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Former Portugal international Fernando Meira has criticized Cristiano Ronaldo for his explosive reaction after his winner for Portugal was disallowed.  Ronaldo's goal clearly crossed the line despite Aleksandar Mitrovic getting back to clear the ball, but referee  Danny Makkelie  waved play on after consulting with his linesman, sending the five-time Ballon d'Or winner into untold rage. Alas,  there was no VAR or goal-line technology to check the call. The 36-year-old threw his captain's armband down and stormed off the pitch after seeing the goal chalked off, with the match ultimately ending 2-2. "It's a clear goal, but Ronaldo cannot throw Portugal's captain's armband on the floor,"  said Meira,  who has 54 Portugal caps. "Cristiano's reaction is natural but unacceptable for the captain of the national team. You cannot throw the captain's armband on the floor and go towards the changing room while the game is still going on. &quo

Lionel Messi just created another record with his 768th appearance for Barcelona - the most of any player in Barcelona's history. He created the record in style, with two goals and assist as Barcelona thrashed fifth placed Real Sociedad 6 - 1.  The other goal scorers were: Antoine Griezmann who opened scoring, Sergino Dest who also scored a Brace like Messi, and Ousmane Dembele with a fine goal. Barcelona had already sent five past the Sociedad keeper when  Ander Barrenetxea scored a consolation goal for Real Sociedad. Messi's assist for Sergino Dest's first goal for Barcelona took Messi's assist tally to eight this season. Leo has now scored 29 goals and provided 13 assists in 37 games this season in all competitions for Barcelona - 23 of those scored in La Liga. Barcelona are still four points behind league leaders Atletico Madrid who earlier beat Alaves 1 - 0, thanks to Luis Suarez's 500th career goal and a late Jan Oblak penalty save.  

Lionel Messi was in brilliant form on Monday night as he inspired Barcelona to a 4-1 triumph over Huesca, scoring a brace and providing an assist. It was a special occasion as he equaled Xavi's record number of appearances in a Barcelona jersey.  Barceona's first goal of the night came from Messi in the 13th minute, the second came from Antoine Griezmann 10 minutes before half-time - a near copycat goal of Messi's, the third from Oscar Mingueza (assisted by Messi) early in the second half, and the fourth by Messi in the last minutes of play.  "It's a good result and we keep growing," Koeman said after the match. "We were good in the first half and maintained the intensity in the second half. We did lose a little bit of concentration after the break, maybe there was a bit of tiredness. But the objective was to win and we've done that." Barcelona  have now managed 11 wins and a draw from their last 12 matches, and are now only four points awa

Cristiano Ronaldo's future has made the headlines since Juve's shock round of 16 Champions League elimination. Among the rumors about his future are stories of a possible return to Real Madrid. Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane may just have given more backing to the rumor after hinting that Real Madrid will try and re-sign Cristiano from Juventus this summer - with the Italian giants being tipped to cash in on the 36-year-old before he becomes a free agent in 2022. Ahead of Real Madrid's Champions League clash with Atalanta on Tuesday, Zinedine Zidane told Sky Italia: "It could happen. We know him and I've had the good fortune to coach him. "He's an impressive forward, we'll see what happens in the future. He's a Juventus player right now." It's worth noting that Cristiano Ronaldo is Real Madrid’s all-time highest goalscorer - with 450 goals in 438 games.

On Sunday night, Beyoncé became the most decorated woman in the history of the Grammys - at the 63rd Grammy Awards ceremony. She also happens to have been the most nominated artist at this year's Grammys. She tied Alison Krauss’s previous record when she won her 27th Grammy for Best Rap Song alongside Megan Thee Stallion for “Savage,” then proceeded to break it with her 28th Grammy win, in Best R&B Performance for “Black Parade.” In an emotional acceptance speech, Beyoncé said: "his is so overwhelming. I’ve been working my whole life, since 9 years old. I can’t believe this happened. This is such a magical night, thank you so much." She and Quincy Jones are the only living people with the most Grammys. The late conductor George Solti has more, at 31 - a benchmark Beyoncé will likely surpass in the next few years. She won a total of four awards last night - “Brown Skin Girl” for best music video, best rap song with Megan for “Savage,”, best rap performance for  “Sa

Messi's outrageous strike against PSG on Wednesday will live long in football fans' memories - a ferocious effort from 25 yards (22.86 meters) that sunk into the top corner of the net - though it wasn't enough for Barcelona to overcome their 4-1 first-leg defeat - Barcelona needed four goals to progress to the quarter-finals. The uphill task was made even more difficult for the Blaugrana as Kylian Mbappe converted a penalty for PSG on the half-hour.  Messi had the opportunity to make it two for Barcelona, but missed from the penalty spot, with Navas comfortably deflecting the ball away from goal. It was a rather convincing display from Barcelona, and coach Koeman hopes Barcelona's recent progress in performance will convince Messi to stay at Barcelona beyond this season. "Leo [Messi] has seen for quite some time that the team is improving thanks to all the changes we've made," Koeman said after Barcelona's Champions League exit. "We have you

