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

Mathew Fraser or Mat Fraser - as he's popularly known shocked the world on Tuesday with an announcement of his retirement from competition. Fraser picked up CrossFit as a whim, but leaves it as a legend - the Fittest Man in history. The 31-year-old wrote on his Instagram account: " Like so many others that wandered into a CrossFit gym, I wasn't expecting to find my best friends, business partners, wife, countless life lessons, and 5 gold medals. Today I leave the sport older, wiser, fitter, and grateful. "I’m diving into the next chapter of my life with the same HWPO mentality. From now on, decisions I make won't be solely based off how they affect my performance, but how they affect my family, friends, health and happiness," Fraser added. "I look forward to remaining a part of the CrossFit community, I just won't be doing it from the competition floor any longer." Fraser, a Vermont native has been crowned Fittest Man on Earth five conse

Barcelona returned home to Camp Nou for their La Liga fixture vs Athletic Bilbao on January 31, 2021. It was a triumphant home as they moved up to second in La Liga - goals from Lionel Messi and Antoine Griezmann helped them beat Athletic Bilbao 2-1. Barcelona were the better team from kick-off - played with intensity, had the majority of ball possession and pressed to recover the ball when they lost it.  A very active Messi opened scoring for Barcelona in the 20th minute with a brilliant free kick (his 650th goal for Barcelona), though Athletic leveled through a Jordi Alba own goal early in the second half. Griezmann struck the winner for Barcelona with 15 minutes of play time left. This win stretched Barcelona's unbeaten run in the league to 10 games. They still have a long way to go however as they are still 10 points behind league leaders Atletico Madrid.

Rayo Vallecano may be a second division club, but they were a tough opponent for Barcelona at the Copa del Rey last 16 game played on January 27th. Barcelona dominated the game, but Los Franjirrojos opened scoring first, with a goal from Fran Garcia. Barcelona won the Segunda side 2-1 at Vallencas, to progress to the quarter finals, thanks to second half goals from Lionel Messi and Frenkie de Jong. Messi was back in Barcelona's starting XI after serving a two-match ban for a red card he received in their Spanish Supercoppa loss to Athletic Bilbao on January 17. That was his first red card in his Barcelona career. He has now surpassed Barcelona Legend Josep Samitier as Barcelona player with the most matches played in the history of the Copa del Rey. Messi now has 76 appearances in the competition, one more than Josep Samitier. Sevilla crushed 2019 Copa winners Valencia 3-0 at home, joining Barcelona in Friday's quarterfinal draw.

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

You may not have heard of Josef Bican before, but he's the man Cristiano Ronaldo just equaled as highest goal scorer in history. On Sunday night, five-time Ballon d'Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo scored a goal for Juventus vs Sassuolo - his 759th career goal - tieing Bican's record. Bican is a Czech striker who played for Austria during his career - he counts a total of 730 club goals and 29 national team goals.  The 35-year-old is officially past legends like Romario and Pele with his goal tally. Juventus' victory over Sassuolo on Sunday night lifted them to fourth place in the Serie A charts. Ronaldo only needs one more goal to become the highest scoring player ever. The players with the most official goals in football history are: 1.      Cristiano Ronaldo - 759 2.    Josef Bican - 759 3.    Pele - 757.

Barcelona's most recent outings have been exciting, with quite some progress from their dull start to the season. Barcelona's 4-0 win over Granada extends Barcelona's unbeaten run to eight games. Messi is back on top of the Pichichi standings with 11 goals to his name. He's been in pretty good form lately with four goals and an assist in his last three games. Messi scored a brace despite being taken off in the second half. Messi put an end to his mini free-kick drought with his second goal. Griezmann was exceptional as well, providing an assist for Messi and scoring two himself. He opened scoring for Barcelona with a fine left-footed finish in the 12th minute. According to OptaJose, Griezmann has now been in three goals in the same game for Barcelona for the second time in all competitions (two goals and an assist against Real Betis in August 2019.