CELEBRITY
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE: MESSI, RONALDO REKINDLE RIVALRY AS JUVENTUS, BARCA SHARE SAME GROUP
Great rivals Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi will finally do battle once again in the UEFA Champions League group stage this season, after Juventus were pitched in the same group with Barcelona in Thursday’s draw.
It will be the first time both football icons will face off since 2018 when Ronaldo left Real Madrid to Juventus.
The draw was concluded at UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland, with the pick of the fixtures being the high profile showdown between the wounded animal of Barca and European under-performers Juve.
Premier League clubs have also learned their fate with Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool set to go up against two tricky opponents in Ajax and Atalanta in Group D, while the returning Manchester United will once against meet Paris Saint Germain in the competition.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side have not been afforded a pleasant welcome home party to European football’s premier competition, and will also have to overcome last season’s semi-finalists RB Leipzig in Group H while also contending with a trip to Istanbul Basaksehir.
Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City missed a horror draw against the likes of current holders Bayern Munich or Spanish royalty Real Madrid, and will instead face a trip to Portugal to lock horns with Porto, before meeting Olympiacos and Marseille in Group C.
Frank Lampard’s Chelsea find themselves in a testing group with last season’s Europa League winners Sevilla, along with FC Krasnodar of Russia and Rennes.
Holders Bayern Munich face a tasty encounter with Diego Simeone’s Atletico Madrid, with potential dark horses RB Salzburg and Lokomotiv Moscow also joining the two giants in Group A.
Group B sees Zinedine Zidane’s Real Madrid go up against Serie A giants Inter Milan, with Shakhtar Donetsk and Borussia Monchengladbach making up the places.
Bundesliga side Borussia Dortmund may well be breathing a sigh of relief and will fancy their chances of progression, after being drawn in Group F alongside Zenit St Petersburg, Lazio and Brugges.
Cristiano Ronaldo has become the first footballer to reach billionaire status, according to the latest Bloomberg Billionaires Index, which has valued the Portugal great’s net worth at an estimated $1.4 billion.
The 40-year-old striker’s financial ascent comes after he signed a new contract with Saudi side Al-Nassr in June reportedly worth more than $400 million.
Bloomberg said that Ronaldo earned more than $550 million in salary between 2002 and 2023, supplemented by a decade-long Nike deal worth nearly $18 million annually, and lucrative endorsements with Armani, Castrol and others that added more than $175 million to his fortune.
Ronaldo’s move to Al-Nassr from Manchester United in 2023 had already made him the highest-paid player in football history, with an annual salary of 177 million pounds ($237.52 million), plus bonuses and a reported 15% share in his Saudi Arabia club.
Argentina and Inter Miami forward Lionel Messi has earned more than $600 million in pre-tax salary during his career.
Ronaldo’s billionaire status places him among a rare group of athletes that includes basketball greats Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and LeBron James, golfer Tiger Woods and tennis player Roger Federer.
Ronaldo suggested he is not considering retirement any time soon.
“I still have a passion for this,” he said at the Portugal Football Globes gala on Tuesday. “My family says it’s time to quit and they ask me why I want to score 1000 goals if I’ve already scored 900-something. But I don’t think that way inside.
“I’m still producing good things, I’m helping my club and the national team. Why not continue? I am sure that when I finish I will leave full because I gave everything of myself. I know I don’t have many years left to play, but the few I have left, I have to enjoy them to the fullest.”
-Reuters
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Former England soccer captain David Beckham and actor Gary Oldman were knighted in King Charles’ annual birthday honours list on Saturday, while sculptor Antony Gormley was made a Companion of Honour.
Beckham, 50, joined Manchester United as a trainee in 1993, going on to make almost 400 appearances for the club where he won a string of titles and cups.
He subsequently played for Real Madrid, LA Galaxy, and Inter Milan, as well as captaining his country 58 times and making 115 appearances.
His marriage to fashion designer and former Spice Girl Victoria Beckham in 1999 cemented a celebrity status which went far beyond his sporting exploits.
Oldman, 67, started his career on the stage, where he was a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, before rising to prominence in film. He won the best actor Oscar for playing Winston Churchill in the 2017 drama “Darkest Hour”.
He also had roles in the “Dark Knight Trilogy” and the “Harry Potter” movie series and more recently starred in the TV spy drama “Slow Horses”.
Other famous names receiving honours included damehoods for musical theatre star Elaine Paige, novelist Pat Barker and ceramics maker Emma Bridgewater.
Roger Daltrey, lead singer of rock band the Who and a patron of the Teenage Cancer Trust, received a knighthood for services to charity.
More than 1,200 people received honours for their achievements, with a particular focus on those who had given their time to public service, the government said.
King Charles’ official birthday will be celebrated with the annual “Trooping the Colour” military parade in London on Saturday. His actual birthday is on November 14
-Reuters
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One of three judges in Diego Maradona’s closely scrutinized homicide trial in Argentina resigned on Tuesday amid a scandal triggered by the alleged filming of an unauthorised documentary, bringing uncertainty to the future of legal proceedings.
The high-profile trial over the death of soccer star Maradona began on March 11 in the South American country where the World Cup winner is still revered.
-Reuters
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