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

On Wednesday October 5, PSG faced Benfica in a Champions League fixture and had to settle for a draw due to an own goal by midfielder Danilo Pereira who turned an Enzo Fernandez cross into his own net. Messi gave PSG the lead in the 22nd minute with a curling shot from an interplay with Neymar and Mbappe. Messi has now scored against 40 different opponents in the Champions League - Benfica being the 40th. Neymar's spectacular overhead kick in the 49th minute saw him hit the woodwork, and later attempted a free kick that was saved by Benfica keeper Odysseas Vlachodimos. PSG lead in their group, on seven points with second-placed Benfica, Juventus is third and Maccabi Haifa last. Maccabi Haifa suffered another defeat in their third Champions League fixture for the season. PSG and Benfica meet again in Paris next week.

Six-time Ballon d'Or winner Lionel Messi has ended his mini goal drought at PSG as he scored on Tuesday night in a 2-0 victory over Manchester City in the Champions League group phase. PSG midfielder Idrissa Gueye gave PSG an early lead in the 8th minute, with Raheem Sterling and Bernado Silva coming close to equalizing for PSG as they hit the bar in succession. Messi's sublime goal from the edge of the box however cemented victory for the French.  Football pundit and former Manchester United and England defender Rio Ferdinand reacted on BT Sport as Messi took up a position on the floor behind a defensive wall to prevent Manchester City from surprising PSG keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma with a low shot as City took a late free kick. He said: “No, no, no, no. You can’t. “It’s disrespectful, I wouldn’t have it. “If I was in that team, I’d have to say, ‘Listen, I’ll lay down for you.’ “Sorry, I couldn’t have him laying down like that. I can’t see it. “He don’t get his kit...

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...

Barcelona seem to be back to their winning ways barely a few hours after Josep maria Bartomeu resigned as president of the club. Barcelona were able to beat Juventus at Turin, thanks to a masterclass display from Messi and co. Messi assisted Ousmane Dembele's deflected opener with a stunning cross-field pass and sealed victory for Barcelona by converting a late penalty, which resulted in a 2-0 win over the Bianconeri in the Champions League on Wednesday. He also completed more take-ons (6) and created more chances (5) than any other player on the pitch. Barcelona top Group G with 6 points in two games played. Italian football legend Vieri was left dumbfounded by the Argentine's brilliance on the pitch and told CBS Sports:  "An amazing Barcelona, there was no game. They could've scored six, seven goals easy. They played fantastic. "Messi is a magician, he's the Harry Potter of soccer and when he stops playing, I'm throwing my TVs away. I'm not going...

Messi was once more sensational for Barcelona as they beat Napoli 3-1 in the second leg of the Champions League last 16 (4-2 on aggregate). Barcelona were already leading in the 10th minute at Camp Nou thanks to Clement Lenglet's header from an Ivan Rakitic corner. Messi then doubled the lead for Barcelona in style in the 23rd minute as he wriggled his way past three defenders, before bending a shot between a further two Napoli players, and into the far side of David Ospina's net. Messi scored another goal 7 minutes later, but it was ruled out by VAR. Luis Suarez scored Barcelona's third goal of the night - a penalty awarded after Kalidou Koulibaly felled Messi. This happened to be Suarez's 25th Champions League goal. Napoli scored their lone goal of the game at the end of the first half, through Lorenzo Insigne. Messi's performance for Barcelona earned him the Man of the Match (MOTM) award. Barcelona are set to play Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarter...

Jugen Klopp reacted to Liverpool's shocking loss to Atletico Madrid in the Champions League 16th finals by criticizing Atletico's play style, saying they should play "proper football" instead of banking on counerattacks. Atletico beat Liverpool - the defending European champions - 3-2 after extra time in the second leg of their last-16 tie at Anfield. In the regular 90 minutes of play, Gini Wijnaldum gave Liverpool a 1-0 lead, requiring extra time to deterine which of the two teams would dominate on aggregate, given that Liverpool lost 1-0 at Madrid in the first leg. Four minutes into extra time, Roberto Firminio gave Liverpool the lead once more. Within a short space of time, Marcos Llorente fired two goals for Atletico, and Alvaro Morata sealed Liverpool's fate with a late goal, as Atletico won 4-2 on aggregate.  Atletico only had half as many shots on target as premier League chart leaders Liverpool and had less ball possession. They were however able ...

Juventus attacking duo Cristiano Ronaldo and Paulo Dybala were unable to score for Juventus in the first leg of the Champions League last 16 tie, and the pair blame their midfield for this. The Turin powerhouse was beaten by Lyon 1-0 at Parc OL in France. Juventus conceeded the goal in the first-half during which Juventus put up a rather poor display. Dybala and Ronaldo chatted freely in the tunnel while waiting for the kick-off of the second half, unaware that there was a TV camera in the tunnel. It recorded their conversation, an exchange in Spanish. "We are left alone out there, the midfielders are giving us no support,” the five-time Ballon d’Or winner grumbled to Dybala. "Nobody is getting the ball,” Dybala replied. "I know, not even the second balls, nothing,” Ronaldo said. There was some improvement from Juventus in the second half but they still couldn't overturn the one goal deficit.

