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Lionel Messi has scored his third goal since the return of La Liga, the converted panenka spot-kick happens to be his 700th professional career goal - a rather late birthday gift for the Argentine who turned 33 on June 24. Messi has now scored 630 goals for Barcelona, and 70 for Argentina. Juventus star Cristiano Ronaldo is the only current player other than Messi to have reached this landmark. Ronaldo boasts of 728 goals in 1005 professional appearances for Sporting Lisbon, Manchester United, Real Madrid, Juventus and Portugal. Messi has however hit the 700 goals landmark in just 862 games for Barcelona and Argentina - in 111 games less than Ronaldo who reached the mark at the end of 2019. These are the top five highest active goal scorers: 1. Cristiano Ronaldo ( Portugal ,  Juventus ):  728 goals (1,005 games) 2. Lionel Messi (Argentina, Barcelona):  700 (862 games) 3.  Zlatan Ibrahimovic  ( Sweden ,  AC Milan ):  540 (907 games) 4.  Luis...

Football icon Lionel Messi was born 33 years ago, in Rosario, Argentina. The football prodigy signed up with one of Spain’s top football clubs FC Barcelona at the age of 13 and has achieved a lot since then, setting new benchmarks for others to follow. He made his first-team debut with Barcelona at the age of 17. In his youth, he was diagnosed with growth hormone deficiency, but Barcelona agreed to pay for his treatment after signing him. Here are some of the records Lionel Messi holds: H e is a record six-time Ballon d’Or winner. A rgentina all-time top scorer: 70 goals . Argentina all-time most assists: 42 assists . Most European Golden Shoe awards: 6 . Most league goals scored in a season: 50 goals . Most trophies won in Spanish football: 33 trophies . All time Barcelona top scorer in all games: 658 goals . Youngest player to reach 100 appearances in the Champions League . Fastest player to reach 100 UEFA Champions League goals (123 game...

Ivan Rakitic scored the lone goal in Barcelona's win over Athletic Bilbao yesterday evening. Messi is still after his 700th career goal as he failed to find the back of the net during the game. He however provided the assist to Rakitic's goal - Rakitic's first goal of the season with 71 minutes on the clock. Messi has now provided 250 assists for Barcelona. Although Barcelona was the better team, they only had two shots on goal, with Athletic failing to record a single shot on goal. Barcelona also enjoyed the lion's share of ball possession - 73%, while Athletic had 27%. Barcelona goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stergen enjoyed his fifth clean sheet in a row. Barcelona are now three points ahead of Real Madrid who host Real Mallorca today. The following Barcelona players received a 7/10 performance rating by ESPN: Lionel Messi, Ansu Fati, Gerard Pique, Sergio Busquets, Ricard Puig and Ivan Rakitic. Antoine Griezmann, Arturo Vidal, Jordi Alba, Clement Lenglet and Marc-Andr...

On Sunday, Brazil, the world's second coronavirus hot spot after the United States, surpassed 50,000 deaths. Brazil is the second country to cross the grim milestone, the first being the United States. The Latin American giant is also faced with political instability and a crippled economy. On Sunday, its total number of confirmed coronavirus cases rose to 1,085,038 cases (more than 17,000 new infections), while deaths rose to 50,617, up from 49,976 on Saturday. Brazil's president, Jair Bolsonaro, has been heavily criticized for his response to the coronavirus outbreak in Brazil, given his opposition to lockdowns and refusal to heed to advice given by his own health ministry. His approach has led to the resignation of two doctors as health minister. 

It's June 21st. Happy International Yoga Day! The theme set by United Nations for this year is “Yoga for Health – Yoga at Home”. The coronavirus pandemic has more than ever before reinforced the need for home practice. Thanks to modern technology, platforms like YouTube and Zoom allow yogis to practice together online. Online yoga classes are also offered on dedicated yoga teaching platforms like AloYoga and Omstars. And like this year's theme says, practice yoga to boost your health and overall well-being. Like B.K.S. Iyengar said, "health is a state of complete harmony of body, mind, and spirit. When one is free of physical disabilities and mental distractions. The soul opens." Yoga makes us conscious of the duality in us; we are body and mind, never one or the other. We then begin to make choices that enhance our being holistically. Is this food, job, relationship, or lover good for me wholly? Yoga offers many mental and physical benefits. I'll discuss a num...

Father's Day is around the corner, and we thought of giving the dads a shout out, and reminding them of their importance in their kids' lives. So this is for fathers, including the expecting fathers. The benefits of a paternal presence in a child's life are collectively called "the father effect". Plenty of scientific literature reveals that affectionate and supportive fathers greatly contribute to their kids' cognitive and social development, and instill an overall sense of well-being and self-confidence in them. A father's rapport with their child also influences what they will seek for in other people and relate with them. A young girl depends on her father for emotional support and security. A dad shows his daughter what a good relationship with a man should be. The daughter to a strong and valiant man will seek similar characteristics in a man when she starts dating. When parented by an involved father, an adolescent girl is more likely to form posi...

