There’s no Messi-ng around from Konami this year: PES 2018 has been announced for the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 3, with a 14th September release date in Europe. Despite the publisher promising the Real deal, it’s Barcelona who will grace the cover of this year’s release – like, pretty much the entire team. Alright, so Mascherano’s mug ain’t on the front, but Iniesta, Suarez, and Neymar to name a few showed up for the photoshoot.

As is the case with every sports game ever made, big improvements are pledged for this year’s version of the soccer simulation. Buzz words include ‘Real Touch+’, promising better ball control, while set-pieces have been reworked and the game’s been “refined to reflect a more realistic pace”. Yeah.

There’s more: “Players have been motion captured in equally realistic environments, allowing for a complete rework of the animation system, starting with core movement such as walking, turning, and body posture. Finally, player models have been completely changed, with special attention paid to kit fitting and short size.”

Favourite modes like Master League have been given a spring clean, while online co-op will put in an appearance for the first time. To be fair, last year’s edition of Pro Evolution Soccer was extremely well received by critics, so here’s hoping Konami can keep standards high. A full trailer will be released on 13th June to coincide with E3 2017.