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This is interesting ... Lionel Messi posing with a live goat for a photo shoot -- while explaining that he doesn't consider himself the greatest soccer player alive.

"I don't consider myself the best," Messi tells Paper ... "I think I am just another player."

Yeah, right.

As Paper points out, Messi has one of the most impressive resumes in pro sports.

"He has helped his team, FC Barcelona, win 32 trophies -- including nine Spanish Liga titles and four in the Champions League. He led the Argentine national team to the gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and brought them victory at the FIFA Under-20 World Cup in 2005."

He's also got 5 Ballon d'Or awards, 5 Golden Shoes and holds the Guinness World Record for the most goals officially scored in a season (50 in the 2011-12 La Liga season).

But sure ... just a regular player.

"On the field, we are all the same when the game begins," Messi adds.

Messi also talked about everything from his upbringing in Argentina to his charity work with UNICEF in the full PAPER x Sports article.

No word on who had to clean up after the goats.

Another dog took off on a commercial airliner and when the plane landed ... it was dead.

Alejandro the Pomeranian was in the cargo hold of a Delta Air Lines jet that originated in Phoenix and was supposed to land in New Jersey with a stopover in Detroit. When the plane landed in the Motor City, we're told the 8-year-old Pom was alive ... but it was discovered he'd died during the process of transferring him to the connecting flight.

So far the cause of death has not been determined. Delta tells TMZ it's conducting a thorough investigation to find out what occurred to ensure it doesn't happen again. The airline says it's working with Alejandro's family to support them and has offered a free necropsy to have Alejandro evaluated.

The dog was owned by a unmarried couple that was relocating to New York.

The lawyer for the family, Evan Oshan, tells us ... from what he knows Delta has been pushing people to put their dogs in the cargo hold rather than the cabin, presumably because there are so many service dogs on board these days the passenger areas resemble a kennel.

Delta, however, tells us it did not push the passengers to store their dog in cargo ... it was their choice.

Buffalo Wild Wings just became the latest victim of a Twitter hacking -- perhaps by the Russians, perhaps by a rogue employee -- but either way ... it wasn't very nice.

The sports bar franchise's official Twitter page fired off several racist and vulgar tweets Friday night, which were up for about 20 minutes before somebody realized and got them deleted.

Some of the hacked tweets contained hateful comments including the n-word, while another claimed the restaurant's secret wings recipe contained ... well, something very gross.

There was also a vile joke directed at Wendy's.

It's unclear who's responsible, but BWW's Twitter account is back to normal and any activity from the past 6 hours has been deleted.

6:00 PM PT -- There was also this tweet during the hack -- a photo of a man covering up half of his face ... so it's possible he's the culprit.

Ex-NBA player Jordan Hamilton straight-up SPIT on an opponent during an Israeli Premier League game this week ... and it's all on video.

It went down Friday when Jordan's Hapoel Holon squad took on Hapoel Eilat.

It's unclear why ... but Hamilton -- the Dallas Mavericks' first-round pick in 2011 -- hocks a nasty-ass loogie and sprays it all over the back of Amit Simhon's head.

Simhon tries to tell the refs on Jordan ... but he's only given a tech -- no ejection!!

Simhon got the last laugh in the whole drama -- his team won AND he was the game's leading scorer with 29 points.

Nick Saban finally took a major L.

The Alabama football coach took some of his players on a boat trip in Lake Tuscaloosa for some team bonding on Thursday ... which sounds like a perfectly great time, except for one minor detail:

Somebody forgot to fill the gas tank!!

Thankfully, national championship hero Tua Tagovailoa documented the players' hilarious reactions when they realized they were stuck ... while Saban appears to make a call for help.

But don't get too excited, Auburn fans ... the guys made it back to dry land.

Lil Rel feels Tracy Morgan disrespected and "hated" on Tiffany Haddish during a recent interview -- and says Tracy's show, "The Last O.G.," would be irrelevant without her!!!

Rel -- who starred on "The Carmichael Show" with Haddish -- is responding to Morgan's appearance on 'Vulture Spot' last week when he was asked if it's been cool watching Tiffany's career blow up!

Softball question, right? Wrong.

"We're not gonna go there," Morgan said ... "because this isn't Tiffany's show. This is Tracy Morgan. This is 'The Last O.G.'"

He continued, "You gonna ask that about Tiffany, ask that about Cedric [the Entertainer] and ask that about craft services."

Morgan says he was trying to make the point he didn't want to "just shine a light on Tiffany."

But, Rel ain't havin' it and went off on Morgan on Twitter, saying, "This is one hating ass dude right here."

"That show would be nothing if @TiffanyHaddish wasn’t on it... Don’t bite the hand that keeps you relevant!!!"

We should note Rel only posted a portion of the 'Vulture' interview -- but we found the expanded version in which Morgan tries to do some damage control saying ... he "loves" Tiffany and considers all of the actors on his show to be a family.

Ever seen a bicycle kick in zero gravity? Well, you have now ...

A couple of Russian cosmonauts somehow got an official 2018 World Cup soccer ball on board the International Space Station ... and what ensued is pretty amazing!

Check out the spaced-out trick shot video -- featuring cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Oleg Artemyev doing sideflips, backflips and upside down acrobatics while trying to score on each other.

The World Cup starts on June 14 in Russia and features 32 teams from around the globe.

