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

Lionel Messi was in brilliant form on Monday night as he inspired Barcelona to a 4-1 triumph over Huesca, scoring a brace and providing an assist. It was a special occasion as he equaled Xavi's record number of appearances in a Barcelona jersey.  Barceona's first goal of the night came from Messi in the 13th minute, the second came from Antoine Griezmann 10 minutes before half-time - a near copycat goal of Messi's, the third from Oscar Mingueza (assisted by Messi) early in the second half, and the fourth by Messi in the last minutes of play.  "It's a good result and we keep growing," Koeman said after the match. "We were good in the first half and maintained the intensity in the second half. We did lose a little bit of concentration after the break, maybe there was a bit of tiredness. But the objective was to win and we've done that." Barcelona  have now managed 11 wins and a draw from their last 12 matches, and are now only four points awa

Cristiano Ronaldo's future has made the headlines since Juve's shock round of 16 Champions League elimination. Among the rumors about his future are stories of a possible return to Real Madrid. Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane may just have given more backing to the rumor after hinting that Real Madrid will try and re-sign Cristiano from Juventus this summer - with the Italian giants being tipped to cash in on the 36-year-old before he becomes a free agent in 2022. Ahead of Real Madrid's Champions League clash with Atalanta on Tuesday, Zinedine Zidane told Sky Italia: "It could happen. We know him and I've had the good fortune to coach him. "He's an impressive forward, we'll see what happens in the future. He's a Juventus player right now." It's worth noting that Cristiano Ronaldo is Real Madrid’s all-time highest goalscorer - with 450 goals in 438 games.

On Sunday night, Beyoncé became the most decorated woman in the history of the Grammys - at the 63rd Grammy Awards ceremony. She also happens to have been the most nominated artist at this year's Grammys. She tied Alison Krauss’s previous record when she won her 27th Grammy for Best Rap Song alongside Megan Thee Stallion for “Savage,” then proceeded to break it with her 28th Grammy win, in Best R&B Performance for “Black Parade.” In an emotional acceptance speech, Beyoncé said: "his is so overwhelming. I’ve been working my whole life, since 9 years old. I can’t believe this happened. This is such a magical night, thank you so much." She and Quincy Jones are the only living people with the most Grammys. The late conductor George Solti has more, at 31 - a benchmark Beyoncé will likely surpass in the next few years. She won a total of four awards last night - “Brown Skin Girl” for best music video, best rap song with Megan for “Savage,”, best rap performance for  “Sa

Messi's outrageous strike against PSG on Wednesday will live long in football fans' memories - a ferocious effort from 25 yards (22.86 meters) that sunk into the top corner of the net - though it wasn't enough for Barcelona to overcome their 4-1 first-leg defeat - Barcelona needed four goals to progress to the quarter-finals. The uphill task was made even more difficult for the Blaugrana as Kylian Mbappe converted a penalty for PSG on the half-hour.  Messi had the opportunity to make it two for Barcelona, but missed from the penalty spot, with Navas comfortably deflecting the ball away from goal. It was a rather convincing display from Barcelona, and coach Koeman hopes Barcelona's recent progress in performance will convince Messi to stay at Barcelona beyond this season. "Leo [Messi] has seen for quite some time that the team is improving thanks to all the changes we've made," Koeman said after Barcelona's Champions League exit. "We have you

Cristiano Ronaldo has been heavily criticized by Italian media since Juventus' shocking exit from the Champions League yesterday night - more so because he played a pivotal role in Porto's win. Juventus and Porto went into extra time, with the latter one-player short since the first half. In the 115th minute, Porto was awarded a free-kick 35 yards away from the Juve goal. Sergio Olivera bagged his second goal of the night to put Porto up on aggregate. The low shot traveled through the legs of Cristiano Ronaldo who had turned his back on the ball, and despite Wojciech Szczensy's sizeable hand in the effort, he couldn't prevent the shot from shooting into his net. Adrien Rabiot later scored for Juventus, but it wasn't enough as Porto had a 4-3 lead on aggregate. Former Italy and Juventus manager Fabio Capello called Ronaldo's mistake unforgivable after the game.  "There are single mistakes and (mistakes due to) loss of concentration on all the goals con

58-year-old lawyer Joan Laporta, poised favorite to replace Josep Maria Bartomeu, has been confirmed as Barcelona's new president, beating Victor Font and Toni Freixa in Sunday's election. He amassed 54.28* of the vote, Font - 29.99% and Freixa - 8.58%. This will be Laporta's second term as Barcelona's president. He took charge of the club from 2003 to 2010. During his reign, Barcelona won two Champions League titles and four league titles. For the first time, Lionel Messi - accompanied by his son Thiago - voted in club elections. Laporta has reportedly been Messi's choice all along. The night before election day, Laporta was asked if he would be in touch with Messi's entourage on voting day, and he said: “Why tomorrow? I can speak tonight, the night is long.”  “These are the most important elections in the history of FC Barcelona,” Laporta declared. “They have been organized in a model fashion.” Font who lost the elections TV3: “I think it has been a cons