Lionel Messi beats Cristiano Ronaldo record as strike helps PSG secure Ligue 1 title

Lionel Messi ousted Cristiano Ronaldo by scoring a goal in Paris Saint-Germain's 1-1 draw away to Strasbourg on Saturday, a result which confirmed back-to-back titles for the Cristophe Galtier's side Lionel Messi surpassed Cristiano Ronaldo for the most goals scored inside Europe's top five leagues, as his record 496th strike helped Paris Saint-Germain win the French title on Saturday. Messi, 35, opened the scoring just before the hour mark with a goal assisted by team-mate Kylian Mbappe, leaving eternal rival Ronaldo in second place on 495. PSG were pegged late on when former striker Kevin Gameiro notched an equaliser. But it didn't matter, as all the reigning champions had to do in order to defend their Ligue 1 title was avoid defeat at the Stade de la Meinau. It's Messi's second league title in France, having also won it during his first season with the Parisians, but will likely be his last. The Argentine icon is set to depart the Parc des Princes this summer when his two-year contract expires, with one final home game to come next Saturday when Clermont Foot come to the capital. | 1 | Lionel Messi beats Cristiano Ronaldo record as strike helps PSG secure Ligue 1 title Lionel Messi ousted Cristiano Ronaldo by scoring a goal in Paris Saint-Germain's 1-1 draw away to Strasbourg on Saturday, a result which confirmed back-to-back titles for the Cristophe Galtier's side Lionel Messi's goal saw him break another record Lionel Messi's goal saw him break another record FOOTBALL more on skysport BBC News mirror news more from the sun

Latest on football Lionel Messi surpassed Cristiano Ronaldo for the most goals scored inside Europe's top five leagues, as his record 496th strike helped Paris Saint-Germain win the French title on Saturday. Messi, 35, opened the scoring just before the hour mark with a goal assisted by team-mate Kylian Mbappe, leaving eternal rival Ronaldo in second place on 495. PSG were pegged late on when former striker Kevin Gameiro notched an equaliser. But it didn't matter, as all the reigning champions had to do in order to defend their Ligue 1 title was avoid defeat at the Stade de la Meinau. It's Messi's second league title in France, having also won it during his first season with the Parisians, but will likely be his last. The Argentine icon is set to depart the Parc des Princes this summer when his two-year contract expires, with one final home game to come next Saturday when Clermont Foot come to the capital. Barcelona give Lionel Messi new incentive to return after key departure Cristiano Ronaldo makes surprising Saudi league claim and drops hint on future Messi has been tipped for a fairytale return to Barcelona but is reportedly leaning towards a lucrative switch to Saudi Arabia, where Ronaldo - two years his senior - is already playing. The Portuguese superstar has turned out for Al-Nassr since January and rivals Al-Hilal are hoping to earn Messi's signature once his deal with PSG expires next month. Barca remain hopeful that they secure a homecoming transfer, though, with president Joan Laporta confirming transfer talks with the 35-year-old after the Blaugrana won the La Liga title earlier this month. "I've spoken with Leo. It was very nice," Laporta revealed to TV3. "We have recovered the relationship. "Messi wants Barca, he feels this club is his home. Saudi Arabia? Barca is Barca. In Arabia, they are doing a good job, investing - but I insist, Barca is his home. Barca can compete with anyone. The Barcelona president, who sanctioned Messi's emotional departure in 2021 due to financial issues, also told RAC1: "I spoke with Messi recently, we have a relationship with him. Messi is the best player in the world and any coach would want him in his team." Messi's imminent exit from PSG has made him unpopular with fans, who've booed him at recent home matches, a fact which Laporta also addressed. "He had some unpleasant incidents with the fans in Paris, I won't disturb him right now," he continued. "We exchanged some messages recently. Barca is Messi's home and Barca can compete with Saudi Arabia and everyone." Barca head coach Xavi also wants to see ex-team-mate Messi return, saying in March: "We are friends, we speak often, but it's not the moment to talk about this, for the good of Leo, the club or the squad. it's an issue we're dealing [with], but from that to [him returning] is a big leap. I hope we see him come home. I'm the first person who would love to see the best player ever return. And it is normal that fans are excited about a 'Last Dance' like [with] Michael Jordan.

