Lionel Messi was on the verge of leaving Barcelona in the summer but then-president Josep Maria Bartomeu refused to let him go and he eventually remained at Barcelona.
Bartomeu has now resigned and a new president will be elected on 24th January. The new president may have a huge role to play in Lionel Messi’s future at Barcelona.
Messi has now given an exclusive interview with La Sexta’s Jordi Evole. Here’s what he had to say about Maradona’s death:
Evole: Where were you when you found out that Maradona had passed away?
Messi: I was at home with my father and felt a wave of sadness…. Diego meant so much for Argentina
Evole: Where did you get that old Newell’s shirt that you wore as a tribute ?
Messi: It was a old gift from the club….. I felt it was the right time to bring it out and pay my respect for Diego
Evole: Maradona showed his colours politically…. you’ve never been tempted to express yourself politically ?
Messi: No, this is something I feel better to keep to myself. I’m a football player and although I have my views, I feel it better to keep this personal.
Maradona’s sudden demise affected the whole football world. With Messi hailing from Argentina, he had a special connection with the great Maradona. His death has greatly affected Messi.
Stay tuned we’ll be bringing in more exclusive conversations from the interview.
The entire year of 2020 was filled with rumours for Szoboszlai, formerly of RB Salzburg. Leipzig’s interest in the player, according to his agent, Matyas Esterhazy, is not new. (According to Esterhazy himself; Here We Go podcast hosted by Fabrizio Romano on Patreon)
The whole project and the coach was decisive in making the decision for the agent and the player. Progressive talks with management of Leipzig were held shortly after a principle agreement, and then they decided to close the deal. In the end it was a relatively easy decision.
Why RB Leipzig is perfect for Szoboszlai?
Lot of factors, for them, they only wanted him to be able to adapt as soon as possible. The motivation of squad and club matches Dominik’s was one of the main deal breakers in making the decision.
Leipzig is offering an exciting project for the young players, and the young squad and coach, Julian Nagelsmann were the important factors in making the deal.
For a young player, the coach is the most important variable in their career going forward. The way Nagelsmann plays and uses his midfielders is very good for Dominik and there is a great learning as well as a clear cut strategy and security at the club.
The settlement process is much easier at Leipzig and is very important for a top young talent so it is clear why he chose Germany.
Lionel Messi was on the verge of leaving Barcelona in the summer but then-president Josep Maria Bartomeu refused to let him go and he eventually remained at Barcelona.
Bartomeu has now resigned and a new president will be elected on 24th January. The new president may have a huge role to play in Lionel Messi’s future at Barcelona.
Messi has now given an exclusive interview with La Sexta’s Jordi Evole. Here’s what he had to say about Christmas:
Evole: What are your Christmas plans?
Messi: Heading back to Argentina for Christmas, all my family are there …. it’s complicated though with the pandemic….. it’s difficult in Argentina too…
Evole: What was your favourite gift for Christmas as a kid?
Messi: I remember getting an official match ball …it was expensive but my folks made a major effort and I also remember getting a Newell’s shirt which was special.
Stay tuned we’ll be bringing in more exclusive conversations from the interview.
Big things were expected from Timo Werner when Chelsea signed him amidst competition from Liverpool and the Manchester clubs. However, the move has not completely gone according to plan.
Coming off the back of a season that saw him compete with Robert Lewandowski in an extremely close competition for the top scorer award in the Bundesliga, the 24-year-old was expected to have an instant impact at the club, and while the German initially found the back of the net occasionally, the last few games have seen Werner hit the worst goal drought of his career.
10 – Timo Werner has now failed to score in his last 10 games in all competitions, his longest drought since a run of 12 matches between March and September 2016 across spells at Stuttgart and RB Leipzig. Barren.
All that said, it must be considered that the current campaign is the German’s first year in England, and it can be daunting to be away from home. Furthermore, the quality of the Premier League is something that few others can match, and it seems like the new environment will take a little bit of time to get fully used to for Werner.
The player was taken off at half-time during Chelsea’s 3-1 defeat against Arsenal, and the comparisons to Fernando Torres as a ‘flop’ have already started.
Timo Werner was subbed off at half-time and has now failed to score in 10 straight club games in a single season for the first time since 2015. pic.twitter.com/XP3KjDWRb2
While there are mixed opinions regarding El Nino’s time at Chelsea, it must be kept in mind that Werner is only 24 and that it will take a bit of time to get used to the difficulty and the change in style.
Even during his tenure at Chelsea, Torres managed to score some very important goals for the club whilst also winning their only Champions League trophy till date in 2012.
