It’s hard to remember Lionel Messi sporting anything other than the famous No. 10 for Barcelona, but before he assumed the mark of the talisman, he made his debut in the No. 30 and then spent a few seasons sporting the No. 19. 

It wasn’t until Ronaldinho left the club before the 2008-09 campaign — at which time Messi had already scored 42 goals for the senior side (including 31 in LaLiga and eight in the Champions League) — that Messi assumed his iconic number.

Soccer in Canada has never been better.

The country hosted a wonderful Women’s World Cup in 2015 and will be a co-host for the men’s World Cup in 2026. Christine Sinclair, 35, is one of the best women’s players of her generation and Alphonso Davies, 18, might be one of the best players of his future generation.

Borussia Dortmund maintained its nine-point advantage at the top of the Bundesliga following a 2-1 win over Werder Bremen on Saturday, and not even the 83rd minute introduction of Josh Sargent could disrupt BVB’s continued run of excellence.

That excellence has been highlighted by the play of Paco Alcacer, who scored Dortmund’s opener in the 19th minute after this extremely well-worked set piece (also, VAR is a great thing). 

Laurent Koscielny played for Arsenal on Thursday night, his first match action since a devastating Achilles injury on May 3. On Friday, Arsenal Media released an in-depth documentary of the Gunners captain’s long road to recovery, from his injury in Madrid to his return.