Today’s back pages: Lionel Messi’s Barcelona row puts Man City on red alert and Spurs win five-goal cup thriller

Messi to Man City?

Could Barcelona’s superstar striker Lionel Messi soon be wearing the sky blue of Manchester City?

According to the back page of The Times, it’s not beyond the realms of possibility that the goal machine might swap the Camp Nou for the Etihad after what the paper describes as a “spat” with Barcelona.

The Times states that City are “monitoring Lionel Messi’s situation amid claims that the Argentina star could leave Barcelona at the end of the season”.

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Apparently Messi is hopping mad with Eric Abidal after the Barca sporting director suggested in an interview that the South American striker was involved in the sacking of the head coach Ernesto Valverde last month.

The Sun is also in on the act with a “Nou Dawn” headline.

The paper claims that City manager Pep Guardiola is on “red alert” in the hope of bringing his former charge to Manchester having coached Messi at Barcelona from 2008 to 2012.

Lionel Messi vs. Cristiano Ronaldo: all-time career goals and records

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Spurs win five-goal cup thriller

Tottenham’s thrilling 3-2 victory over Southampton in their FA Cup fourth-round replay makes most of the back pages.

“Son’s top Gunn” is the headline in the Daily Express after Son Heung-min converted an 87th-minute penalty past Angus Gunn to break the hearts of the Saints.

The Daily Mail also pays homage to the South Korean ace with its “Son silences Saints” headline but both papers cover all the drama of the 90 minutes that saw Southampton fight back from a goal down to lead 2-1 only for Lucas Moura to level with 12 minutes left.

Then came Son’s moment of glory when he converted a penalty three minutes from time after being fouled by goalkeeper Gunn.

If that wasn’t enough drama, there was also the horrific knee injury suffered by Saints midfielder James Ward-Prowse, and the Sun’s back page is not for the faint-hearted.

Above a close-up photo of the injury, the paper screams “It’s emergency Ward-Prowse”. Tasteless but sharp.

Tottenham will now play Norwich City at home in the FA Cup fifth round.

FA Cup fifth-round draw

Ties to be played week commencing 2 March

• Sheffield Wednesday vs. Manchester City
• Reading vs. Sheffield United
• Chelsea vs. Liverpool
• West Bromwich Albion vs. Newcastle United
• Leicester City vs. Birmingham City
• Derby County vs. Manchester United
• Tottenham Hotspur vs. Norwich City
• Portsmouth vs. Arsenal

Today’s sport headlines

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