Where is Messi’s bodyguard? Elanga hits fast-forward on Forest’s Euro hopes

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Hello! He guards Lionel Messi, he’s a face of Major League Soccer and he plans to fight Logan Paul. But is football kicking Yassine Cheuko to the curb?

On the way:

🕵️‍♂️ Messi’s bodyguard mystery

⏱️ Nine-second Elanga blitz

😬 Worst PL team… ever?

🤯 Slot’s weird kick-off idea

Guard Rails: Messi’s minder speaks mind over restricted access 

Yassine Cheuko’s name might not be familiar to you but his face certainly should be. He is Lionel Messi’s minder, the personal bodyguard who sticks to him like glue. Run onto the pitch in search of a selfie with the great man and Cheuko will be there at the speed of Usain Bolt. Pose a threat, and he’s got the physique to smash an intruder into next week.

Messi enlists Cheuko’s services because they give him peace of mind. Argentina’s finest is prone to extreme levels of attention, and the trend of fans appearing on the field in pursuit of impromptu photographs has grown over the years. Cristiano Ronaldo fought a running battle with such interlopers at last summer’s European Championship — and over in Major League Soccer, Messi’s stature is bigger than the competition itself.

Over the early weeks of the 2025 MLS season, though, Cheuko has faded into the background. He’s not as visible at Inter Miami games as he was, no longer marking Messi so tightly or religiously stalking North America’s touchlines. This week, he gave his version of why that was to the social media channel House of Highlights, saying his access to certain matches had been restricted.

Here’s a flavour of his remarks:

“There’s a huge problem here. I’m not the problem. Let me help Messi. I love MLS and Concacaf, but we have to work together. I’m not better than anyone, but I have a wealth of experience in Europe. It’s fine, I understand their decision, but we could do better.”

Cheuko speaking publicly is an event in itself, because he rarely gives interviews. He has long been a mysterious part of Messi’s entourage, an MMA expert who was erroneously cast as an ex-U.S. Navy SEAL (rumours that Inter Miami co-owner David Beckham hired him to protect Messi weren’t true either). His activity did extend to an online spat with influencer and wrestler Logan Paul, who claimed Cheuko was sponging off Messi’s reputation.

The pair have apparently arranged to fight each other.

Cheuko’s comments, some of which have since been removed, generated a slew of reports claiming he had essentially been blacklisted from the MLS scene. So has he been shut out? And if so, why would anybody want to remove Messi’s self-employed line of defence?

‘They are quite upset’

MLS franchises and stadiums employ their own security personnel, as does Concacaf, football’s governing body for North and Central America and the Caribbean, for competitions such as its Champions Cup. From Messi’s perspective, however, his desire for an extra layer of protection is understandable. His sheer celebrity makes him vulnerable — and Cheuko claims there have been 16 instances of pitch invitations involving the Argentina captain since he came to Miami from Paris Saint-Germain in July 2023.

MLS could not verify that number but in response to a request for comment from The Athletic, it said it had not changed any rules affecting Cheuko. Concacaf declined to comment on the record, but Miami confirmed it was a club decision to restrict Cheuko’s movement. He remains their employee, bound by MLS protocols.

A source inside Miami’s dressing room told our writers that Messi wasn’t happy about this. “Lionel and Yassine are quite upset,” said the source, who requested anonymity as they had not been authorized to discuss the matter. “Yassine has always been really critical of all of the other security and suggested that if they were good at their jobs, he wouldn’t even be needed.”

It’s possible that Miami are pulling rank here. This might be their way of saying the cult of Cheuko, or specific security for one individual, isn’t working for them. Whatever the truth — and I’d recommend grabbing a coffee and checking out the full story — it’s another layer in the ever-evolving theatre around the world’s greatest footballer.

• Messi tapping into the United States market so spectacularly has encouraged the Argentine Football Association (AFA) to do likewise before the U.S. co-hosts the World Cup next year. The AFA has already expanded its operations into Miami. Now it has its eyes on New York City.

News round-up

Fast forward: Elanga scores after running 85m in 9secs to put Forest on brink 

(TNT Sports)

One thing fascinates me about Nottingham Forest: their style is so defined and transparent, yet opposing teams can’t figure them out. It’s not as if they’re an unknown quantity. They’re just too well-licked to pin down.

Last night, in a 1-0 win against Manchester United, came a goal that defined Forest perfectly: starting with them out of possession, scored via a counter-attack and oozing the pace of the aforementioned Bolt (who, if you recall, once gave pro football a crack).

Anthony Elanga scored it, against the club he left to join Forest almost two years ago. The data says he covered 85 metres in nine seconds, taking seven touches between the ball dropping to him outside his own box and it flying past Andre Onana at the other end of the pitch (above). This is what Forest are and my god, it’s so consistent. Whisper it quietly but a Champions League place is surely theirs.

