Messi trains with Argentina as Chiellini eyes 'beautiful' end to Italy career at Wembley


Steve Luckings
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Giorgio Chiellini believes it will be "beautiful" to end his international career against Lionel Messi's Argentina at Wembley on Wednesday after leading Italy to Euro 2020 glory at the London ground last year.

The now 37-year-old was a key figure, both as captain and defender, when Italy beat hosts England on penalties in the final of a tournament that was delayed some 12 months by the coronavirus pandemic.

Now the Azzurri face the South American continental champions in the inaugural Finalissima at Wembley on Wednesday, a match where Chiellini is set to win his 117th and last cap.

Messi took part in a training session with the rest of Lionel Scaloni's squad at the stadium on Tuesday.

Asked about ending his international career against Argentina, Chiellini told Uefa.com: "It's beautiful.

"Argentina have exceptional players. It's obvious that the first one who comes to your mind is Messi but the others around him are fantastic. They didn't win [the Copa America] by accident.

"Messi is a football icon. It's not for me to say if he is the greatest of all time or not. It will just be a pleasure to play my last game for the national team against him.

"It has been, without a doubt, better than I could ever have imagined. When you're a kid, you dream of playing for the national team, because that's the ultimate.

"The thought of being able to play more than 100 games over the course of 18 years, being captain, and lifting an important cup like I did last year at Wembley was the icing on the cake."

Chiellini played his last game for Juventus after 17 years at the Turin club in a 2-0 defeat away to Fiorentina on May 21. Juve ended the season without a trophy and could only finish fourth in Serie A. They also lost the Coppa Italia final to Inter Milan 4-2 after extra time.

Chiellini signed for Juve in 2004 and has helped the Turin giants win a glut of trophies including nine consecutive Serie A titles from 2012 to 2020 and five Italian cups.

DMZ facts
  • The DMZ was created as a buffer after the 1950-53 Korean War.
  • It runs 248 kilometers across the Korean Peninsula and is 4km wide.
  • The zone is jointly overseen by the US-led United Nations Command and North Korea.
  • It is littered with an estimated 2 million mines, tank traps, razor wire fences and guard posts.
  • Donald Trump and Kim Jong-Un met at a building in Panmunjom, where an armistice was signed to stop the Korean War.
  • Panmunjom is 52km north of the Korean capital Seoul and 147km south of Pyongyang, North Korea’s capital.
  • Former US president Bill Clinton visited Panmunjom in 1993, while Ronald Reagan visited the DMZ in 1983, George W. Bush in 2002 and Barack Obama visited a nearby military camp in 2012. 
  • Mr Trump planned to visit in November 2017, but heavy fog that prevented his helicopter from landing.
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Family: Wife Hanan Ahmed and their three children, Marrah (23), Tibijan (19), Amon (13)

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Breakfast routine: a tall glass of camel milk

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Tearful appearance

Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday. 

Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow. 

She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.

A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.

Conflict, drought, famine

Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.

Band Aid

Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.

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From: Upper Egypt

Age: 78

Family: a daughter in Egypt; a son in Dubai and his wife, Nabila

Favourite Abu Dhabi activity: walking near to Emirates Palace

Favourite building in Abu Dhabi: Emirates Palace

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Scoreline

Bournemouth 2

Wilson 70', Ibe 74'

Arsenal 1

Bellerin 52'

Updated: June 01, 2022, 9:01 AM`