Another feather has been added to the crown of Cristiano Ronaldo. The Portuguese sensation became the Globe Soccer’s Player of the Century. Cristiano Ronaldo beat Lionel Messi and former Brazilian legend Ronaldinho to win the award.
Cristiano Ronaldo is an inspiration to world football. Cristiano joined Manchester United from Sporting CP in 2003. In 2009 he left the Red Devils to join his ‘dream’ club Real Madrid. In 2018 he joined Juventus. In his 866 club games, he has scored 654 goals.
He represented his country in 170 matches and scored 102 goals. He won the Euro Cup with Portugal in 2016.
Cristiano Ronaldo has won 5 Ballon d’Or, 2 FIFA Best Player’s Award in his career. Another award has been added to that list today.
After receiving the award he said, “For 20 consecutive years I have played and scored as a professional, I didn’t know there was another record to beat.”
“It’s a pleasure to hear about the records, I have achieved all this but without my teammates, without a great team, I would not have achieved these records.”
“It is an exceptional achievement. It gives me the motivation to move forward.”
“To be named the best is a great honour, I hope that this situation is over next year and that we can have more fun, thank you very much.”
“I hope to still be able to play for more years.”
Ronaldo will be 36 in next February. But he has no plans to stop in recent future.
The Globe Soccer Awards is an annual event just like the Ballon d’Or and The Best FIFA Awards. This year due to the pandemic, just like the Best FIFA Awards 2020, the annual ceremony of the Globe Soccer Awards is taking place from Dubai virtually.
There were prizes for many categories and as we head into a new decade from 2021, they also awarded the century award taking into consideration the years 2001 to 2020.
Real Madrid have been awarded with the Club of the Century award. Al Ahly, Barcelona and Bayern Munich were also in contention for the honour but Real Madrid won it with 36% of the vote.
During 2001-2020, Los Blancos have won 7 LaLiga titles, 5 Champions Leagues which included a hattrick along with 2 Copa del Rey trophies and 15 other various ‘Super Cup’ honours.
The Spanish club has been at the summit of Europe in this century and they have been rightly awarded as the Club of the Century. The club has seen many of the top players playing at Santiago Bernabeu. Their former player Cristiano Ronaldo has also won the Player of the Century award.
The Globe Soccer Awards is an annual event just like the Ballon d’Or and The Best FIFA Awards. This year due to the pandemic, just like the Best FIFA Awards 2020, the annual ceremony of the Globe Soccer Awards is taking place from Dubai virtually.
There were prizes for many categories and as we head into a new decade from 2021, they also awarded the century award taking into consideration the years 2001 to 2020.
Here are all the award winners at the Globe Soccer Awards 2020:
🏆In what is the crowning achievement of an amazing career, Josep Guardiola, considered one of the best coaches in the history of football, wins COACH OF THE CENTURY 2001-2020 ⚽ 🌟#Guardiola#globesoccerpic.twitter.com/RXyYsPuOAw
Houston Rockets will finally begin their 2020-21 season against the Portland Trail Blazers on Saturday night.
After the Houston Rockets’ first game of the season against Oklahoma City Thunder got postponed due to a lack of available players, they will finally begin their 2020-21 campaign on Saturday night against the Portland Trail Blazers.
According to ESPN’s Tim MacMahon, the tickets will be travelling to Portland with a total of nine players, which is only one more than the required minimum. Although they will technically have enough number of players against the Trail Blazers, Houston will definitely be short-handed, as they still have six players listed as our because of NBA’s Covid-19 regulations.
On Saturday night, big man James Harden will be allowed to play for the Rockets against the Trail Blazers, but many of his teammates will not be. Earlier this week, rookie forward Kenyon Martin Jr. and Ben McLemore tested positive for Covid-19. John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins and Mason Jones are out after each received a seven-day quarantine.
Earlier this week, Harden was fined $50,000 by the league for violating the health and safety protocols after videos started circulating of him at a party without a mask. The protocols put in place by the league prohibit players and team personnel from going to any restaurants, bars or clubs.
Other than Houston’s health issues, Harden’s trade request is still lingering over the franchise. The former MVP had made it abundantly clear that he no longer wants to be a Rocket. With two years still remaining on his current contract, his future lies in the hands of Houston.
Even at 35, Luka Modric is one of the most valuable players in the Real Madrid squad considering what he brings to the table. The Croatian has been with Madrid through the highs and lows, and to this day continues to be one of their most important veterans who manages to secure a starting berth.
