Raissa's Blog - Best of Sports, Culture, and Entertainment

Cristiano Ronaldo's first season at Juventus has been a remarkable one but one can't help but notice the drastic drop in his goal tally from previous seasons. He scored a total of 28 goals in 43 matches, which is extraordinary for most players. However, this is Ronaldo's lowest goal tally since his Manchester United days. Cristiano's goals-per-game ratio this season was 0.65. Here are Ronaldo's numbers at Real Madrid: 1. 2009/2010 - 33 goals 2. 2010/2011 - 53 goals 3. 2011/2012 - 60 goals 4. 2012/2013 - 55 goals 5. 2013/2014 - 51 goals 6. 2014/2015 - 61 goals 7. 2015/2016 - 51 goals 8. 2016/2017 - 42 goals 9. 2017/2018 - 44 goals Ronaldo has scored a total of 21 goals in the Italian league, finishing fourth in the race for the Serie A Golden Boot. 36-year-old  Quagliarella of Sampdoria scooped the award for his tally of 26 goals, thanks to his astonishing late-career renaissance. He had never scored more than 20 goals a season before this ye...

Barcelona captain Lionel Messi is the first player to win Europe's Golden Shoe award for three straight years after his nearest Golden Shoe contender Kylian Mbappe failed to net four times in Paris Saint Germain's final league match of the season on Friday, against Reims to at least share the award with Messi. Mbappe however added one more goal to his impressive 32 league goals tally during the game, but alas, Messi had 3 more goals than him (36). Mbappe was Paris Saint-Germain's lone score in their 3-1 loss at Stade de Reims.  Messi has now won the Golden Shoe six times throughout his impressive career. Messi now has two more Golden Shoes than his longstanding rival Cristiano Ronaldo. Ronaldo last won the award in the 2014-2015 season alongside Barcelona striker Luis Suarez. Barcelona may not have won the Champions League this season, but they emerge La Liga winners, and won the Supercopa de Espana.

Barcelona may have lost 1-2 to Valencia in the final of the Copa del Rey but that didn't prevent the Argentine maestro from standing out. Messi scored Barcelona's lone goal in the game to become the first ever player to net in six separate Copa del Rey finals. He has now scored seven goals in six Copa del Rey finals. Kevin Gameiro and Rodrigo gave Valencia an early lead over Barcelona in the first half of the game, with Messi pulling one back for Barcelona in the 73rd minute. Barcelona failed to compete during the first 45 minutes, with poor performances from the likes of Arthur, Semedo, Coutinho, and Rakitic.  'Los Che' on the other hand played heartily, defeated the odds and won their first Copa del Rey since 2008. Barcelona had over 70% of ball possession, created the most chances but Valencia had a sharp pace on the counter-attack, making the most of their limited ball possession. Valverde's future at Barcelona is in doubt after Barcelona's Champions ...

Hip-hop artist Cardi B just backed out of a Memorial Day Weekend concert scheduled for May 24 in Baltimore, Maryland, and  TMZ  reports is due to serious complications from her recent plastic surgeries. The "Money" rapper also postponed a concert in El Paso, Texas on Tuesday, May 21. According to  TMZ , sources close to Cardi revealed she needs time to recover from her recent breast augmentation and liposuction. As per  TMZ , Cardi's condition has gotten so bad that she can't perform, with doctors encouraging her to take a break for the swelling to go down and for her body to fully recover. According to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, full recovery time averages six weeks for breast augmentation and several months for liposuction. Per  Page Six , Cardi's publicist commented on her recent cancellations, saying:  "Cardi was overzealous in getting back to work."  "She didn’t take the time necessary to fully recover. Her strenuous sched...

Lionel Messi is en route to a third consecutive Golden Shoe award, with 36 league goals ascribed to his name. However, his closest Golden Shoe contender, Paris Saint-Germain forward Kylian Mbappe isn't giving up on his hope of beating Messi and winning the award this season. Mbappe is on 32 league goals for the 2018/2019 campaign and has one Ligue 1 game to play. Messi's brace against Eibar in Barcelona's last league game for the season yesterday took his league goals tally to 36, four more than Mbappe who plays his final league game on Friday against Reims. Mbappe is PSG's top striker this season. For him to win the Golden Shoe alongside Messi, he would have to score four goals on Friday. To have the Golden Shoe all to himself, he would have to score five. According to the  Daily Mirror , Mbappe said at the Union Nationale des Footballeurs Professionnels awards, "I'm aiming for the Golden Shoe this year." "This afternoon I took a break in my na...