Bayern Munich on another league title for the 11th time

Bayern Munich won an 11th consecutive Bundesliga title as they beat Cologne to overtake Borussia Dortmund on a thrilling final day. Dortmund would have won their first title since 2011-12 had they beaten Mainz, but a 2-2 draw opened the door for Bayern. They took advantage thanks to Jamal Musiala's 89th-minute winner. A Cologne penalty had cancelled out Kingsley Coman's earlier strike, but Musiala sent the away fans wild. Dortmund's players and fans were left dejected despite coming back from 2-0 down at the break, with Sebastian Haller having a first-half penalty saved. It looked as if Bayern had blown their opportunity when Cologne's Dejan Ljubicic levelled from the penalty spot with just nine minutes remaining. But Musiala curled home in the closing seconds to break the hearts of Dortmund, who equalised late on through Niklas Sule. Bayern beat Dortmund to the title on goal difference, with both sides ending on 71 points. It marked a successful end to the season for boss Thomas Tuchel, who replaced Julian Nagelsmann in March. Minutes after the final whistle, Bayern announced the dismissals of chief executive officer Oliver Kahn and sporting director Hasan Salihamidzic, who won 14 titles between them as Bayern players. "Instead of celebrating, we now have another issue" manager Thomas Tuchel said in response to the sackings.

Bayern Munich were bidding to become the first team to win the Bundesliga title having started the final day in second since 1999-2000, when they beat Bayer Leverkusen to the crown. For that to happen they needed to beat Cologne and hope Dortmund failed to win at home against a Mainz team with nothing to play for. After eight minutes, Bayern went top thanks to a strike from France winger Coman, who has won the title in every season as a professional footballer with Paris St-Germain, Juventus and Bayern. Soon after, Andreas Hanche-Olsen gave Mainz their shock lead. Dortmund had a glorious chance to level but Haller's poor penalty was saved. It was his first spot-kick for the club, having missed the first half of this season as he recovered from testicular cancer. Things got worse for the home side when Karim Onisiwo doubled Mainz's lead one minute later. Dortmund now needed to score three goals - or for Cologne to come back against Bayern. Raphael Guerreiro gave them hope when he made it 2-1 and Ljubicic's penalty leveller for Cologne meant Dortmund were nine minutes from the title. But Musiala, Germany's former England Under-21 midfielder, broke their hearts with an expert finish from inside the box. The final whistle went at Cologne with Bayern doing their job and Thomas Muller, who now has won a record 12th Bundesliga titles, was seen following the other game on a phone. He will have got a little concerned when Sule's deflected strike made it 2-2 for Dortmund in the 96th minute. But they could not find a winner in the remaining seconds and their dream of a first title since the days of Jurgen Klopp evaporated. The famous 'Yellow Wall' stand stayed on to salute their team afterwards, with boss Edin Terzic and England midfielder Jude Bellingham, an unused substitute because of an injury, in tears.

Tuchel gets Bayern over the line

With this dramatic victory, Tuchel lands the first Bundesliga trophy of his career and gives the surprising decision to axe Nagelsmann with two months left of the season some merit. They were in the hunt for a treble at the time and Tuchel took Bayern out of the German Cup and the Champions League after he arrived. They would have finished without a trophy for the first time since 2011-12 had Dortmund beaten Mainz. He is the seventh different manager to win the title with Bayern in the last eight years after Pep Guardiola, Carlo Ancelotti, Jupp Heynckes, Niko Kovac, Hansi Flick - who won it twice - and Nagelsmann. Forward Muller and injured goalkeeper Manuel Neuer, who missed the second half of the season after breaking his leg on a skiing holiday, lifted the trophy together - one they have now claimed 11 times together. It is an unbelievable moment - crazy, electric. I hoped it would happen but did not think it would," said Muller. "We conceded an equaliser just as we have done the entire season and then Musiala drills in the winner. "People interested in football have the feeling that we do not deserve this and I understand that because of the second half of the season being so chaotic for us." Musiala could be on his way to the kind of title numbers Muller has racked up too, having played in four championship campaigns already at the age of 20. He also scored in the game that sealed Bayern the title last season - a 3-1 win over Dortmund. match stats here lineups

Zinedine zidane turns down €150m offer to return to management

Since leaving Real Madrid for the second time at the end of the 2020/21 season, Zinedine Zidane has been out of work, despite having had great success as a manager so far in his career.

Across his two spells at Real Madrid, Zidane won 11 major honours, which included three Champions League titles in succession between 2016 and 2018. Zidane has been linked with several jobs over the course of this season. He was the favourite for the France job before the FFF decided to renew Didier Deschamps’ contract, while Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain have also been rumoured with having interest in Zizou. The latest club to take an interest in Zidane is Al-Nassr, who Cristiano Ronaldo. Footmercato have reported that the Saudi club offered the Frenchman a two-year contract, worth €150m, but he has turned it down. Zidane wants to take over at a major club in Europe’s top five leagues, although it remains to be seen whether that opportunity presents itself in the near future. He will be desperate to return to management, two years after leaving Real Madrid.

