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

A hat-trick of hat-tricks was the result produced by a scintillating Messi-Mbappe-Neymar trio versus Clermont on Saturday. Neymar and Mbappe each netted three times, with a trio of assists from Messi to achieve a 6-1 victory versus Clermont.  Messi's first assist came from the edge of the penalty area as he made a pass to Neymar who went on to score and give PSG a 1-0 lead. Messi leads the leagues with assists this season, with a total of 13 assists to his name. After the game, Mbappe told Canal Plus France: "The connection on the field with Messi and Neymar, it's a shame it's only happening now."

French prodigy Kylian Mbappe has once more reiterated his preference for Cristiano Ronaldo over Lionel Messi. He says he's inspired by Cristiano Ronaldo's career and not Messi's. He however explained his preference for Ronaldo's career. He said he believes it's too late for him to be a one-club man like Lionel Messi. As such, he thinks it's better to copy Cristiano Ronaldo instead. The PSG young star told La Gazzetta dello Sport, "It's already late for me to have a career like Messi. "Otherwise I should have stayed at Monaco. So, logically and without wanting to take anything away from Messi, I have to be inspired by Ronaldo's career." Ronaldo started his career at Sporting Lisbon where he spent just a season before being signed by Manchester United in 2003. He went on to Real Madrid in 2009 at a world record transfer fee of $103 million. In 2018, he made another transfer to Juventus, and is curently in his second season with th...

In a recent interview with France Football, who just named Mbappe French footballer of the year, Mappe discussed his pride at being noticed by Messi, his relationship with PSG mate Neymar and his transformation at PSG. The young star admitted he desired to win the Ballon d'Or this year but Leo Messi stood in between himself and his dream. "Last season, I realized I could challenge for it. But in front of it stood Messi. I would score two goals, he would three; I scored three and he scored four. It's crazy. "I talked to Ousmane Dembele about how that was possible, and if he saw the goals I scored. And he told me that Messi was watching me. "It's flattering that someone like Leo takes you into consideration." Mbappe went on to dismiss all speculations about an alleged rivalry between Neymar and himself. "When I arrived in Paris, Neymar was a superstar. He was injured, missed the World Cup and I won it. "News began about an ...

Kylian Mbappe - one of the Ballon d'Or nominees this year - has made his stance known on who this year's Ballon d'Or winner should be. Messi is his choice. He told Der Spiegel it should be Messi as "In individual terms, he was the best this year." Messi has scored 45 goals for club and country this calendar year, guiding Argentina to a third place at the Copa America, and steering FC Barcelona to another La Liga title. Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have won the Ballon d'Or a joint record five times each. Should Messi win the Ballon d'Or this year, he will become the gong's most frequent ever awardee with six titles. Kylian Mbappe was fourth in the shortlist for the 2018 Ballon d'Or. He won the first edition of the Kopa Trophy - an award given to the best performing player under 21 - last year as well. The French wonderkid has scored nine goals in 12 games for Paris Saint-Germain this season.

Sorry Liverpool, no hat-trick of triumphs for you tonight. Lionel Messi and not Virgil van Dijk wins FIFA  Men's Footballer of the Year Award. Messi beat Virgil van Dijk and Cristiano Ronaldo to win the award, which happens to be his sixth FIFA Footballer of the Year Award. Virgil Van Dijk came second, and Cristiano Ronaldo, third. Ronaldo was not in attendance this year, same as last year. Messi is now one major step ahead of Ronaldo in terms of  FIFA Footballer of the Year Awards, he has six, while Ronaldo has five. Messi's exploits for the 2018/2019 football season include: His 51 goals for Barcelona in 2018-19 - the highest in the top five European Leagues (England, Spain, Italy, France & Germany) and a country mile ahead of Bayern Munich’s Robert Lewandowski who scored 11 goals fewer. Helping Barcelona reach the Champions League semi-final and Copa del Rey final. Claiming the European Golden Shoe as the Europe's top goalscorer  Being La Liga's...

Spanish midflier Cesc Fabregas, who currently plays for Monaco in France believes we may never see another player of Messi's caliber again. He spent three seasons at Barcelona where he played alongside Messi. Messi won two Ballon d'Or awards during that time. He and Messi also played together at Barcelona's academy, La Masia, before Fabregas departed for Arsenal in 2003. When asked by AS' Aritz Gabilondo about whether football will ever see another player like Messi, he responded: "We've seen the likes of Ronaldo and Ronaldinho, amazing players, but Messi has been the best for 15 years. He's in his 17th season and he's been the best since he was 18 years old.   "I've seen things you wouldn't believe. Every three days he scores goals, he heads off to play for  Argentina , he comes back jet-lagged and scores a hat-trick... that's not normal, believe me. "I would have liked to enjoy playing more with Leo. I had a bit of bad...