Otherwise known as network marketing, referral marketing, and pyramid selling, multi-level marketing as defined by Investopedia is a strategy used by some direct sales companies to encourage existing distributors to recruit new distributors who are paid a percentage of their recruits' sales. These recruits are the distributor's 'downline'. Simply put, a multi-level marketing model involves a pyramid structure of non-salaried participants who are paid a commission whenever they or a 'downline' of theirs makes a sale. Multi-level marketing (MLM) salespeople/independent retailers sell directly to consumers through relationships and word of mouth. Although controversial, multilevel marketing is a legitimate business strategy. Those interested in joining a multi-level marketing program must however watch out for the thin line that separates genuine multi-level marketing from pyramid schemes. Genuine multilevel marketing companies sell their products primarily ...

Recent media reports claim football superstar Cristiano Ronaldo donated $1.5 million to feed Palestinians in the besieged Gaza strip in the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Ronaldo has expressed his support for Palestinians several times in the past, taking a pro-Palestine stance in the ongoing Israeli-Palestine conflict. He has publicly rejected the illegal and genocidal incursions of the Israeli regime severally. The Portuguese star's donation is a show of solidarity ti the struggling people of Gaza, and also aims at alleviating their pain. Israel's relentless blockade of land, sea and air access in Gaza has greatly affected the quality of life of the Palestinians living in Gaza. Twitter users responded to the news of Ronaldo's generous donation promptly. Brilliant: "Regarded as one of the world’s greatest-ever professional football players, #Ronaldo is said to have made his generous donation in solidarity with the #Palestine people suffering en mass, and ...

Santiago Albierone, a 24-year-old Messi fan was in luck on Thursday as he bumped into Lionel Messi while walking down the street in the Castellfedels suburb of Barcelona, where Messi happens to live. Messi was clad in a pair of lurid D&G trackies with white and red graffiti on a black background. The 24-year-old did not recognize the Barcelona captain at first, but decided to approach him. He chatted briefly with the Argentine maestro and even got his shirt signed. Santiago took to social media to share his wonderful experience. Here's what he wrote: "An unforgettable day for someone who believes in an athlete. If you are anti-Messi, I hope you aren't even reading this. "Today I fulfilled one of my greatest dreams, I met Lionel Andres Messi. "I had the luck to take a photo with him and take a gift home which will be the most symbolic and historic that I could have related to sport. "The long-awaited moment came in Castelldefels around 09:...

The 'Creu de Sant Jordi', an award created in 1981, is handed to individuals and institutions who have served Catalonia and the protection of the region's identity. Barcelona's captain Lionel Messi was honored with the award yesterday (Thursday) by the  Generalitat de Catalunya, in a ceremony held at the Auditori del Fòrum. Barcelona's president Josep Maria Bartomeu and technical secretary Eric Abidal were among the large entourage that accompanied Messi to the event. Messi is one of 28 persons and organizations that have been bestowed with the honor. He is just the third Barcelona player to receive the Creu de Sant Jordi. Juan Antonio San Epifanio and  Johan Cruyff are the first two Barcelona athletes to have received the award - in  1996 and 2006 respectively. According to the Generalitat de Catalunya, Messi was decorated "due to his fabulous sports career, in which he has been recognized as the greatest footballer of all time. A n...

Pep Guardiola, Manchester City's manager recently talked to Sky Sports revealing that his latest league trophy with Manchester City is the most intense title he has won so far in his career as manager. For the first time, an English team successfully defended the top-flight crown, a feat which hadn't been achieved since Manchester United did it a decade ago. Manchester City have now racked an unbelievable total of 198 points across their last two successful Premier League campaigns. Guardiola told Sky Sports after the winner, "This is the level of the Premier League." "To win the title we had to win 14 games in a row, so we knew for two or three months that we couldn't drop one point and we did it in all competitions until the Champions League quarter-final." "It was the toughest league title in all my career." "We have to say congratulations to Liverpool as well as they helped us push and improve our standards this season,"...

