That being said, the game was not a straightforward one for Ernesto Valverde’s side. Barca began the game with key men Ousmane Dembele and Ivan Rakitic on the bench, and their absence was felt. Rayo opened the scoring when Raul de Tomas scored with a sweet strike from outside the box. The striker, on loan from Real Madrid, caused a few unsettled nerves at the Camp Nou early on....
Messi was making his first start of the 2019-20 campaign after recovering from a calf problem that dogged him during pre-season. The club captain set up Barca’s opener in a 2-1 win by delivering a corner for Antoine Griezmann to flick home a header. But after a hefty challenge Messi was left in discomfort, the forward receiving treatment on the touchline before returning to the field. Messi, though, did not return for the second half as coach Ernesto Valverde sent on Ousmane Dembele in his place at the interval....
Depay was close to joining Barcelona last season. However protracted transfer negotiations ultimately saw the move fall through and Depay stayed in France for one more season. He has gone on to impress at Lyon this season, scoring 15 goals and providing nine assists in all competitions. The 27-year-old has been the driving force behind Lyon’s surprise title charge as they sit just three points off the top of the Ligue 1....
Alcacer was forced off in the 23rd minute of Barcelona’s 4-0 rout of Deportivo La Coruna at Camp Nou on Sunday, with Aleix Vidal replacing the 24-year-old Spaniard. The former Valencia forward will consequently be unavailable for the La Liga leaders’ clash with Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu on December 23, adding to the injury concerns for head coach Ernesto Valverde. An official club statement read: “Paco Alcacer will be out for some three weeks after picking up a muscular injury in his left leg in the first half of the game at Camp Nou in the league against Deportivo La Coruna....
Barcelona host Real Madrid at the Camp Nou later tonight in this season’s first El Clasico event and Real Madrid are a fair six points ahead of the home side on the La Liga table. Luis Enrique says that’s down to the quality of the team and the manager – who remain one of the few top-flight teams yet to lose a game this season in all of Europe....
Over the last year or so, Jack and his business partner Amer Abdallah — a former kickboxer — have committed themselves to helping refugees and children in war-torn countries such as Jordan and Syria. The Badou Jack Foundation — launched this year — is the vehicle in which Jack and Abdallah bring food and supplies to these places. MORE: Join DAZN and watch Canelo plus more than 80 fight nights a year...
Baez collected three hits, and played a part in all four of Chicago’s runs. He doubled in Kris Bryant in the fourth inning, later scoring himself. Then, in the sixth, he bashed his 31st home run of the season. But Baez’s most dramatic contribution occurred in the 10th inning. Deadlocked at three runs apiece after nine innings, Baez came up to bat in the top of the 10th and laid down a perfect bunt, which again scored Bryant....
In a recent post to Twitter, Bafael announced that both Twitch and YouTube had banned his account. The reason given has to do with a video that was posted by the content creator, which goes back three years. According to the tweet, the video in question is related to a private server for the MMORPG, MapleStory. As these servers have some legal ambiguities to them in terms of their use, this is most likely the reason both websites issued the ban to Bafael....
“I know everybody wants a reason for everything that you do, and sometimes I don’t have one,” Dusty Baker says. “If that was the case (that every decision could be explained with analytics), half the investments I made would have made millions of dollars. Sometimes, some of the best things, the can’t-misses, fizzle out and miss, and the ones you don’t think about, make it.” MORE: All 30 opening day managers ranked as players...
It’s been announced that a Balan Wonderworld demo will be available beginning January 28. The demo will be available on every platform that the game itself is releasing on, meaning players can download it across PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and the Nintendo Switch. Exact details of what the demo will entail were not revealed in the announcement, so fans will have to find out themselves when the demo launches on January 28....
Baldur’s Gate 3 is the latest creation of acclaimed developer Larian Studios, following the path of its earlier successful Divinity series. Similarly to Larian’s last products, the new title joins classic role-playing elements with compelling story, modern graphics, and an open-world environment full of details; this time, however, the game implements the tabletop Dungeon and Dragons ruleset, while its turn-based combat is a first for a Baldur’s Gate game. It can be played solo or cooperatively, with a party of up to four players....