Having last signed an extension in 2016, Modric’s contract with the club expires at the end of the season. However, with the latest reports to emerge out of Spain, Real Madrid have verbally agreed on an extension with Modric that will see him play through the 21/22 season and possibly retire at the end of it, since he will be 37 at the end of the campaign.
There are ‘positive feelings’ about the contract extension of Luka Modric with Real Madrid, yes. The club is planning with the Croatian as part of the team. But the new agreement has not been signed yet. ⚪️🇭🇷 #RealMadrid
However, considering the player’s fitness and capabilities, it won’t be very surprising to find him continuing to play even after his time at Madrid.
The Croatian has won almost everything there is to win with a club during his tenure at Real Madrid. Modric arrived from Tottenham Hotspur in 2012 for a fee worth €35 million, and what an investment he has been over the last 8 years!
Modric won the Ballon d’Or in 2018, reaching his peak as a footballer with Real Madrid and the Croatian national team in the process. He has won four Champions League titles, two La Ligas, three Spanish Super Cup trophies and one Spanish Cup with Real Madrid.
Luka Modric has agreed in principle to sign a contract extension at Real Madrid, according to Marca 🤝
2018 saw him also win FIFA’s The Best Player Award, as well as the UEFA Best Player in Europe award alongside the Ballon d’Or. His contribution to Croatia’s progression to the final of the 2018 World Cup was one of the driving factors behind his recognition.
Modric has made no secret of wanting to retire at Real Madrid, and 1 and a half years down the line, we could be witnessing that happening.
There is a big number of smartphones are about to launch in the end of 2020 and in the first month of 2021. Some of them are of a flagship lineup whereas some of them are typical mid-range ones. We’ve made list of upcoming smartphone launched for December (2020) and January 2021. Most of those are rumored and launch dates are not confirmed. But still, we’ve put them into that list. So, without wasting any time, let’s check them out.
1. Vivo X60 Series on December 28 (Rumored):
The Vivo X60 series is said to have a Samsung-made Super AMOLED hole-punch display with a faster refresh rate of 120Hz. As mentioned earlier, this phone will be the first one to get powered by a 5nm Exynos 1080+ chipset. Talking about the Exynos 1080+ chipset, it holds a 1+3+4 core configuration. With an overall AnTuTu score of 693,600, this chipset easily beats the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865+ SoC.
Coming to the ports and buttons, we can see the power button and the volume rocker on the right side, and at the bottom, it has a microphone, USB-C port, speaker grille, and SIM card tray. As per the display, it looks like a curved one with a centered punch-hole upfront. So, we will be going to see curved displays in the smartphones of the Vivo X60 series. Moreover, we can see a ‘PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY’ slogan and a secondary mic at the top of the unit being unboxed.
After the boot-up, we are able to see the UI of the device, which is greeted with the new OriginOS. So, this series will run the newest OriginOS, based on the latest Android 11 OS. That leaked unboxing video was too short that we were able to witness only this bit of it. However, regarding the specifications, those were tipped earlier, this device will feature an AMOLED display with a refresh rate of 120Hz and will be powered by the Exynos 1080 SoC.
2. Xiaomi MI 11 Series (December 28)
According to some leaked news, the Xiaomi Mi 11 and Mi 11 Pro, both phones will sport a 6-inches QHD+AMOLED display. The display also features a 120Hz of refresh rate. The Xiaomi Mi 11 is also expected to have a curved display on all four sides. Both phones are expected to have an under-display fingerprint sensor. As per the confirmation from Xiaomi, the MI 11 series will be powered by the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 chipset.
The Xiaomi Mi11 series smartphones are also rumored to have a triple rear camera setup on the backside. The Mi 11 will have 108 Megapixels of a primary snapper, a 13 MP ultra-wide shooter, and a 5MP telephoto snapper. Whereas the Mi 11 Pro variant is expected to come with a 50MP primary sensor that could be an output of 4:1 pixel binning and might be a 200MP sensor. This phone may also have a 48MP ultra-wide angle sensor and another 48MP telephoto shooter. Regarding the selfie camera, both the phones are expected to have a 20MP selfie shooter.
According to the source, the Mi 11 will have 4,780mAh of battery life with a 50W wired and 30W wireless charging facility. Whereas the Pro version could offer 4,500mAh battery life which will get the support of 120W wired and 80W wireless charging.
3. Redmi K40 on December (Rumored):
Recently, a few live images have been shared of this Redmi K40 smartphone, showing a few changes in the design of the upcoming series if we compare it to the Redmi K30. The Redmi K40 is likely to be powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 chipset. Regarding the display, this phone is about feature a centered hole-punch AMOLED display.
