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

The Supercopa de Espana (Spanish Super Cup) is not a prestigious trophy for Spanish football heavyweight Barcelona, but after a trophyless 2019/20 season, Barcelona edging closer to its first title is relieving for fans. Barcelona's first-half lead (a goal from Frenkie de Jong) in the semi-finals yesterday night was canceled by an equalizer from Real Sociedad (penalty scored by Mikel Oyarzabal) in the second half. They proceeded to play for an extra 30 minutes in prolongation, and headed on to win Barcelona's first penalty shoot-out since 1998. Messi did not play the game and was rested due to injury. The hero of the game was Barcelona goal keeper Marc-Andre ter Stergen who made three stunning saves in extra time - the first from Joseba Zaldua and the other two from Adnan Januzaj. Then came his penalty shoot-out heroics - he saved the first two Real Kicks, while their third hit the post. Teenage sensation drove home the final penalty kick for Barcelona sending the club into t...

He came, he saw, and he conquered. Barcelona star Lionel Messi was awarded the 2019 Ballon d'Or at a star-studded ceremony in Paris on Monday evening. Messi saw off strong competition from Liverpool's Virgil van Dijk to lift the world's best player trophy for a record sixth time, and for the first time since 2015. Messi won his first Ballon d'Or in 2009, after claiming the treble under Pep Guardiola. He went on to win again in 2010, 2011, and 2012. He claimed the award again in 2015 after Cristiano Ronaldo's two successive wins in 2013 and 2014. Messi is the first player in history to win six Ballon d'Or awards. Next in line is Cristiano Ronaldo with five. Messi won quite the lot of silverware this year with the likes of La Liga, Super Copa, the Golden Boot (for being Europe's leading goalscorer), the Pichichi (for being Spain's leading marksman), FIFA Men's Player of the Year, and being the Champions League's leading goalscorer (12 goals). ...