive after the cancellation of a high-profile charity match scheduled for Wednesday.
The Argentinian football player Lionel Messi along with his father, who is also his manager, must appear in court next September on possible charges of tax fraud.
Champions Barcelona moved a step closer to matching Real Madrid's La Liga record of 100 points with a 2-1 win over Real Valladolid, that was the prelude to a title party at the Nou Camp on Sunday.
Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
License for publishing multimedia online 0108263 Registration Number: 130349 