Juventus has what it takes to overturn their last Champions League 16 first first leg deficit, believes Cristiano Ronaldo. The Italian giants lost 1-0 to Lyon in the first leg of the Champions League last 16. That was the first time Lyon achieved such a feat. They had played Juventus four times before, losing thrice and managing a draw. This month, Juventus shall welcome Lyon at the Allianz stadium for the second leg. And Ronaldo is convinced Juve have what it takes to qualify and move onto the next stage. He told Sky Sport Italia: "These are things that can happen, it is football we are not happy with the defeat against Lyon. "It can happen in the Champions League because all the matches are difficult. We’re angry, but there is a return leg at home. "We are very confident of reversing the result and passing to the next round, but our priority now is to win the next games. Then we will think of the Champions League. "We are calm, focused and re...

Cristiano Ronaldo and Juventus were stunned by Lyon in their last 16 Champions League tie as they lost 1-0 to Lyon. Cristiano was unable to come to his side's aid, with Juventus having only on shot on target during the game. Note that Cristiano Ronaldo has an incredible Champions League knockout record - a ridiculous 65 goals in 79 matches. Ronaldo took a free-kick from 30 yards in first half injury-time but it was a poor attempt which crashed into the wall. That happened to be his 38th free-kick attempt for Juventus, and his 38th failure. Out of the 38 attempts, he’s hit the wall 24 times, 11 have been saved by the goalkeeper, he’s missed the target twice and hit the crossbar once. He has spent more than two years without scoring from a free-kick. Cristiano last scored a free-kick on December 16, 2017 when he was playing for Real Madrid. The Juve star has however been in formidable form this season, bagging 21 goals in 21 Serie A matches. He will probably be pivotal if ...

32-year-old Lionel Messi shows no signs of slowing down yet as he nets his 50th goal of the year - an impressive 20-yard curling strike in the 69th minute vs Alaves on Saturday. The Griezmann, Messi, Suarez trio chipped in a goal each, with midfielder Arturo Vidal scoring as well. Griezmann scored first in the 14th minute of play, with Messi providing the assist.  "I needed to score a goal before the holidays, now I can go into them happy with myself," said the French World Cup winner who has scored only seven goals since his transfer to Barcelona in the summer.  "We have a great team with some of the best players around and when we don't click, well, there's always Messi." Messi had a goal ruled out by VAR before Arturo Vidal scored in the close of the first half. Pere Pons pulled one back for the visitors in the 56th minute. Messi extended Barcelona's lead in the 69th minute. Luis Suarez who had already provided two assists - one for Messi a...

Barcelona star Lionel Messi has broken yet another Champions League record. By scoring against Borussia Dortmund in Wednesday's Champions League game, he has become the first player to score against 34 different teams in the Champions League. It was a good night for the Barcelona captain as he was directly involved in all of Barcelona's three goals in the 3-1 victory over Borussia Dortmund, providing assists for Luis Suarez and Antoine Griezmann. Messi, Raul and Cristiano Ronaldo formerly shared the record for scoring against the highest number of teams in the Champions League; 33. He's now a step ahead of Ronaldo in that regard. Messi has scored against the following teams in the Champions League: Borussia Dortmund,  Slavia Prague,  PSV Eindhoven Spurs ,  Manchester United , Olympique Lyon,  Liverpool,  Juventus,  Olympiacos,  Chelsea,  Celtic Man City ,  Borussia Monchengladbach ,  Paris Saint Germain AS Roma,  Bayer L...

A managerless Bayern Munich romped to a 6-0 win at Red Star Belgrade yesterday, with their principal striker Robert Lewandowski scoring four goals in 15 minutes - 14 minutes and 31 seconds to be exact. That was the fastest four-goal haul in Champions League history. As of now, Lewandowski is the competition's top scorer with 10 goals in five games. Red Star has now conceded 10 goals in its two most recent Champions League outings, a 4-0 defeat to Tottenham and now a 6-0 defeat to Bayern Munich. "The most important thing is that we played really well, defensively and on the attack," Lewandowski told  Sky .  It doesn't matter who plays, we follow the same plan." "I am just as happy when I don't score and we win," he added. The Polish striker's goal tally for the calendar year stands at 51. He is now only the second player in Champions League history - after Lionel Messi - to score four goals in a game on more than one occasion. Yesterda...

Thanks to Paulo Dybala, Juventus beat Atletico Madrid yesterday night and now top group D in the Champions League. He scored the lone goal of the encounter, making headlines in place of Juventus' biggest star Cristiano Ronaldo. The latter seems to have been having a little bad luck with the Champions League this month. Three weeks ago, Aaron Ramsey poked in Cristiano Ronaldo's goalbound free kick, preventing him from breaking a new Champions League record by scoring against a 34th different club. Yesterday, Paulo Dybala's thunderbolt free kick scored within seconds to the end of the second half sent supporters and social media into frenzy. Paulo Dybala has been able to score a goal already in just two free kick attempts whereas Cristiano Ronaldo has scored none in 10 free kicks taken. Dybala is also Juventus' Champions League top scorer since Ronaldo joined the club in 2018. Dybala has scored eight goals in the Champions League since the 2018 season, and Ronald...

