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

Romelu Lukaku has revealed that after leaving Manchester United for Inter Milan in the summer, Cristiano Ronaldo told him Serie A is the "hardest defensive league in the world". Talking to Rory Smith at the New York Times, he said he spoke to the Juventus forward when his club Inter Milan and Cristiano's Juventus met for a league match at the San Siro: "He told me this is the hardest defensive league in the world. He said he'd scored goals everywhere, but this was the toughest place to do it. And if Cristiano Ronaldo thinks it's difficult, then it must be really difficult. It's harder than England. The football is more intense there, but here everything is pattern of play." Lukaku has however thrived in Italy under Antonio Conte, and has scored 12 league games in 17 matches. He is only second to Lazio's Ciro Immobile in terms of goals scored in Serie A. In 32 games played for Manchester United last season, he managed only 12 goals but ha

Juventus suffered their second loss to Lazio in the month of December as they succumbed to a 1-3 loss at the Italian Super Cup final in Saudi Arabia. A disappointed, unhappy Ronaldo did not hesitate to take off his medal as soon as a dignitary wore it on his neck. After all, the Portuguese champion who is known for not celebrating second-best positions has won 29 trophies in his illustrious career with club and country. The game was played in the Saudi Arabia capital of Riyadh. Cristiano Ronaldo provided the assist for Paulo Dybala who scored the lone goal for Juventus. Luis Alberto scored Lazio's first goal, Senad Lulic the second, and Danilo Cataldi the third.

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

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

Cristiano Ronaldo, on Wednesday night scored an astonishing header to give Juventus the win against Sampdoria (a 2-1 victory). He sprang into the Genoa air night, hung in for 1.5 seconds and scored a powerful header past the goalkeeper. In their official match report, Juventus described Ronaldo's spring as "worthy of Michael Jordan". They also claimed his feet reached an altitude of 71 centimeters. Sampdoria coach Claudio Ranieri told Sky Italia after the match, "When they score these type of goals you can only shake their hands, those are worth the price of the ticket. "Ronaldo did something you see in the NBA, he was suspended for an hour and a half. There's nothing to say, only compliments." Ronaldo was unusually humble about the goal, saying: "I didn't know these numbers. I'm very happy to have helped the team win. The important thing is to give Juve a hand and win titles. "We had a good attitude for 90 minutes and it&

According to Cristiano Ronaldo's agent, Jorge Mendes, the five-time Ballon d'Or winner would have won a sixth Ballon d'Or had he stayed at Real Madrid. Ronaldo joined Juventus in 2018, and Luka Modric won the Ballon d'Or that year, and Messi won it this year. Mendes said:  "Cristiano deserved to win the Ballon d'Or at least once in the last two years. If he had played at Real Madrid, he would have won it, but next year I think he can win it again. "For me it is an injustice [that Cristiano hasn't won the Ballon d'Or]. He won the Nations League and he is a champion. "But he knows what he should do, and then we will see what happens in 2020." He added that Cristiano Ronaldo " is the best player in the history of world football. " However, as of December 2nd, when the Ballon d'Or was awarded, Ronaldo had scored just 34 goals and made 5 assists for club and country; and Messi, 46 goals and 18 assists for club and