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Barcelona coach Luis Enrique lauded "extraterrestrial" Lionel Messi after ending his time in charge of the LaLiga giants with a Copa del Rey success. Messi opened the scoring in Barca's 3-1 win over Alaves in Saturday's final to finish the season with 54 goals in all competitions. Theo Hernandez cancelled out that goal, but Neymar and Paco Alcacer struck late in the half as Barca claimed the Copa for the third straight year. Luis Enrique was full of praise for Messi afterwards, saying the Argentina star was from another planet. "Messi is an extraterrestrial in every sense and I'm very fortunate that I was able to enjoy the best, or one of the best, versions of him," he said. "Without a doubt he's the number one and to be that you have to control every aspect and be very strong physically. "He takes perfect care of himself, and there's still a lot more to come from Messi." The trophy marked a ninth for Luis Enrique since...

Thibaut Courtois has leapt to the defence of Victor Moses, claiming the Nigeria need not apologise following Chelsea’s defeat to Arsenal after he was sent off.According to the Belgian, the Gunners deserved to win but questioned Alexis Sanchez first goal. ‘We are obviously disappointed but I want to say congratulations to Arsenal. They played a good game,’ Courtois told BBC Sport. ‘The first goal should never have been allowed – it was clearly a handball and then Ramsey was offside because he he was interfering in play. ‘After that goal, we tried to play but they deserved it. ‘Then we went down to 10 men and the red card was correct. Victor Moses doesn’t need to apologise.’

The Chelsea boss was left to rue referee Anthony Taylor's decision to allow the forward's opener to stand as his side lost to Arsenal in the FA Cup Antonio Conte "does not understand" why referee Anthony Taylor did not disallow Alexis Sanchez's opening goal in Chelsea's 2-1 FA Cup final defeat to Arsenal. In a frantic opening at Wembley Stadium, Sanchez put Arsenal ahead in controversial fashion as, after his strike was initially ruled out by the linesman for an offside from Aaron Ramsey in the build-up, referee Taylor chose to overrule his assistant. This decision seemed correct, as Ramsey did not appear to have interfered with play. However, Sanchez did seem to handle the ball when charging down N'Golo Kante's clearance. And while Conte acknowledged that Chelsea's sluggish start ultimately proved costly - though he does not believe this is due to his side's celebrations following their Premier League triumph - the Italian was left frustra...

Barcelona overcame Alaves in Luis Enrique's last match in charge, winning the Copa del Rey final thanks to Lionel Messi's inspired display. Lionel Messi ensured Luis Enrique's Barcelona reign ended with a trophy as he inspired a third consecutive Copa del Rey title with a 3-1 final win over Alaves. The Barca coach announced his planned departure from Camp Nou at the start of March, with his side then falling short of rivals Real Madrid in LaLiga and Juventus in the Champions League. But Luis Enrique belatedly added to the sizeable haul of medals collected in his first two years in charge as Messi showed his class in the last game to be played at Atletico Madrid's Vicente Calderon. Having scraped past Atleti 3-2 on aggregate in the semi-finals in February, with Sergi Roberto and Luis Suarez both sent off, Barca looked in for a similarly nervy contest as Alaves started well and Theo Hernandez then equalised Messi's opener. The Basque side had stunned Barca wi...

Ronaldo believes there must be a way through when Madrid and Juve clash on June 3 in Cardiff's Millennium Stadium. "[Juventus] are an excellent team, as they proved by winning both Serie A and Coppa Italia, and they have completed a fabulous campaign in Europe," the Portugal international, 32, told UEFA.com. "They like using tight coverage, like Atletico. "While Juventus certainly have a superb defence, there is always a weak s pot, we need to find out how to attack it."No team has managed to retain the Champions League since it switched to its current format from the European Cup back in 1992-93. But Ronaldo affirmed that if any side is capable it is Real Madrid, who have won the title twice in the last three seasons. "Every player in the dressing room wants to make history. It would be a privilege to be the first team to win consecutive editions of the Champions League," he explained. "We are aware it will be an extremely diffic...

The Spain striker scored his side's only goal of the final as they went down to Arsenal, and confessed he was uncertain on his future Diego Costa confirmed his commitment to Chelsea following Saturday's FA Cup final defeat, while admitting he would leave if Antonio Conte wants him to.  The Spain international scored the Blues' solitary goal as they went down 2-1 to Arsenal at Wembley. Defeat blew Chelsea's chance of the double, although there is still plenty to celebrate in west London after a memorable season for both the club and Costa. But, despite heading the scoring charts at Stamford Bridge with 21 goals in all competitions, he refused to confirm he would be at Chelsea next season.  "I know Chelsea wants to sell players, but I told them, I have two years left in my contract and I won't go somewhere else just because they want so. I will only sign for another club in Europe, they know that. Otherwise I'll stay with my current contract," he ...