DUBAI: The napkin on which Barcelona promised to sign 13-year-old Lionel Messi will be auctioned in March for a starting price of 300,000 pounds ($381,000), British auction house Bonhams said on Wednesday.
The napkin was signed in December, 2000 when Carles Rexach, then Barca’s sporting director, agreed with agent Horacio Gaggioli to recruit the Argentine teenager who went on to become the club’s all-time top scorer.
The pivotal moment in football history happened after Rexach and Gaggioli met to have lunch after Messi’s father Jorge had become concerned at the lack of response following his son’s initial trials at the Spanish club.
“In Barcelona, on 14 December 2000 and in the presence of Messrs Minguella and Horacio, Carles Rexach, FC Barcelona’s sporting director, hereby agrees, under his responsibility and regardless of any dissenting opinions, to sign the player Lionel Messi, provided that we keep to the amounts agreed upon,” is written on the napkin from the Pompeia tennis club.
The agreement, ratified by then club president Joan Gaspart, was formally signed that same night and a month later Barcelona completed the signing of Messi to begin his 20-year stay at the Catalan club.
The eight-times Ballon d’Or winner helped Barca win 35 titles, making a record 782 appearances and scoring 674 goals.
Napkin used to sign 13-year-old Messi for Barcelona goes to auction
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Napkin used to sign 13-year-old Messi for Barcelona goes to auction
- The napkin was signed in December 2000
- Carles Rexach, then Barca’s sporting director, agreed with agent Horacio Gaggioli to recruit the Argentine teenager
Brilliant Bodo/Glimt beat Sporting Lisbon 3-0 in Champions League last-16 first leg
- The Portuguese side showed a glimmer of attacking intent to start the second half but it was quickly snuffed out
STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN: Another stellar display on their artificial home turf at the Aspmyra Stadium gave Norway’s Bodo/Glimt a 3-0 win over Sporting Lisbon in the first leg of their Champions League last 16 tie on Wednesday.
The Portuguese side joined the long list of big-name European clubs that have made the journey to the little fishing town inside the Arctic Circle and came away empty-handed as Bodo romped to an easy victory on the night that puts them in the driving seat for a spot in the quarter-finals.
Luis Suarez blazed an early chance over the bar for the visitors but after that their hosts took over, and they went ahead just after the half-hour mark after Giorgos Vagiannidis bundled over Sondre Brunstad Fet in the box.
After a VAR check, the midfielder confidently stroked home the penalty he had won to give his side the lead.
The hosts were 2-0 up by the break, and though there was a slice of luck involved as Jens Petter Hauge’s through ball deflected into the path of Ole Didrik Blomberg, there was nothing lucky about his superb finish from a tight angle to double his side’s advantage.
The Portuguese side showed a glimmer of attacking intent to start the second half but it was quickly snuffed out.
Bodo should have gone three up in the 55th minute after the ball pinged around in the box before eventually going out of play, with defender Jostein Gundersen heading the resulting corner straight at the keeper.
In total control of the game, Bodo grabbed the third goal their efforts deserved when Danish striker Kasper Hogh rounded off another fairytale effort, stealing between two defenders to deftly steer Hauge’s low cross from the left into the net from close range in the 71st minute.
The 3-0 win, Bodo’s fifth straight victory in the competition, leaves Sporting Lisbon with a mountain to climb in the second leg, which will take place in Lisbon next Tuesday.
“It was fun to play again, a fantastic round of 16 game — we still have a long way to go, but the result is fantastic. It will be an exciting week now ... we are halfway there, we know that things can change quickly in football so we have to be at our best again on Tuesday,” winger Hauge told Norway’s TV2.
“They (Sporting) are a good team with many good players, but we are also a fantastic team, we have shown that many times now.”