Cristiano Ronaldo has been heavily criticized by Italian media since Juventus' shocking exit from the Champions League yesterday night - more so because he played a pivotal role in Porto's win. Juventus and Porto went into extra time, with the latter one-player short since the first half. In the 115th minute, Porto was awarded a free-kick 35 yards away from the Juve goal. Sergio Olivera bagged his second goal of the night to put Porto up on aggregate. The low shot traveled through the legs of Cristiano Ronaldo who had turned his back on the ball, and despite Wojciech Szczensy's sizeable hand in the effort, he couldn't prevent the shot from shooting into his net. Adrien Rabiot later scored for Juventus, but it wasn't enough as Porto had a 4-3 lead on aggregate. Former Italy and Juventus manager Fabio Capello called Ronaldo's mistake unforgivable after the game.  "There are single mistakes and (mistakes due to) loss of concentration on all the goals con

58-year-old lawyer Joan Laporta, poised favorite to replace Josep Maria Bartomeu, has been confirmed as Barcelona's new president, beating Victor Font and Toni Freixa in Sunday's election. He amassed 54.28* of the vote, Font - 29.99% and Freixa - 8.58%. This will be Laporta's second term as Barcelona's president. He took charge of the club from 2003 to 2010. During his reign, Barcelona won two Champions League titles and four league titles. For the first time, Lionel Messi - accompanied by his son Thiago - voted in club elections. Laporta has reportedly been Messi's choice all along. The night before election day, Laporta was asked if he would be in touch with Messi's entourage on voting day, and he said: “Why tomorrow? I can speak tonight, the night is long.”  “These are the most important elections in the history of FC Barcelona,” Laporta declared. “They have been organized in a model fashion.” Font who lost the elections TV3: “I think it has been a cons

Barcelona's 2-0 win at Osasuna on Saturday brought them within two points of first-place Atletico Madrid. For three games in a row now, Barcelona have conceded zero goals. Barcelona's opener - scored by Jordi Alba was set by Lionel Messi in the first half. Brilliant saves by Marc Andre ter Stergen from Kike Barja and Ruben Garcia saw Barcelona maintain a clean sheet in the first half, and throughout the game. Barcelona's second goal was scored by eighteen-year-old Ilaix Moriba, with another assist from Messi. He  collected Lionel Messi’s pass on the edge of the area before cutting on his left foot and curling a wonderful effort into the top corner - a goal he says he will never forget and will take to his grave. “Leo gave me a good pass and I don’t know how I cut and shot with the left, and thank God it went in," he told  Barca TV.  "I will never forget this and I will take it to my grave. There’s competition for places but it doesn’t matter if you are young

It was another remontada for Barcelona - converting a first leg Copa del Rey semi-final loss (0-2) to Sevilla. The game was drawing to its end and a defeat seemed most likely, despite Ousmane Dembele scoring Barcelona's first in the 12th minute. Barcelona seemed unable to add to their lead after the first goal. Thankfully, Marc Andre Ter Stergen kept hope alive for Barcelona by stopping Ocampos' penalty in the 73rd minute - a penalty conceded after a clash between Oscar Mingueza and the former. Pique who has been in better form following his recovery from a knee injury netted for the Catalans in the last minute of the game, to give them a lifeline with prolongation. Credit also goes to Antoine Griezmann who carved out the chance for Pique's header with a fine cross. Martin Braithwaite sealed victory for Barcelona early on in the additional 30 minutes. On aggregate, Barcelona won 3-2 and will will either face Athletic Club or Levante at the finals.

Luis Suarez, who transferred to Atletico Madrid last September has revealed the most disappointing aspect of his exit from Barcelona - the club telling him that he was too old to perform at the highest level. Suarez who is now second-highest goal scorer in La Liga with 16 goals (after Messi) has proven Barcelona management wrong, by firing Atletico Madrid to the top of the La Liga scoring chart. “What really bothered me was when they told me that I was old and that I could no longer play at a high level, be up to [the task of fronting] a great team,” Suarez told  France Football . “That’s what I did not like.” Suarez said he lived up to expected standards at the club, and blamed the club for signing players who were not on an elite level. “Today, we can see that it is not easy to play at Barca ... A lot of players who signed there did not have the level that was expected of them. Me, I played for six years at Barca maintaining a certain level and living up to what was expected