There's that saying: When one's personal (or rather private) life is in order, one's professional life is in order. This applies for anyone, regardless of whatever they do - whether they do "regular" office jobs such as a writer, banker, lawyer, or teacher, or jobs that allow them to grace television screens all over the world, such as athletics or acting.
However, if things behind the scenes are in disarray, or there is a lot of negative buzz surrounding one's private affairs, it definitely can - and most likely will - affect how an individual fares at work, whether it is in an office, on a stage, on a court, or on a pitch. Recently, reports of a new financial scandal has been making the rounds, and as with any major international sordid affair it involves some pretty high profile individuals.
How high profile? Well, what do Hong Kong actor Jackie Chan, Barcelona star Lionel Messi, and Iceland’s Prime Minister Sigmundur Gunnlaugsson apparently have in common? Mossack Fonseca, a Panama-based law firm that is accused of helping lots of wealthy individuals hide their assets in offshore accounts. This revelation came earlier this month when over 100 news outlets world wide began publishing reports on the "Panama Papers".
What are the Panama Papers? And what does this have to do with Messi...and Barcelona?
As LiveSoccerTV.com is not a financial news site, and most of you are not well versed in or knowledgeable about the financial services industry, we will just give you a quick summary. Basically, the Panama Papers is the name of a massive leak of well over 11 million of database documents from one of the world's largest offshore law firms, Mossack Fonseca.
It has revealed the ins and outs of how some of the world's wealthiest and most powerful individuals have successfully hid their money in offshore accounts to avoid paying taxes. This includes Barcelona ace Lionel Messi.
Still, we know there are some of you who do know quite a bit about finance, so if you want to read more, you can find further detailed information here and here.
Anyway, back to the focus of this piece: Lionel Messi. Here is a very simple explanation why he could be in some serious trouble regarding the Panama Papers. Basically, he (and his father, Jorge) are allegedly involved in setting up a shell corporation, with the assistance of the aforementioned law firm. To further simplify that for you, a shell corporation is simply another word for a tax haven (or very basically, a place to hide money to avoid paying taxes on earnings).
As per German publication Süddeutsche Zeitung - the newspaper that first obtained the information from an "anonymous" source - the name of this organization is Mega Star Enterprises, and if convicted, he could end up spending nearly two years in jail for tax evasion.
By the way, that is totally separate from another charge the five-time Ballon d'Or winner and his father Jorge are facing - also related to tax fraud. That other charge relates to a failure to report earnings from 2007 to 2009 and if he's found guilty of that as well, that also equals an additional two years in jail.
Naturally, Messi and his family have denied any involvement in all of this, but there is no disputing that ever since the Panama Papers saga has erupted in the media in April, things have not gone as well for him - and Barcelona. Let's have a look.
April 2nd - A shock at Camp Nou in El Clasico
This story first broke on Sunday, April 3rd. However, if Messi is truly involved, then he may have been well aware of the rumblings beforehand. And what game just so happened to take place just prior to this all coming out? None other than El Clasico.
The much anticipated clash between Barcelona and Real Madrid was contested on Saturday, April 2nd. Having humiliated Real Madrid 4-0 in the first Clasico tie earlier this season, Blaugrana fans were hopeful to see Luis Enrique's men complete a double over their bitter rivals and more important, maintain an impressive unbeaten streak that had reached 39 matches ahead of the big game.
Unfortunately, in a match that Barcelona hoped to win to further honor icon Johan Cruyff, things did not turn out as planned. A 10-man Real Madrid managed to defeat them at the Camp Nou, stunning the home crowd, and most significantly, neither Messi, Luis Suarez, nor Neymar were able to have any impact on the match!
Shocking: MSN's stats from El Clasico - only one shot on target between the three of them (Courtesy of WhoScored - Order is Shots, Shots on Target, Key Passes, etc):
April 5th - A sign of improvement? Or just a smoke screen?
Three days later, Barcelona had to quickly move on from their Clasico defeat, as they welcomed another Madrid-based side to Camp Nou - Real Madrid's cross-town rivals, Atletico Madrid. The Blaugrana, for all intents and purposes seemed to have somewhat bounced back after their domestic loss. As for Messi himself, he did not score nor assist either of Suarez's goals but whilst there might have been some concern, the general consensus was relief at picking up a win after a difficult game three days prior.
The feeling likely was that the loss to Real Madrid was just a blip and that things - both for the team and Messi himself - would get back to normal soon as they turned their attention to domestic action against Real Sociedad.
Unfortunately, Barcelona would be proven quite wrong in that.
April 9th - The start of a very bad week
Real Sociedad has proven to be a tricky customer for Barcelona: especially in La Liga play, and in particularly at the Estadio Municipal de Anoeta in the past two seasons. And this past Saturday was no different for Luis Enrique's side, who defeated the Blaugrana 1-0, and thus condemned them to a second consecutive La Liga defeat and third without a win, which is the worst run since Luis Enrique took over in 2014.
Zero goals, zero assists, and more frustration for Messi and Barcelona, who saw their lead over Atletico Madrid reduced to a very uncomfortable three as the title race now has been blown back open. This now will put a lot more pressure on them ahead of their Sunday tie against Valencia.
April 13th- The bad results...and pressure begins to mount on Barcelona and their star man
In addition to the Panama Papers scandal that becomes more and more interesting and detailed with each day, there have been growing reports that Messi has been playing with an undisclosed injury, as he looked quite out of sorts against Atletico Madrid in the return leg earlier this week. Los Rojiblancos effectively shut down both him and his esteemed colleagues. A brace from Antonie Griezmann was enough to see Diego Simeone's men through with a hard-fought 2-0 win on the night and set up a semi-finals clash with Bayern Munich.
Whether the injury rumors are true or not, Messi's slump has not gone unnoticed:
Messi, five straight games without scoring or assisting for Barcelona. First time EVER in his career
— MisterChip (English) (@MisterChiping) April 13, 2016
April 17th: When will fans see #Messi500?
March 16, 2016. That was the last time Messi scored a goal - in Barcelona's 3-1 defeat of Arsenal. That means he has gone a total of 452 minutes without finding the back of the net, which is his worst run since 2010 (about six years ago to be exact). The Blaugrana have not lost three La Liga games in a row since February 2003. In addition, they have not gone four sans a win since May 2009.
Fortunately, perhaps, Messi has a knack for scoring against Valencia, and Valencia have a bad record against Barcelona. The Argentinian superstar has netted ten goals in nine La Liga games at the Camp Nou against Los Che, and the visitors have won just one out of their past 17 matches against the Blaugrana.
Still waiting for Lionel Messi to net his 500th senior career goal for club and country. Against Valencia, maybe?
The stage is set for Messi - and Barcelona - to get back on track after what has been a difficult past few weeks. And although it will certainly be disappointing that they will not have a chance to become the first side to successfully retain their Champions League title (in the new format), Luis Enrique's side still have the chance to retain their grip on La Liga and the Copa del Rey.
Will they be able to rebound, starting from this Sunday? Or will the scandal continue to cast a dark cloud over Messi's - and inevitably, Barcelona's - performances for the rest of this season?
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