The Incredible Story of How Nike Signed LeBron James

 Lebron James 

It was a Monday morning in late March. Normally, LeBron James would have been in homeroom at St. Vincent, dressed in school clothes, with a backpack containing books strapped over his shoulders. Instead, he was in a locker room at a rec center in the suburbs of Cleveland, putting on his work clothes. Moments later he stepped onto the court for a practice session one day prior to the McDonald’s All-American high school basketball game.

Scouts from all twenty-nine NBA teams were on hand for the workout. Since none of the other all-Americans had yet entered the gym, all eyes were on LeBron in his red McDonald’s jersey. His six-eight, 240-pound frame was thick with muscle through the shoulders, chest, and thighs. His chiseled figure didn’t appear to have an ounce of body fat. It was hard not to gawk at his supernatural athleticism. With an ethereal forty-four-inch vertical leap, the top of LeBron’s head was above the rim when he dunked. At eighteen, he could already jump higher than every player in the NBA. When the other high school all-Americans began trickling onto the court, the contrast between LeBron and them was stark. They were all pro prospects, tall and skilled. But LeBron was far more physically imposing, a man among boys. The scouts were also attuned to the more subtle distinctions, noting that LeBron had a habit of being the first person on the court for practice and the last one to leave. The rare combination of superior skill and indomitable drive was a priceless commodity in the commerce of professional sports.

Perhaps the most difficult thing for a scout to ascertain was what was going on inside a prospective player’s head. At a time when some of the McDonald’s all-Americans were still figuring out which college to play for in the fall, LeBron had much weightier matters on his mind. For a long time, he’d viewed it as his responsibility to provide a comfortable home, a car, and lifetime financial security for his mother. The time had come for him to formally notify the NBA in writing that he was entering the draft, where he was a lock to be the number one overall pick. He also had to choose between the three shoe companies vying for his services, a decision that would affect his net worth much more than which NBA franchise he ended up joining. But before dealing with the NBA or the corporations that were already lining up to offer him lucrative endorsement deals, LeBron had to choose a sports agent to help him navigate his next moves. It was a lot to contemplate for a high school senior. 

Most NBA insiders figured that LeBron would sign with someone like Arn Tellem, who was generally regarded as one of the most powerful agents in the league. Tellem controlled more than 15 percent of the league’s players, including many of the game’s biggest stars. He was also close to Sonny Vaccaro—the former Nike executive, now at Adidas, who signed Michael Jordan to his first sneaker deal—who thought he’d be a good fit for LeBron. Another leading candidate was Leon Rose, who was tight with NBA power broker William Wesley. Although LeBron respected both Vaccaro and Wesley, neither of them tried to influence his thinking on agents.

Ultimately, LeBron went in a different direction. In the spring, he quietly settled on forty-two-year-old Aaron Goodwin as his agent. Goodwin stepped into an unprecedented situation—LeBron was positioned to become one of the richest athletes in the world even before playing his first NBA game. Agents take a commission on every endorsement deal they close. With the negotiations with Nike, Reebok, and Adidas headed for uncharted territory, Goodwin turned to attorney Fred Schreyer to help him navigate the offers. It was a shrewd move on Goodwin’s part. Schreyer was the general counsel and chief financial officer for the Professional Bowlers Association. But prior to joining the PBA, Schreyer had been a senior executive at Nike, where he had handled the company’s biggest shoe contracts with athletes. No one was more versed in dealing with Nike than Schreyer. And Schreyer would be invaluable in scrutinizing the competing offers from Adidas and Reebok. 

At the end of April, LeBron stood at a podium in the St. V gymnasium and declared that he was forgoing college and entering the NBA Draft. Looking out at his friends, fellow students, and more than fifty journalists from around the country, he paused, remembering that time in middle school when he had written “NBA” three times on a three-by-five card after his teacher assigned him to list three careers that interested him. “It’s been a longtime goal,” LeBron told the audience. “And I’m happy it’s finally coming true.”

Days later, LeBron stepped into the boardroom at Reebok’s headquarters outside Boston. Accompanied by his agent and his lawyer, LeBron sat next to his mother, Gloria, at the longest table he’d ever seen. Maverick Carter, one of LeBron's closest friends, took a seat at the table, too.

