Barcelona not only have the greatest player football’s ever seen; they’re the template for the game’s future, right down to its acclaimed La Masia academy. Grant Wahl was granted unprecedented access to the men who made Messi.

WHAT’S that sound?

I ARRIVED in Wellington with the Irish team on Monday morning to be greeted by gale force winds and torrential rain.

CESC FABREGAS does not anticipate a repeat of the mind games that dominated the build-up to the Germany-Argentina clash when Spain take on Joachim Löw’s side in the World Cup semi-final tomorrow.