Brazil confirmed its first case of the novel coronavirus on February 28 th and has moved on to surpass 1 million cases as of Friday, June 19 th . Brazil is only second to the United States in both cases and deaths from the virus as it approached 50,000 deaths on Friday - 1,032,913 confirmed cases were reported alongside 1,206 new deaths. There were 54,771 new cases recorded on Friday. From all indications, Brazil’s death toll from the virus will surpass 50,000 today, Saturday. Alexandre Naime Barbosa, a medical professor at the São Paulo State University , said: “That number of 1 million is much less than the real number of people who have been infected, because there is under-reporting of a magnitude of five to 10 times. The true number is probably at least 3 million and could even be as high as 10 million people.”

Cristiano Ronaldo playing the Coppa Italia final vs Napoli Juventus were beaten yesterday at the Coppa Italia final, and Cristiano Ronaldo's sister Elma blames Juventus coach Maurizio Sarri for the loss against Napoli. Juve star Cristiano Ronaldo has suffered consecutive final losses for the first time in his 18-year-long career. Following the defeat, Elma lept to Ronaldo's defense on Instagram.  She said "What more can you do?   My love, you can't do miracles on your own," she said, referring to her brother. Expressing her displeasure at Sarri's strategy, she said: "I can't understand how you can play like that. Anyway, keep your head up, you can't do anymore." Sarri didn't talk to the players after the defeat but opened up on Ronaldo's drop in form. He told RAI: "He's in the same shape as the others, like Paulo Dybala and Douglas Costa, he is lacking the sharpness to do what works best for him. "I didn't say ...

Cristiano Ronaldo has been making headlines since yesterday night, and for unheroic reasons. He has been heavily criticized after not stepping up to take a penalty in the Coppa Italia final shoot-out defeat to Napoli. Cristiano Ronaldo is Juventus' best penalty taker but didn't opt to take one after Paulo Dybala and Danilo missed from 12 yards. Many believe he didn't take a penalty because he wanted to be the last to take a penalty (as usual) and ultimately be the hero. Napoli scored all four penalty kicks attempted through Lorenzo Insigne, Matteo Politano, Nikola Maksimovic and Arkadiusz Milik - the latter putting away the winner to secure Gennaro Gattuso's first trophy with Napoli, and the first trophy in six seasons for Napoli. It's not the first time that Ronaldo has opted out of a penalty shootout. He decided not to take a penalty kick while playing for Portugal against Spain at Euro 2012 and against Chile at the Confederations Cup in 2017. For the first ti...

On Tuesday, June 16, Barcelona played their second game since the restart of La Liga. They played against Leganes, and won 2-0, with Messi scoring from the penalty spot. Wonderkid Ansu Fati opened scoring for Barcelona. Messi has now scored 21 goals in La Liga this season, and provided 14 assists in 24 games. With that penalty scored, Messi is now second alongside Mexican Hugo Sanchez on the list of players who have scored the most penalties in La Liga. First is still Cristiano Ronaldo from his time with Real Madrid (2009 - 2018). Messi and Hugo Sanchez have scored 56 penalties each but Messi has scored them in fewer attempts; 56 penalties from 68 attempts. Sanchez scored 56 penalties from 71 attempts. Cristiano Ronaldo who tops the list has scored 61 penalties from 72 attempts. The other top penalty scorers in La Liga after Ronaldo, Messi and Sanchez are: Ronald Koeman (FC Barcelona, 45 goals) Lubo Penev (Valencia, Atletico, Compos & Celta, 44 goals) Dani Rui...

Barcelona played their first game in 3 months on June 13, amid the coronavirus pandemic. Barcelona played a relegation threatened Mallorca behind closed doors, winning 4-0. It was a brilliant night for Messi and Barcelona as a whole. Messi scored a goal and provided two assists. He scored the goal from a Luis Suarez assist with his right foot (not his favorite left), becoming the first player to score at least 20 goals in 12 straight La Liga seasons. Arturo Vidal scored Barcelona’s first for the night in the second minute as he successfully converted a Jordi Alba cross. Messi set up Martin Braithwaite’s first goal for Barcelona and second goal in the game in the 37 th minute of the first half. Messi then set up Alba’s goal in the 79 th minute, and had one set for him by Luis Suarez in stoppage time. Following Barcelona’s victory, they are now five points clear of arch-rival Real Madrid atop the La Liga table. They will host second-last Leganes on Tuesday, and third-placed Sevilla...

The research-based recommendations discussed here will help mothers-to-be have healthy, comfortable pregnancies, and protect their growing babies. The recommendations are categorized into pregnancy dos and pregnancy don'ts. In addition to following them, a pregnant woman should attend her prenatal medical visits as prescribed by her doctor. What To Do While Pregnant 1 . Take prenatal vitamins In addition to eating a balanced diet, an expectant mother needs to take prenatal vitamins. They assist with the healthy development of the fetus and help prevent birth defects. Expectant mothers require higher doses of folic acid, calcium, vitamin D, and iron. Folic acid reduces the baby's risk of neural tube defects to almost zero. A woman should start taking folic acid three months before conception, and until the end of the first trimester of her pregnancy. Vitamin D helps the baby develop healthy muscles, teeth and bones, and keeps the mother's bones and teeth healthy. In th...