The two sides will be looking to build on from their respective victories last time out. The home side secured maximum points with a narrow 1-0 away victory over Persib Bandung that saw Stefano Lilypaly score the match winner in the 37th minute. Persita halted a four-game losing streak with a comfortable 3-0 victory over Persela Lamongan on home turf. Agung Prasetyo, Isryad Maulana and Taylon Correa all found the back of the net....
This year Messi has shown his ability to bounce back from that, taking Barcelona to another League title and taking the record off Ronaldo for the highest scorer in the Champions League season. At the mid point of the Spanish season, it looked like Messi was set to regain his hold of the Ballon d’or, up until a night in Liverpool and went horribly wrong for Messi and his Barcelona side....
Luka Modric brought an end to the Ballon d’Or duopoly of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. He capped off an exceptional year where he won the UEFA Champions League with Real Madrid and took Croatia to the World Cup with perhaps the most prestigious individual honour in world football. This year, however, it is once again starting to look like we are primed for a return to familiarity with several of the top guns in European football hardly showing any signs of slowing down as they continue to wreak havoc in their domestic leagues....
Mahrez wins African Player of the Year The Italian striker was shown a straight red card in the 91st minute of the 0-0 draw at the Stade Matmut-Atlantique on December 21, during the final round of games before French football’s mid-season break. Nice are the surprise leaders at this stage of campaign, sitting two points clear of second-placed Monaco and five ahead of reigning champions Paris Saint-Germain. But they will be without the former Inter, Manchester City, AC Milan and Liverpool man due to his dismissal, which was prompted by a kick aimed at opponent Igor Lewczuk....
TEXTS STURRIDGE Following Liverpool’s abysmal loss at the hands of former club Manchester City, this is what Balotelli had to tell his to-be-partner-in-crime, Daniel Sturridge. STERLING TEXTS Raheem Sterling decided to ping Balotelli immediately after. BRENDAN STEPS IN A ‘misbehaviour clause’ has supposedly been added into Balotelli’s contract with Liverpool, which probably explains the warning Brendan Rodgers issued to Balotelli. AGUEROOOOO Here’s what his blood brother (no more) had to say to him:...
Rivere spoke earlier in December about the difficulty in being able to hold on to the Italian without the money provided by European football as Nice sit sixth in Ligue 1, two spots shy of a Europa League spot. Additionally, Balotelli himself admitted that he is hoping to get back to a top-level club when his current deal comes to an end, having rebuilt his reputation in France after failed spells at AC Milan and Liverpool....
After my performance, I approached a few of these counter-protesters and asked why they had come. In response, one of them began ranting about Antifa, gesticulating at a group of black-clad youth leaning against a low retaining wall on the other side of the police barricade. “They’re terrorists,” he said. “They look just like ISIS. Just look at them.” These kids, most of whom were clearly overheating behind the black bandanas impractically tied across their faces, seemed enigmatic and slightly silly to me; but nothing about their posture or behavior struck me as remotely menacing....
Bandai Namco is one of the most prolific video game publishers in the world, with a large back catalog of IPs from Pac-Man and SoulCalibur, to the soon-to-be released Elden Ring, it also holds the game publishing rights to many famous non-video game franchises like Dragon Ball Z. RELATED: Bandai Namco Working On Its Own Game Engine On Tuesday the company revealed it was planning to invest ¥15 Billion, around $130 Million, in an “IP metaverse” known as the “All Bandai Namco Concept....
Relegation-threatened Bangkok Glass continued their recent run of form by putting five past fellow strugglers Sukhothai, taking them as high as the 11th place - a truly marked improvement considering they had been languishing in the relegation zone from April until mid-July. Police Tero picked up a valuable three points in a vital 2-1 victory over Ubon UMT, marking Totchtawan Sripan’s first win back at the club he coached back in 2010....
