CELEBRITY
I was desperate to score says Messi as he ends 264 minutes of fruitless efforts
It was the moment European football had been waiting for – and the one Pep Guardiola knew was probably “unstoppable”.
Lionel Messi glided forward from the halfway line late on against Manchester City at the Parc des Princes, played a one-two with Paris St-Germain team-mate Kylian Mbappe and left goalkeeper Ederson rooted to the spot with a shot beautifully placed into the top corner.
It was the first club goal of his entire career that had not been scored for Barcelona and sealed a 2-0 victory for the team who signed him primarily to lead them to Champions League glory.
That strike ended a run of 264 minutes without a goal for Messi since his summer move from Spain. Manager Mauricio Pochettino celebrated with a sense of jubilation. Guardiola had seen Messi at close quarters enough to know it was as good as inevitable. Messi himself was left with a huge sense of relief.
“It’s true that I was getting desperate to score my first goal,” Messi told French broadcaster Canal Plus. “I hadn’t played much recently and I had only played once here at home but I am settling into the team little by little.
“The more us forwards play together, the better our relationship will be. We all need to grow together and improve and keep giving our best.”
It has taken the 34-year-old Argentine more than a month to play his first four games for his new club because of lack of fitness, international duty and then an injury.
He had failed to score in his first three fixtures for PSG – against Reims, Club Bruges and Lyon – after joining on a free transfer in the summer.
By his standards, that was a goal drought.
PSG boss Pochettino, Messi’s fellow Argentine, was delighted to see it ended. “Usually I don’t celebrate goals, I keep it to myself,” he said. “But today, for Messi, I did.
“I spent years watching Messi score goals from the opponent’s side – so this time, scoring for my team, that’s great.”
PSG’s much-hyped front three of Neymar, Mbappe and Messi – the two most expensive players ever and the record six-time Ballon d’Or winner – showed some promising signs.
They played 44 passes between each other in total, almost 10% of PSG’s total.
Former Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand, beaten by Messi and Barcelona in the 2009 and 2011 Champions League finals, was impressed by the Argentine.
“You see the pace, strength, balance and the technique to put it where he did,” he said on BT Sport. “It was phenomenal.
“He was on the periphery of the game, he is at a new club and feeling his way in. Even superstars have to do that. You see the celebrations after the goal, that is relief. He is not usually so animated after.
“We have waited and it is worth the wait for what Messi did tonight.”
Ex-United and City midfielder Owen Hargreaves said: “Messi’s the man for the big occasion. He always seems to score against Pep Guardiola teams.”
That was Messi’s seventh goal in five Champions League games against teams managed by Guardiola – his former Barcelona boss. No other player has scored more often against Guardiola in the competition.
Former City midfielder Michael Brown was watching the game for BBC Radio 5 Live: “The headlines will be taken by Messi and that’s what we expect from the great man.
“He’s back and he’s with PSG.”
Guardiola won two Champions Leagues and three Spanish titles with Messi but was unable to ensure his side stopped one of the game’s greats.
“We know it’s impossible to control Leo during 90 minutes,” he said.
“He was not much in touch with the ball – of course he was coming back from injury, he needed a bit of rhythm – but we know quite well when he can run and get close to the ball, he is
Messi also caught the eye because of his hard work in the game. Sixteen of his 60 touches were in his own half. He won the ball off Riyad Mahrez on the edge of his own box to stop a City attack.
Even his run for his goal – which was his only shot – started in his own half.
No PSG player had more successful passes (43) in the game.
But the moment – other than the goal – which really caught the eye was when he performed the draught excluder role for a late Kevin de Bruyne free-kick.
That is where a player lies on the ground behind the wall so the taker cannot fire in a low free-kick. It was a role practically invented to defend Messi free-kicks.
De Bruyne went high, rather than low, and his shot was saved.
“We couldn’t believe it. He’s one of the greatest of all time,” said Hargreaves.
Ferdinand added: “The moment Mauricio Pochettino asked him to do that on the training ground, someone should have gone in and there and said ‘no no no’.
“If I was in that team, I’d say: ‘I’ll lie down for you.’ Messi doesn’t get his kit dirty!”
-BBC
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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For the third year in a row, and the fifth time overall, Cristiano Ronaldo is the world’s highest-paid athlete.
But at age 40, the Portuguese soccer superstar is reaching new highs.
Over the past 12 months, counting both his playing salary at Saudi Arabia’s Al-Nassr and his off-field business endeavors, Ronaldo collected an estimated $275 million before taxes and agent fees—the third-best year by an active athlete ever measured by Forbes.
On that all-time list, Ronaldo is surpassed only by boxer Floyd Mayweather, who earned $300 million in 2015 and $285 million in 2018.
And when it comes to the 2025 leaderboard, Ronaldo has a $119 million advantage over No. 2, Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry.
The League of Wealthy Sportsmen
The gap is especially impressive considering that Curry’s $156 million total is also a record for his sport, beating the NBA mark of $128.2 million set last year by LeBron James.
And there are plenty of other eye-popping paydays among this year’s 10 highest-paid athletes, starting with James, who notched a personal-best $133.8 million to land at No. 6. Meanwhile, Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott (No. 4, $137million) and New York Mets outfielder Juan Soto (No. 7, $114 million) broke records for the NFL and MLB.
Combined, the 10 highest-paid athletes brought in $1.4 billion, up slightly from last year’s $1.38 billion and the largest total since Forbes began ranking athlete earnings in 1990.
This year is also only the second time, after 2024, that every member of the top 10 made at least $100 million.
In fact, heavyweight boxing champion Oleksandr Usyk ($101 million) and golfer Jon Rahm ($100 million) reached the milestone, too, without managing to crack this list.
For the third year in a row, and the fifth time overall, Cristiano Ronaldo is the world’s highest-paid athlete.
But at age 40, the Portuguese soccer superstar is reaching new highs.
Over the past 12 months, counting both his playing salary at Saudi Arabia’s Al-Nassr and his off-field business endeavors, Ronaldo collected an estimated $275 million before taxes and agent fees—the third-best year by an active athlete ever measured by Forbes.
On that all-time list, Ronaldo is surpassed only by boxer Floyd Mayweather, who earned $300 million in 2015 and $285 million in 2018.
And when it comes to the 2025 leaderboard, Ronaldo has a $119 million advantage over No. 2, Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry.
The gap is especially impressive considering that Curry’s $156 million total is also a record for his sport, beating the NBA mark of $128.2 million set last year by LeBron James.
And there are plenty of other eye-popping paydays among this year’s 10 highest-paid athletes, starting with James, who notched a personal-best $133.8 million to land at No. 6. Meanwhile, Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott (No. 4, $137million) and New York Mets outfielder Juan Soto (No. 7, $114 million) broke records for the NFL and MLB.
Combined, the 10 highest-paid athletes brought in $1.4 billion, up slightly from last year’s $1.38 billion and the largest total since Forbes began ranking athlete earnings in 1990.
This year is also only the second time, after 2024, that every member of the top 10 made at least $100 million.
In fact, heavyweight boxing champion Oleksandr Usyk ($101 million) and golfer Jon Rahm ($100 million) reached the milestone, too, without managing to crack this list.
World’s Highest-Paid Athletes 2025
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