Elsewhere yesterday:

• Bukayo Saka was back playing and scoring in Arsenal’s 2-1 home win against Fulham. If the top of the Premier League has a plot twist left in it, Mikel Arteta has to pray for help from Everton in the Merseyside derby this evening.
• Total chaos in continental Europe, meanwhile. Real Madrid were out of the Copa del Rey with eight minutes of normal time to go, only to drag themselves past Real Sociedad after extra time, a 4-4 draw on the night meaning a 5-4 aggregate victory. Antonio Rudiger’s 115th-minute header saw them through. Brace yourself for more madness when Atletico Madrid and Barcelona resume at 4-4 in the other semi-final later today.
• Bayer Leverkusen lost to third-division Arminia Bielefeld in the last four of the DFB-Pokal (their FA Cup equivalent); a mega upset and another result that suggests coach Xabi Alonso has achieved all that he can there.
• Paris Saint-Germain were also on the ropes against Dunkerque at the same stage in the Coupe de France but got a grip at two goals down late in the first half and won 4-2. I’m off for a lie down.

Unwanted record

Southampton have the dubious pleasure of sharing one Premier League record, the victims of the competition’s heaviest-ever defeat (a 9-0 drubbing). Amusingly, they incurred that same pasting twice in as many seasons.

Now they’re embroiled in a struggle to fend off a worse form of notoriety, the lowest finishing points tally in Premier League history. They’re stuck on nine after 29 games. They have nine more fixtures to stagger beyond Derby County, who gathered a paltry 11 points over their 38 matches in the 2007-08 season. It’ll be touch and go.

Southampton started badly with Russell Martin, who’d brought them up via the play-offs last summer, as manager. They’ve fared no better since binning him in December and hiring Ivan Juric (who doesn’t look like he will be the right answer in the Championship next season, either). I’ll give the verdict over to the podcaster quoted in this breakdown of their ineptitude: “We’ve just been s**t.” And then some.

Around TAFC

• Mak Whitham broke an NWSL record the other week by becoming the league’s youngest player, aged just 14. This is a good read on how changes to the NWSL’s pathway made that possible.
• Being a ‘selling club’ — one with a model that relies on making chunky profits in the transfer market but generates high performance regardless — is an art. Union Saint-Gilloise, the Belgian side where Brighton & Hove Albion’s owner Tony Bloom is an investor, seem to have it cracked. Seb Stafford-Bloor went to check them out.
• On the subject of Belgium’s Pro League, I hadn’t ever clocked how stupidly complicated its play-off system is. Tifo Football’s Joe Devine ranks it as “one of the strangest league systems in the world” and a watch of his video will tell you why the Belgians are about to abandon the format.
• The Athletic FC Podcast follows on nicely from our section about Bournemouth’s in-demand defender Dean Huijsen yesterday, effectively asking: why are Juventus getting it wrong? As usual, it’s on Apple and Spotify.
• Most clicked in yesterday’s TAFC: you all flocked to Weston-super-Mare’s 90-yard goal. I’m with you.

Catch a match

(Selected games, ET/UK time)

Premier League: Brighton vs Aston Villa, 2.45pm/7.45pm — Peacock Premium; Manchester City vs Leicester, 2.45pm/7.45pm — USA Network, Fubo; Newcastle vs Brentford, 2.45pm/7.45pm — Peacock Premium (all U.S. only); Liverpool vs Everton, 3pm/8pm — Peacock Premium/Sky Sports.

Copa del Rey semi-final second leg (first leg score in brackets): Atletico Madrid (4) vs Barcelona (4), 3.30pm/8.30pm — ESPN+, Fubo/Premier Sports.

Coppa Italia semi-final first leg: Milan vs Inter, 3pm/8pm — Paramount+/Premier Sports.

And finally…

Interesting kickoff technique from Arne Slot while he was a player in the Dutch league.

Slot got permission from Zwolle’s coaches to take kickoffs this way –though the future Liverpool manager did eventually abandon the idea after realising it wasn’t his best idea ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/zieEjeeTB9

— Daniel Taylor (@DTathletic) April 1, 2025

Arne Slot. He’s a tactical wiz, as Liverpool’s position at the top of the Premier League table proves, but like any human, he has the odd moment where his brain short-circuits.

Our Danny Taylor has written about one of them, in a fun feature which I’m sure will make you laugh. To sum up: when Slot was a player with PEC Zwolle in the Netherlands, he came up with a ploy that amounted to leathering the ball high into the air straight from kick-off, landing it in the opposition box and then, ideally, scoring from the leftovers (see above, where it did not go well). In England, we’d call it ‘route one’.

Surprisingly enough, it didn’t work and Slot was ridiculed because of it. But football is a world of changing fashions where tactical innovation moves in cycles.

Perhaps one day it will catch on, and Slot will sit back and say: “I invented that.” Perhaps pigs will fly.

(Top photo: Jay Biggerstaff-USA TODAY Sports)