CNN
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Barcelona has introduced the signing of 18-year-old João Mendes, who’s the son of former membership legend Ronaldinho.
Mendes signed a deal on Thursday to affix the Catalan big from Brazilian facet Cruzeiro.
{The teenager}, who had beforehand hidden his identity as the previous Brazil star’s son when he first joined the Belo Horizonte workforce, got here to Barcelona for a trial in in January earlier than signing with the membership completely.
Mendes will be a part of Barcelona’s well-known La Masia academy, which has produced a few of the membership’s biggest abilities such Pep Guardiola (now Manchester Metropolis supervisor), Lionel Messi (now taking part in for Paris Saint-Germain) and present Barça coach Xavi.
Mendes is left-footed ahead, who prefers taking part in as a striker however can function wherever throughout the entrance line.
The teenager follows within the footsteps of his father who spent 5 profitable years with La Blaugrana, making 207 appearances and scoring 94 targets.
Throughout his time in Catalonia, Ronaldinho received two LaLiga titles, one Champions League trophy in addition to a number of particular person awards, together with the 2005 Ballon d’Or.
Ronaldinho has been in Barcelona together with his son, in addition to making a latest look in former teammate Gerard Piqué’s Kings League.
The match, launched in December, is a seven-a-side competitors began by Piqué together with different Spanish streamers, celebrities and former soccer gamers.
Every workforce was picked by their respective coaches by way of a draft, in addition to having two additional slots for friends like Ronaldinho who be a part of a workforce for a single match. Different notable stars to play within the league are Sergio Agüero, Javier Saviola, Joan Capdevilla and Iker Casillas.
Amongst its peculiar guidelines – which have been voted on by followers by way of social media – are tie-breaking penalty shootouts taken from the center of area – suppose MLS within the 90s – limitless substitutes, sinbins and “wildcards.”
Each groups draw one “wildcard” forward of kickoff which provides them the flexibility to win a penalty kick at a second of alternative, kick out an opposing participant for 2 minutes, and a two-minute interval the place targets scored are doubled. Groups would possibly even have the ability to steal an opposing workforce’s wildcard.
Matches are streamed reside on Twitch, YouTube and TikTok. Ronaldinho’s look drew over two million viewers throughout completely different streaming websites, according to Esports Charts.
Ronaldinho turned out for Spanish streamer Ibai Llanos’ workforce Porcinos FC which had beforehand seen former Mexico star Javier “Chicharito” Hernández make an look.
