Sports
BREAKING: PSG suspend Lionel Messi for two weeks over Saudi Arabia trip
Paris Saint-Germain have suspended Lionel Messi for two weeks with immediate effect.
This follows his unauthorized trip to the Saudi Arabia, following their 3-1 loss to Lorient last weekend.
This was revealed by football transfer expert, Fabrizio Romano.
Romao tweeted: “Paris Saint-Germain have decided to suspend Lionel Messi with immediate effect for two weeks, sources confirm.
The suspension will take place now after Messi’s trip to Saudi NOT authorized by the club as per @RMCsport.”
PSG manager Christophe Galtier has promised his players that they would have two days off, Monday and Tuesday, if they defeated Lorient on Sunday.
However, Galtier made it clear that a loss would see the players being called in for training on Monday.
Messi had requested to travel to the Arab gulf to honour his sponsorship deal as a Saudi ambassador.
Galtier and sporting director Luis Campos gave him approval to go only if PSG win or draw, but not a defeat.
However, following the 3-1 defeat to Lorient, Messi flew to Saudi Arabia without asking again for permission, meaning he could not attend training on Monday.
Liverpool winger, Mohamed Salah, on Saturday, surpassed Chelsea legend, Frank Lampard’s goal record in the Premier League.
The Egyptian international achieved the feat after scoring a brace in Liverpool’s away Premier League 2-0 win against Bournemouth.
The match was played at the Vitality Stadium as Salah netted a penalty in the first half and another goal in the second half.
Salah’s two goals means, the former Chelsea and AS Roma star has now surpassed Lampard as 6th all time goal scorer in Premier League history.
The 32-year-old now has 178 Premier League goals with a goal ahead of Lampard, who now sit in 7th position on the all-time Premier League goal scorers chat.
He is, however, behind the likes of Alan Shearer, Harry Kane, Wayne Rooney, Andrew Cole and Sergio Aguero in the goal chat.
Salah has scored 21 goals for the Reds so far this season.
He could leave Liverpool in the summer as he is yet to sign a new deal.
His contract with Arne Slot’s side will expire at the end of the season.
The Confederation of African Football, CAF, on Friday announced the full match schedule for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations.
Nine venues will be used across six cities for the continent’s flagship soccer event.
Hosts Morocco will will take on Comoros in the competition’s opening game at the newly-built 69,500-seater Complexe Sportif Prince Moulay Abdellah in Rabat on Sunday, December 21.
The country’s capital, Rabat, will have four match venues.
Other host cities are Casablanca, Agadir, Marrakech, Fes and Tangier, which will have one match each.
The four quarter-final fixtures will be played at the Sportif Prince Moulay Abdellah in Rabat, as well as in Tangier, Marrakech and Agadir.
The semi-finals will be in Rabat and Tangier, with the third-place play-off set for the Stade Mohammed V in Casablanca.
52 matches will be played during the biennial competition.
The Elephants of Cote d’Ivoire are the defending champions of the competition.
The draw for this season’s UEFA Champions League knockout phase play-off draw has been conducted on Friday.
Eight teams have progressed straight to the round of 16 following the completion of the league phase.
They are Liverpool, Barcelona, Arsenal, Inter Milan, Atletico Madrid, Bayer Leverkusen, Lille and Aston Villa.
They will all return to the competition in March, but others have more football to play before then.
The teams that finished between 9th and 24th, have a two-legged play-off to navigate in February.
FULL KNOCKOUT PHASE PLAY-OFF DRAW
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Feyenoord vs AC Milan
Juventus vs PSV
Monaco vs Benfica
Man City vs Real Madrid
Celtic vs Bayern Munich
Sporting vs Borussia Dortmund
Club Brugge vs Atalanta
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