Atletico manager Diego Simeone has simplified the Lionel Messi vs Cristiano Ronaldo unending debate in his own way, making a compelling argument as to the uniqueness of each player. Simeone's arguments undeniably bear much weight as he has had to face both on many occasions. Simeone has dealt with the duo since taking over as Atletico Madrid manager in 2011. Per Marca, Simeone said, “What I consider is that in a team with fewer solutions, Ronaldo is a better fit because he provides many solutions." We are talking about very fine margins of how a team plays. Cristiano can decide a game in a different way, he doesn’t need ten attacks. He scored two headers against us and we were out.” “Both need a team but the differences are very small. Lionel, in an attacking team always plays better.” “Ronaldo can win a game in two actions, he simplifies the situations. Messi is mesmerizing because he plays elaborate football. Leo plays in a team that compliments all of his talen...

Paul Pogba, Manchester United midfielder has come under heavy criticism for having scored just two goals in his last 14 games for Manchester United in all competitions. Pogba has been the main scapegoat for Manchester United's struggles this season. United have failed to qualify for next season's Champions League after a disappointing 1-1 draw with Huddersfield, a game in which Pogba was hardly impactful. Notwithstanding, Pogba believes most of the unwarranted criticism he receives comes from Messi and Ronaldo's incredibly unique goalscoring feats, which put unrealistic expectations on other players. The 26-year-old told Icon magazine, "Football has changed a lot." “I grew up watching the exploits of great champions, real legends like [Alessandro] Del Piero, [Luis] Figo, [Francesco] Totti and many others. All have been champions, the best in the world, but perhaps many of them did not achieve more than 20 goals per season. "Now the data, the st...

Ronaldo Nazario, the Brazil legend, and former Barcelona and Real Madrid player expressed his views on Barcelona's Champion League debacle. Last week, Barcelona beat the Reds 3-0 at Camp Nou, but were beaten by Liverpool 0-4 in dramatic fashion on Tuesday. Ronaldo believes the blame for Barcelona's failures does not get shared round the team equally. He told  Marca ,  "Barcelona has a great team." "They have the best player in the world, Messi, and the other day I heard that the loss was the fault of Valverde, Coutinho but never Messi's fault. "Instead, when they win, it's the Barcelona of Messi that wins. It's a tremendous injustice for all of the players and the staff. "Liverpool's intensity wasn't a surprise for Barcelona, but they were missing a little luck. "The first leg was a great game from Barcelona with an extraordinary performance by Messi, but in the second leg Liverpool ate up Barcelona with intensity, ...

After an unfruitful, devastating night for Barcelona at Anfield yesterday, Barcelona striker Luis Suarez said his side "looked like schoolboys" after Liverpool overturned Barcelona's 3-0 first leg lead and won the game on aggregate to advance to the Champions League finals. Barcelona repeated the same mistakes they made last year, throwing away a three-goal first leg lead; last year in a quarter-final second leg in Rome, and now in the semi-final return leg at Anfield. Spanish media have labelled the defeat "The biggest farce in football" and "The blackest page in Barcelona's history". The Reds won 4-0 at Anfield, with Divock Origi converting a quick corner from Trent Alexander-Arnold into the winner Liverpool needed. "We have to be ready for all the criticism that is going to rain down on us now," former Liver player Suarez said. "We are very sad, we are in a lot of pain." "It cannot be that in a minute we conce...

The 2019 Billboard Latin Music Awards was broadcast live on Telemundo from the Mandalay Bay Center in Las Vegas, on Thursday, April 25, 2019. The show was hosted by Gaby Espino. Ozuna became the biggest winner in a single year in the history of the awards, taking home 11 awards. He had earlier made history by becoming the single biggest finalist in the history of the Billboard Latin Music Awards with 23 nominations in 15 categories. Among Ozuna's awards are Hot Latin Songs artist of the year, male, and top Latin albums artist of the year, male, while “Te Boté,” the hit ensemble song on which he shares the spotlight with Casper Magico, Nio Garcia, Darell, Nicky Jam and Bad Bunny nabbed three awards, including Hot Latin Song of the year. Nicky Jam grabbed five awards and Bad Bunny, four. Shakira led female wins with two awards, one for Top Latin Albums artist of the year, female, and Latin pop artist of the year, solo.  See the complete wi...