Barcelona talisman Lionel and Juventus ace Cristiano Ronaldo lead a list of 10 nominees for the prestigious The Best FIFA Men's Player award. Last year's winner, FIFA World Cup hero Luka Modric, was not among the nominees. The other eight contenders include: Liverpool trio - Mohammed Salah, Sadio Mane and Virgil van Dijk; former Ajax duo Frenkie de Jong and Matthijs de Ligt; Tottenham striker Harry Kane, former Chelsea superstar Eden Hazard; and PSG wonderkid Kylian Mbappe. Kylian Mbappe finished fourth in last year's vote. This year, he became the first player to win Ligue 1's Player of the Year and Young Player of the Year awards in the same season. Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo count La Liga and Serie A among their achievements over the course of the last year. Eden Hazard won the UEFA Europa League with Chelsea before leaving for real Madrid this summer. The voting of The Best FIFA Men's Player takes into consideration all the players' achievem...

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.

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...

Paris Saint-Germain face Manchester United tonight oin the first leg of the last-16 tie in the Champions League. PSG goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon fears PSG playmaker - Neymar's absence could be a "big problem" to them. Neymar sustained a metatarsal injury late last month and is only expected to return in April.  In an exclusive interview with CNN ahead of their first leg match at Old Trafford, Buffon told CNN,  "I think this is a problem for us." "I'm not sure if it's a big problem or a little one. I hope it's only a small problem and that we are nevertheless a team that can thrive without him, it would give us great strength and confidence. "But I must say that without a player of Ney's caliber, it's going to be heavy going, particularly because in the last two or three months he's in excellent condition both physically and mentally and would have been of enormous help. "But nevertheless we have to do our best i...

Luis Campos, a former director of Monaco who saw Mbappe's burst onto the scene, believes Kylian Mbappe is destined to join Real Madrid and win more Ballons D'or than Cristiano Ronaldo. He told Telefoot, "Kylian represents champagne football, which we like to see and as a high level footballer I see him wearing the Real Madrid jersey because it is a club made to his measure, where the great players want to go. “In the future, I imagine myself attending a match at the Santiago Bernabeu and enjoying the show that Mbappe can offer. “Nowadays, he is more decisive than Neymar and considering his age, he'll be much better than Cristiano Ronaldo. I see him winning more Ballons d’Or.” The 20-year-old wonderkid has achieved what many players only achieve over the course of an entire career. Mbappe is a two-time Ligue 1 tittle champion, winner of the inaugural Kopa Trophee - which is bestowed upon the best young player in the world, and a World Cup winner. Also,...

According to Canal Football Club, 19-year-old wonderkid Kylian Mbappe is believed to have said  "Messi is a very exceptional player, but I still think if, I continue to work hard, I can be better than him in three or four years. Of course, I respect him very much, he is a great player."  🎙 [ @CanalFootClub ] | Mbappe: "Messi is a very exceptional player, but I still think if I continue to work hard, I can be better than him in 3 or 4 years. Of course I respect him very much, he is a great player." Is the kid dreaming too much? 🤔 pic.twitter.com/h5TtxtbWtk — BarcaTimes (@BarcaTimes) December 9, 2018 The Paris Saint-Germain forward swiftly responded to the allegation via his official Twitter account saying,"I never said that. Messi have all my respect and my admiration" Ahead of the Ballon d'Or ceremony, Mbappe told Agence France-Presse, "Nobody is doing better at the moment and we can't say it's the end of their era bec...

Monday, December 3 was a memorable night for Luka Modric, as he beat the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Antoine Griezmann, Kylian Mbappe and Lionel Messi to win the 2018 Ballon d'Or. Luka Modric is the first Croatian to win the prestigious award. The 33-year-old played a pivotal role captaining Croatia to second place at the 2016 World Cup in Russia. Modric also played a major role in Real Madrid's midfield as they won their third consecutive Champions League Title.  Modric is the first player to break the Messi and Ronaldo Ballon d'Or duopoly since 2007. Brazil icon Kaka was the last to lift the trophy before Ronaldo and Messi won 5 Ballon d'Or awards each across the following years. When accepting his Ballon d'Or award, Modric said,  "It's a unique feeling, I'm happy, proud and it's an honor," he said as he accepted the award. "[There are] extraordinary emotions at the moment. "I just want to thank all those who helped ...