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Barcelona manager Ernesto Valverde was heavily criticized following the release of Barcelona's line-up against Atletico Bilbao with Lionel Messi and Sergio Busquets being surprise absentees. Valverde has explained why he benched Messi and Busquets. Valverde's response as quoted by Football Espana is: " When I make the decision, I think about what's best for my team and for my club."  "I always do that before playing games, I can't do it afterwards or rewind. "Fans can decide what they think is convenient, but I need to think about the best for my team. "It's my absolute responsibility, we have four games in 10 days [actually 11] and I thought that Leo and Busquets had to rest knowing that we have a very difficult match on Wednesday. "I knew it was a risky decision, but if it had gone well, you wouldn't be asking me about it." Both Messi and Busquets were however called up in the second half as Valverde went all in...

Officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), South Africa is the southernmost country on the African continent. The "rainbow nation" is renowned for its cultural diversity, varied topography, and natural beauty. Three cities in South Africa serve as capitals: Pretoria is the executive capital, Cape Town is the legislative capital, and Bloemfontein is the judicial capital of the country.  South Africa is bordered by Botswana and Zimbabwe to the north, and by Swaziland to the east. Eleven official languages are spoken in South Africa, namely: Zulu, Xhosa, Afrikaans, English, Northern Soto, Tswana, Southern Soto, Tsonga, Swazi, Venda, and Southern Ndebele. South Africa has a population of 55.91 million. Cyril Ramaphosa is the president of the Republic and David Mabuza is his deputy. The following facts are worth remembering about South Africa: 1. Mponeng Gold Mine, found in South Africa is the world's deepest mine. It has a depth of 4.0 km (2.5 miles).   2....

To Cristiano Ronaldo, the overhead bicycle kick he scored for Real Madrid against his current club Juventus, in the past Champions League, was better than Mohamed Salah's Premier League goal which won the FIFA goal of the year award (Puskas). Salah's fine curling strike against Everton in December controversially won him the award, beating Ronaldo's bicycle kick, Lionel Messi's amazing World Cup goal against Nigeria, and Gareth Bale's stunning overhead goal against Liverpool in the 2017/2018 Champions League final. Ronaldo scored his acrobatic goal in the Champions League quarter-finals and joined Juventus a few months later. Gareth Bale's goal against Liverpool in the Champions League final The 33-year-old five time Ballon d'Or winner who wasn't in attendance at the FIFA Best Gala took to Instagram to speak his mind on the FIFA Best awards five days after the ceremony. He told his 142 million Instagram followers: " Salah, it was...

Officially known as the Federal Republic of Somalia, Somalia is a sovereign state located in the horn of Africa. Somalia has a hot year-round climate, with irregular rainfall and periodic monsoon winds. The country's estimated population stands at 14.3 million (2016 estimate). Its official languages are Somali and Arabic. Italian is also spoken in Somalia. Islam is the main religion in Somalia and the currency used is the Somali shilling (SOS). Somalia's form of government is a Federal parliamentary republic. Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed is Somalia's President, while Hassan Ali Khayre is Somalia's prime minister. Read the most striking facts about Somalia below. 1. Somalia had no central government for a 15-year period - in the 1990s and 2000s. During this period, it was ripped apart by clan militias, pirate gangs and extremist militant groups (like Al-Shabaab). 2. The biggest masjid/mosque in the Horn of Africa, The Mosque of Islamic Solidarity, is located i...

Jeff Preston Bezos is the founder, chairman and chief executive officer of Amazon. Born on January 12, 1964, Jeff Bezos is also an American technology entrepreneur, investor and philanthropist. Bezos founded Amazon in late 1994 on a cross-country road trip from New York City to Seattle. Amazon began as an online bookstore and has now expanded to selling multiple varieties of products and services, like video and audio streaming, cloud infrastructure services, office products, etc. Today, Amazon sells over 480 million products in the USA.   Jeff Bezos overtook Bill Gates to become the richest person in the World in July 2017, following an increase in Amazon’s stock. He was designated the “wealthiest person in modern history” after his net worth increased to $150 billion. Bezos is still the richest person in the world to date with an estimated net worth of  162 billion USD . He is also the first centi-billionaire on the Forbes wealth index.  Like Jeff Bez...