Former Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger was  a pundit for beIN SPORTS for yesterday's Champions League games. The French tactician was clearly unimpressed with Barcelona's unconvincing displays despite the Spanish giants maintaining their lead at the top of group F. His assessment of the team is that they rely too much on Lionel Messi for moments of magic and 'play like a team in crisis'. The La Liga giants were held to a 0-0 draw against Czech side Slavia Prague at Camp Nou yesterday night, and had earlier lost to Levante 1-3 in La Liga last weekend.  Wenger told beIN SPORTS:  "They’re top of the league, they’re top of their group, and they play like a team in crisis. "Their game is too slow. There is no dynamic in the last 30 meters, it’s too individual. "Every time they lose the ball, it looks like they will concede a goal on the counterattack because they cannot deal with pace against the opponent... the team lacks dynamic, lacks energy, lacks co...

34-year-old soccer superstar Cristiano Ronaldo was recently interviewed by France Football magazine. A highlight of the interview was the surprising response he gave when asked whether he gets stressed out by everything that comes with being the iconic footballer he is. The 700-goal scorer responded: "I’ll tell you, if it were up to me, I would only play some important games. Those of the national team and the Champions League. "It’s these kinds of games that emerge, those with a stake, a difficult environment, a pressure. "After, you have to be pro and perform well every day to honor your family and the club you represent and who pays you for it. "So, always give the best." He added: "For the rest, I do not attach much importance to the reactions of the public.” Reflecting on his rivalry with Messi during his spell at Real Madrid, he said, 'A lot of people said that we fed each other, that being together in Spain made us better. ...

By scoring yesterday in Barcelona's 2-1 win over Slavia Prague,  Lionel Messi set a new record in Europe's top competition. He is the first player to have scored in 15 consecutive Champions League seasons, starting from the 2005/06 season. Also, he has now scored against 33 teams in the Champions League, equaling Cristiano Ronaldo and  Raúl González. These are the only teams Messi hasn't scored against in the Champions League: Rubin Kazan, Atlético Madrid, Benfica, Udinese, Levski Sofia, Borussia Dortmund and Inter Milan. He may be able to score against Borussia Dortmund and Inter Milan in the remaining fixtures in group F. For now, Barcelona sit atop the group with seven points in three games. Inter Milan and Borrusia Dortmund are second and third respectively on four points, and Slavia Prague last with just a point. The young PSG prodigy Kylian Mbappe on Tuesday broke one of Lionel Messi's Champions League records. He became the youngest player to score...

Lionel Messi just played his first whole 90 mins game since the start of the 2019/2020 football season. Barcelona were taken unawares with Inter Milan striking first in yesterday's Champions League game. Eventually, the Blaugrana won the game 2 -1, with Luis Suarez netting twice to earn Barcelona the much needed three points. Suarez's second goal was clinically set up by Messi.  Messi may not have scored in yesterday's game, but he had so much influence on Barcelona's attacking play. After the game, the 32-year-old Barcelona captain said, "I am still getting started. "This the first time that I have completed 90 minutes. As the season goes on I will gradually let loose." Messi did a bit of everything for Barcelona’s attack 🔑 pic.twitter.com/CuQZzeQpya — B/R Football (@brfootball) October 2, 2019 Messi was asked about his relationship with Antoine Griezmann, one of the team's summer signings, to which he replied, "Obviously we ha...

The UEFA Champions League group stage draws for this season held today alongside the UEFA awards for the past season. In attendance were awards nominees such as Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Virgil van Dijk. The inseparable rivals - Messi and Ronaldo - sat side by side at the ceremony, at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco. The pair have helped their respective teams win domestic and European trophies while scooping most individual prizes along their way. As Ronaldo's recent comments suggest, the rivalry between himself and Messi may be a friendly one.  He invited the Barcelona star for a night together. "We shared the stage 15 years, me and him," said Ronaldo, sitting next to Messi. "I don't know if its ever happened in football, the same two guys, in the same stage, all the time. So … it's not easy. Of course, we have good relationship. We not have dinner together yet, but I hope in the future.  "Of course I miss playing in Spain," he a...

A jury of 80 coaches who competed in last season's Champions League and Europa League, and 55 journalists have chosen their top three nominees for the UEFA Men's Player of the Year award. The first list consisted of 10 players, including Messi, Ronaldo, Van Dijk, Hazard and others. After the first votes, Messi, Van Dijk and Ronaldo emerged top three. Alisson Becker, Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah claimed fourth, fifth and sixth place respectively. Eden Hazard was seventh, Matthijs de Ligt and Frenkie de Jong claimed eighth and nineth after their stunning season with Ajax. Raheem Sterling claimed tenth. The winner of the trio will be announced on Thursday, August 29 during the Champions League draw in Monaco. Virgil van Dijk, the talismanic Liverpool defender, was voted both the Premier League Player of the Season and the Players' Player of the Year. He played a pivotal role in Liverpool's sixth Champions League triumph. He was also the only man to play more than ...