“Madness,” Lionel Messi called it, but even he hadn’t imagined it being this mad.
One Friday in September Messi walked into the dressing room at Barcelona’s Sant Joan Despí training ground and it hit him. After six years his best friend wasn’t there, so he sent him a message. “It’ll be strange seeing you in another shirt,” it said, and two days on he discovered how strange when Luis Suárez made his Atlético Madrid debut. Introduced as a sub against Granada, 90 seconds later, Suárez had provided an assist. By the end of the 90 minutes, he had scored two.
Luis Suárez says he was reduced to tears by Barcelona’s treatment of himRead more
Something had started. Suárez has scored 16 in 17 appearance…
Best odds: 14/5
Bookmaker:
Returning to Europa League action, Liverpool face the challenging task of traveling to Sparta Prague s epet Arena for the first leg of their last-16 tie on Thursday evening.
While Liverpool secured direct qualification to the knockout rounds by finishing atop Group E, Brian Priske s Sparta Prague had to stage an impressive comeback against Champions League drop-outs Galatasaray to advance.
Sparta Prague
Sparta s success in two-legged ties in the 2023/24 season was not unfamiliar territory for them. After being eliminated by Copenhagen in the preliminary Champions League rounds, they had to overcome Dinamo Zagreb in the final Europa League qualifying phase to secure a spot in the group stage.
In Group C, where only two …
Like so many of the recent transfer deadline days hyped up by certain news agencies and channels, Thursday’s deadline day produced some big deals, but not the drama some expected. Here is the pick of the deals:
Romelu Lukaku
The Manchester United forward joined Italian giants for a fee in the region of £73million and signed a five-year contract with the men from Milan. Lukaku had wanted to move away from Old Trafford for much of the summer after losing his first-team starting role to Marcus Rashford towards the end of last season.
Lukaku had failed to turn up for training in the week and instead ended up in Milan in the early hours of Thursday to complete the switch.
Alex Iwobi
The versatile attacking midfielder made a surprise move to Everton from Arsenal …
Kai Havertz has pulled out of Germany s squad for their upcoming Nations League matches due to a knee injury.
The Arsenal forward played a full 90 minutes in their comeback win over Southampton in the Premier League on Saturday, netting their first goal.
He became the first player to score in seven consecutive home appearances for the Gunners in all competitions since Robin van Persie between December 2011 and March 2012 (also a run of seven).
Havertz has made a stellar start to the campaign, netting six goals in all competitions so far, also getting one assist.
However, he will not be available to face Bosnia-Herzegovina and the Netherlands due to his injury, and it is not yet clear if it will keep him sidelined for Arsenal after the international break.…
This is the pick of the Weekend s relegation battles, with it all to play for. Gianfranco Zola s men have home advantage but trail Wigan Athletic by two places and four points in the league, while Wigan will fancy their chances after a remarkable victory over Arsenal in their last game, in which they managed to overthrow a two goal deficit in the last ten minutes of the game to win 3-2.
Zola will find this a tough match, with rumours of his impending exit rife in the national papers. It is no secret that there has been animosity between him and the new owners, Gold and Sullivan. Unfortunately for Hammers fans, there are several notable absentees from the squad due to injury. This includes Hines, Nouble, Boa Morte, Dyer, Collison, Ilunga and Tomkins. Fortunately West Ham have a …
Leeds United overcame Birmingham City in a nine-goal thriller to move top of the Championship table as previous leaders West Brom suffered a shock home defeat to Middlesbrough on Sunday.
Marcelo Bielsa s Leeds benefited from an injury time own goal at St Andrew s, Wes Harding turning Luke Ayling s low cross into the net to settle a post-Christmas cracker.
The visitors had previously let slip a lead on three occasions during a see-saw contest, though by finding a late winner they leapfrog West Brom, who lost for just the second time in the league this season.
Fulham are up to third after a 1-0 triumph over Stoke City, with Brentford slipping back a spot in the standings after going down to Aiden O Brien s eighth-minute goal at in-form Millwall.
Nott…
For the first time since 2013, neither Lionel Messi nor Cristiano Ronaldo will feature in the Champions League final.
Messi s Barcelona capitulated at the hands of Liverpool on Tuesday, losing the semi-final second leg 4-0 to go down 4-3 on aggregate.
That shock result ended an astonishing run of dominance for the star duo when it comes to Europe s top club competition. Since 2013, one of Messi or Ronaldo were involved in five successive finals – with the latter winning three straight titles and four in total.
But Ronaldo, who left holders Real Madrid at the start of the season, saw his Juventus team crash out at the quarter-final stage to Ajax in the 2018-19 tournament.
Final whistle at Anfield. Liverpool qualify for the final.
(4-0, agg 4-3)
Both teams are on bad runs, and on Sunday we’ll see one of them break its losing streak. The Broncos are hosts and have lost four in a row after winning its first three games of the season. Meanwhile, their guests, the Washington Football Team, are losers of three in a row.
Both sides will be hoping that breaking their losing runs could reinvigorate their season, but who will secure the win? Don’t miss our NFL picks and predictions for the Washington Football Team vs. Denver Broncos.
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With the highest total on the board, two very weak secondaries, and a lack of a pass rush from the favorites, will Kyler Murray and the Arizona Cardinals be able to go shot for shot with the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 1?
The Arizona defense has its own issues, but that should only create more passing opportunities for Murray, who graded as the No. 5 quarterback last season in EPA/play with a clean pocket.
See why our Chiefs vs. Cardinals NFL picks and predictions see it raining points at State Farm Stadium Sunday.
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The Detroit Lions and Carolina Panthers wrap up their preseason with a clash in Charlotte on Friday night.
These are two teams with completely opposite philosophies this preseason. The Lions have been sitting virtually every starter in anticipation of a playoff push while the Panthers continue to give reps to first-string players ahead of what will be a rebuilding year.
NFL odds have the hosts as -4 point favorites with the total sitting at 37.
Here are my best free NFL picks and predictions for this Week 3 preseason clash between the Lions vs. Panthers on August 25.
Lions vs Panthers odds
Lions vs Panthers predictions
The Carolina Panthers have said that they’ll use starters on offense …