Four-time World Player of the Year Lionel Messi has admitted that he struggled to overcome injuries in Barcelona's first trophyless campaign for six years last season.
As well as the disappointment at club level, Messi suffered the devastation of losing the World Cup final with Argentina and saw Cristiano Ronaldo oust him to win the World Player of the Year for a second consecutive year.
“Last season, I had an inconsistent season. I was out for a long time with injuries and I missed a lot of games,” Messi told Barcelona’s website.
“When I returned to playing I didn’t feel good. It was a year I have tried to forget quickly to get back to my best with the effort, work and joy with which I have always had and thankfully now I feel very good.”
Messi has stormed back to form this season with 45 goals in 44 games to put Barca in position for just the second treble in the club’s history.
Luis Enrique's men lead Real Madrid in La Liga by two points with seven games to play, face Athletic Bilbao in the Copa del Rey final and travel to Paris Saint-Germain for the first-leg of their Champions League quarter-final on Wednesday.
“We went through times that we won everything, every year we would win a title and sometimes the fans and us didn’t value what we were doing,” Messi added.
“We had a bad year when we didn’t win anything and now, when the success comes, we give it the importance it deserves and we enjoy it more because we know how difficult it is to achieve.”
The one area of Messi’s game that has let him down in recent months has been from the penalty spot as the 27-year-old has missed five of his last 11 spot-kicks, including against Manchester City in the last 16 of the Champions League.
“It angers me. Both with Barca and the Argentine national team I am the penalty taker and the goalkeepers study you and know you better every time.
“It is true that a well-taken penalty is very difficult to save, but at the moment it is more difficult for me when I’m taking penalties.
“These things happen in football, but I do get very annoyed when I miss, like against Manchester City when the goal would have given us a much bigger advantage.”
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WHAT MACRO FACTORS ARE IMPACTING META TECH MARKETS?
• Looming global slowdown and recession in key economies
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Pages: 304
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Dubai is on a mission to record good air quality for 90 per cent of the year – up from 86 per cent annually today – by 2021.
The municipality plans to have seven mobile air-monitoring stations by 2020 to capture more accurate data in hourly and daily trends of pollution.
These will be on the Palm Jumeirah, Al Qusais, Muhaisnah, Rashidiyah, Al Wasl, Al Quoz and Dubai Investment Park.
“It will allow real-time responding for emergency cases,” said Khaldoon Al Daraji, first environment safety officer at the municipality.
“We’re in a good position except for the cases that are out of our hands, such as sandstorms.
“Sandstorms are our main concern because the UAE is just a receiver.
“The hotspots are Iran, Saudi Arabia and southern Iraq, but we’re working hard with the region to reduce the cycle of sandstorm generation.”
Mr Al Daraji said monitoring as it stood covered 47 per cent of Dubai.
There are 12 fixed stations in the emirate, but Dubai also receives information from monitors belonging to other entities.
“There are 25 stations in total,” Mr Al Daraji said.
“We added new technology and equipment used for the first time for the detection of heavy metals.
“A hundred parameters can be detected but we want to expand it to make sure that the data captured can allow a baseline study in some areas to ensure they are well positioned.”
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