Coming to the camera section, like its predecessors, it will house a rectangular quad rear camera setup with curved corners. As per the ports and buttons, this phone has an audio jack at the bottom along with a USB-C port on the left and a speaker grill on the right side.
4. Xiaomi MI 10i on December/January (Rumored):
It is expected that the company is going to relaunch the Redmi Note 9 Pro 5G as the Mi 10i in India. This phone also has the same camera module as the upcoming Mi 10i, along with two 2 Megapixels of Macro camera and depth sensor. But the company hasn’t revealed anything about this topic, much like the Redmi Note 9 Pro, it should feature a 16MP selfie snapper at the front.
Regarding the specifications, it is expected that all the specifications and features will be as same as the Redmi Note 9 Pro 5G. The Redmi Note 9 Pro 5G runs the MIUI 12 which is based on the Android 10 OS and is powered by an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 750G chipset.
In terms of the battery, the Redmi Note 9 Pro is fueled up by a decent 4,820mAH battery with the support of 33W fast charging. According to some reports, the upcoming Mi 10i will come with two storage variants- 6GB+128GB and 8GB+128GB, and there will be three color options for this phone- Black, Blue, and Orange-Green.
5. Redmi Note 9T 5G on December/January (Rumored):
Redmi has launched the Redmi 9 5G smartphone in China a few days ago. A recent report has come out that Redmi is about to rebrand that smartphone which was launched in China and after rebranding, it will get launched in India in the name of Redmi Note 9T 5G. As of now, the company has not confirmed anything whether the Note 9T 5G will feature identical specs with the Redmi Note 9 5G.
If we pick the Redmi Note 9 5G as the base, the upcoming Redmi 9T 5G will run on the Android 10 OS and will be powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 800U chipset. This phone is likely to have a 6.53-inch IPS LCD display. The SoC of this phone will be paired with 6GB/8GB of RAM and 128GB/256GB internal storage. Coming to the camera section, this phone will feature a triple rear camera setup of 48MP + 8MP + 2MP. For selfies, this phone will have a 13MP selfie snapper at the front. Regarding the battery, this phone will be fueled up by a massive 5,000mAH battery with the support of 18W of fast charging.
6. Samsung Galaxy S21 on January 14 (Rumored):
This phone will run One UI 3.1, based on the Android 11 OS, and it will be powered by an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 chipset or the Exynos 2100 chipset (not confirmed yet). Both the chipsets support 5G connectivity. Regarding the display, this phone will offer a 6.2-inch FHD+ LTPS display with a refresh rate of 120Hz. Apart from it, another leak has come out recently regarding the pricing of this device, showing that the 128GB variant of this Galaxy S21 smartphone will carry a price tag something around 849 euros to 879 euros.
Coming to the camera section, the Galaxy S21 will feature a triple rear camera setup which includes a 12MP primary sensor, a 12MP ultra-wide angle sensor, and a 64MP telephoto sensor. In terms of battery, this phone is about to be fueled up by a decent 4,000mAH battery. Regarding the connectivity, this phone will support 5G, Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.1, and so on. This phone will come in four different color variants: Phantom Violet, Phantom Pink, Phantom Gray, and Phantom White. It will feature a plastic rear panel. The S21 series may get launched on 14th January 2021.
7. Realme 8 Series and Realme Narzo 30 Series on January (Rumored):
A few days ago, a piece of news got leaked from a tipster regarding the upcoming Realme 8 series and Realme Narzo 30 Series. That tipster had tweeted that both the series may get launched in January 2021. As of now, we’ve got no information regarding the specs of the smartphones of this Realme 8 or the Narzo 30 lineup. It will be interesting to see whether the Realme 8 series will be powered by the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 5G chipset.
8. Honor V40 Series on January (Rumored):
The upcoming Honor V40 is expected to launch next month. According to the source, this upcoming Honor phone has a codename of ‘YORK’ and the model number of this phone is ‘YOK-AN10’.
This upcoming phone is going to be the successor of the previously launched Honor V30, which was powered by a Kirin 990 5G chipset. According to the 3C certification, the upcoming Honor V40 has two versions. One of the phones is expected to have a Kirin chipset, whereas the other one may have a MediaTek chipset, it will likely have MediaTek Dimensity 1000+ SoC under the hood.
The display of this upcoming phone may feature a 120Hz refresh rate. It is also expected to have four or fine rear cameras on the backside with 50 Megapixels of the primary lens. The phone may get 66W charging support.