But, not the United States though ... because we couldn't beat Trinidad and Tobago.

"J.R. Smith ran away from that basket the way Pusha T claims Drake ran away from his responsibilities as a father."

That's why Charlamagne tha God awarded Smith his "Donkey of the Day" title on "The Breakfast Club" Friday morning ... blasting the Cavs player blunder that cost LeBron Game 1 of the NBA Finals.

"I don't know if J.R. Smith uses drugs," Char said ... "but if he does, I think it's his duty as an American citizen to tell us what the hell he's on or has been on so we don't make the same mistakes."

Charlamagne also blasted Smith for his explanation of the blunder ... saying Smith clearly did NOT know the game was tied.

NFL star Jalen Ramsey basically spoke for everyone Thursday night when J.R. Smith brain-farted at the end of the NBA Finals ... questioning how the hell Smith screwed up so badly!

With the game tied, Smith got a crucial rebound with just seconds left in the game -- and instead of taking a shot or passing it to LeBron -- he tried to run out the clock, forcing the game into OT.

And you know the rest of the story goes ...

Jalen Ramsey was so baffled by J.R.'s move, he went to Instagram and fired off a 50 Cent-style rant.

Prince George was the target of a terrorist, and the man who encouraged ISIS to carry out a plot at the boy's school has just confessed.

32-year-old Husnain Rashid had maintained his innocence since his arrest last November, but in a court hearing he now admits he carried out a number of terroristic acts and engaged in preparation for other attacks.

Rashid posted a pic of Prince George -- 3rd in line to the throne -- next to a silhouette of a jihadi fighter. He posted the address of George's school and wrote, "even the royal family will not be left alone."

He'll be sentenced June 28.

Ezekiel Elliott's gone fishin' ... and he's takin' his O-line with him.

The Cowboys just wrapped up organized team activities Thursday ... and it didn't take long for the stud running back to pack up his OL on a private jet to take them to hunt some fish.

Unclear where they're headed ... but if Zeke's footin' the bill -- you know it'll be baller.

The RB bought Tyron Smith, Travis Frederick, Zack Martin and the boys John Deere XTVs during his monster rookie year ... which all cost OVER $16K A POP!

Floyd Mayweather says he's super proud of his son, Koraun, for graduating high school this week ... since it's something he was never able to accomplish himself.

The 18-year-old just got his diploma from West Ranch High School in Stevenson Ranch, California ... and Floyd was right by his side to celebrate the big moment.

"I'm so proud of my son for doing something that I didn’t do, and that’s graduate high school," Mayweather said.

"When I️ was his age I️ dropped out of school and followed my dream of boxing to take my family out of poverty!!"

Koraun posted too ... captioning, "Thank you to my parents for motivating me throughout this journey."

Looks like Floyd came bearing gifts ... check out the kid's shiny gold necklace!!!

Ariana Grande wants you to know how she and 'SNL' funny guy Pete Davidson hooked up ... and it's all about her mind, not her body. Okay, it's probably a little bit about her body, too.

Ariana posted a pic Thursday of Pete hugging her up real good and kissing her cheek with the caption ... "i thought u into my life woah! look at my mind!"

This PDA comes on the heels of Pete sharing a shot of them side by side in 'Harry Potter' cloaks. Nothing screams official couple like 'Potter' gear!

Both just broke up with long-term partners too. Ariana dated Mac Miller for almost 2 years, but they called things off shortly after Coachella. Davidson was dating Cazzie David, daughter of "Curb Your Enthusiasm" creator Larry David.

Jim Edmonds' wife either had the biggest breakfast anyone's ever had ... or she's 36 weeks pregnant.

Soooo ... congrats!?

Meghan King Edmonds is carrying TWINS -- and is ready to pop any day now.

She posted this pic with her daughter, Aspen, and included the caption, "Warning: Use protective eyewear when viewing this photo! 😎#36weekspregnantwithtwins."

Meghan is one of the stars of "The Real Housewives of Orange County" -- and Jim was a stud with the Angels back in the day.

Jim has 4 other kids from a previous relationship ... so his new twin boys will be kids #6 and #7.

#ComebackSZN will officially begin on the bench.

Johnny Manziel's Canadian Football League coach told reporters Thursday the former Heisman Trophy winner has ZERO chance of being the Hamilton Tiger-Cats' Week 1 starter next month.

Check out Ticats coach June Jones' exchange with a reporter on the matter:

Q: "Is there any scenario that Manziel could push [Jeremiah] Masoli for the No. 1 job? Like if Jeremiah's healthy Week 1, is he going to start?"

Jones: "[Laughs] Absolutely, absolutely."

Q: "So there's no scenario that --"

Jones: "No."

FYI ... this ain't a surprise, at least not in Vegas. Johnny's odds of being the starter were +200.

As for Manziel, he's takin' it in stride, telling reporters: "I feel like I'm in a great situation and in time things will work themselves out."

Manziel's first in-game work in the CFL will begin Friday in the team's first preseason game.

Tennis legend Chris Evert -- the former #1 ranked player in the world -- is selling her Boca Raton mansion (complete with its own tennis court) ... and it's all yours if you've got $5 MIL!

The place is massive -- 12,296 square feet sitting on a 5-acre lot.

We're talking 8 bedrooms, 8 baths, par 3 golf course, 9 car garage, 2 guest houses ... and, of course, a private tennis court on the grounds!!!