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.

Argentina have extended their remarkable unbeaten streak in their penultimate World Cup warmup game to 35 matches over 3 years, with a 3-0 win over Jamaica on Tuesday night. Messi who was twice accosted by fans for signatures and selfies scored twice after Julian Alvarez's opener for Argentina in the 13th minute. Messi was brought in from the bench in the 55th minute of play and he went on to score in the 86th minute after a give-and-go with Giovani Lo Celso. A few minutes later, he scored another on free kick after being fouled by Adrian Mariappa just outside the penalty area. Messi has now scored 90 goals in 164 international appearances. “You have to enjoy Messi,” Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni said. “No matter your country, everyone does. I’m his coach, but I would buy a ticket to see him. “There are no words to describe what he is,” Álvarez said. “Playing five, 10 minutes or all the match, he manages to do amazing things.” Argentina play their ultimate pre-World Cup fr...

Sunday's Ligue 1 fixture between Lyon and PSG saw PSG triumph thanks to a Lionel Messi goal. Messi found the back of the net in the fifth minute of the game, thanks to a Neymar assist. With this goal, Lionel Messi now overtakes Cristiano Ronaldo as the player with the most non-penalty goals, despite having played 150 games less. Messi has now scored 672 non-penalty goals, and Cristiano Ronaldo, 671. Earlier this week, the Argentinian forward achieved another feat when he became the first player to score in 18 consecutive Champions League seasons, once more overtaking Cristiano Ronaldo. However, Cristiano Ronaldo has scored more goals in total - 699 goals in 941 games in all competitions for four different clubs, while Messi has scored 688 goals in 822 games in all competitions for two clubs - Barcelona and PSG.

Lionel Messi was in scintillating form at the Finalissima - a contest between the champions of Europe and the champions of South America - as Argentina comfortably beat Italy 3 - 0. Messi, Di Mari and Matrtinez were a constant menace to the Italian defense with the seamless interplay. Messi's eye-catching dplay featured two assist, the first for Lautaro Martinez, who provided an assist for Argentina's second goal through Di Maria, and his second for substitute Paulo Dybala who scored Argentina's third goal in injury time. Since June 2019, Argentina are unbeaten in 32 matches, having won their first Copa America since 1993, qualifying for the World Cup in Qatar, and now, winning the Finalissima. Messi was thrown into the air by his jubilant teammates once the final whistle was blown. After the game, Messi said: "Today was a nice test because Italy are a great team. We knew it was going to be a nice game and a nice setting in which to be champions. "It was a b...

For the fourth time in the last five seasons, Manchester City have been crowned Premier League champions. A dramatic 3-2 win over Aston Villa on Sunday saw Manchester City finish a point ahead of second-place Liverpool in the final game of the season.  Manchester City were down 2-0 when they scored three goals in five second-half minutes to secure victory, sending the Etihad stadium into delirium. Aston Villa's goals were scored by Matty Cash and former Liverpool star Philippe Coutinho. City substitute Ilkay Gundogan scored twice, either side of Rodri's goal in an epic five-minute comeback, with only 15 minutes left to the end of the game. Gundogan scored the first in the 76th minute, Rodri scored the second closely after, and the winning goal came from Gundogan in the 81st minute. Had City failed to win, Liverpool would have been champions. The 2021/22 Premier League title is Guardiola's 11th trophy in six years since coming to England. "We are legends. We will ...

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."