Reebok CEO Paul Fireman welcomed everyone and made it clear to LeBron from the outset that his company was prepared to treat him as the most important athlete in Reebok’s history. It was a not-so-subtle way of distinguishing Reebok from Nike, where LeBron would be in a crowded field of superstar athletes. 

Todd Krinsky, an executive over Reebok’s clothing and shoe division, outlined the company’s new initiative to blend music and sports in hopes of appealing to hipper, younger consumers. Reebok had just signed Jay-Z to an endorsement deal that included his own signature sneaker, the S. Carter. Reebok was also working on a deal with Pharrell Williams. And Reebok put LeBron in the same category as these entertainers. LeBron was a next-generation athlete with tremendous crossover appeal.

After the presentation, Reebok put its offer on the table: $100 million over ten years.

The room fell silent.

LeBron was astounded. Sonny Vaccaro had told him he was worth a hundred million. But that number had always felt more magical than literal.

Gloria’s eyes welled up.

Aaron Goodwin tried to maintain his composure. He hadn’t been expecting a nine-figure offer from Reebok.

Neither had Fred Schreyer, who remembered when Tiger Woods had turned pro, in 1996, and Nike signed him to a five-year endorsement deal worth $40 million. It was the most lucrative shoe deal ever offered to an amateur athlete. Reebok’s offer to LeBron blew the Tiger deal away. 

Looking to close, Paul Fireman pulled out a pen and reached for a check.

LeBron had no idea what Fireman was doing at the other end of the table.

Fireman signed the lower right-hand corner and slid the check across the table.

Goodwin picked it up and noted the amount: $10 million, made pay- able to LeBron James.

Goodwin showed it to LeBron and Gloria. Gloria cried.

LeBron stared at all those zeros.

The check in LeBron's hand offered an escape from all of that. It was an instant ticket to a new life. All he had to do was say yes.

Fireman’s proposition to LeBron was simple—sign with Reebok now and he’d walk out the door with a $10 million advance.

Sweating, Maverick stood and undid the top buttons on his shirt. Holy shit, he thought. This shit is real.

Goodwin and Schreyer needed a moment to confer with their 

client.

Fireman gave them the room. He and Krinsky stepped out, and the door clicked shut behind them.

Gloria was vocal. She didn’t see what there was to confer about. Reebok’s offer surpassed everyone’s expectations. LeBron could walk out the door an instant millionaire ten times over.

LeBron was at a loss for words. He’d just flown in from Akron. He lived in the projects. Their subsidized rent was around $22 a month. His mother was unemployed and had to pay for groceries with food stamps. The check in his hand offered an escape from all of that. It was an instant ticket to a new life. All he had to do was say yes.

Gloria was ready to walk out with the check.

Goodwin wanted everyone to take a beat. Reebok’s offer was off the charts. And Fireman had made a bold move by putting $10 million on the table. But this was a preemptive bid, one that was intended to preclude LeBron from talking to Adidas and Nike. Goodwin reminded LeBron that the game plan was to meet with all three companies before deciding.

Schreyer agreed. Although it was nerve-racking to turn down $100 million, he felt that the prudent move was to wait and see what Adidas and Nike had to offer.

Holding the check, LeBron felt torn.

Fireman and Krinsky reentered the room and took their seats. Stoic, LeBron pushed the check back to Fireman.

Fireman and his team were disappointed. But they couldn’t help being impressed. Todd Krinsky looked on in amazement as LeBron left Reebok’s headquarters that evening. He’s a man already, Krinsky thought. He knows what’s about to come to him.

On his way to homeroom the following morning, LeBron thought: Holy shit! I can’t believe I left that on the table.

He didn’t dwell on the thought very long. It was a Friday and LeBron’s classmates were gearing up for senior prom that weekend. But LeBron had other plans. As soon as school let out, he hustled off to an airfield, where a private jet awaited. The plane had been chartered by Sonny Vaccaro to whisk LeBron to Los Angeles for the pitch meeting with Adidas. There were enough seats on the luxury aircraft for LeBron’s friends and advisors. Everyone climbed aboard.

Sonny had long admired the way LeBron always tried to include his high school teammates in everything he did. At LeBron’s request, Sonny had secured courtside seats for them to take in that night’s playoff game between the Spurs and the Lakers. A limousine picked up LeBron and his friends at LAX and delivered them to the Staples Center. Wearing a fake diamond in each ear, a backward Lakers cap, and an unzipped letterman jacket over a white T-shirt, LeBron entered the arena as if he were stepping into a future home. Hollywood moguls, pop stars, actors, and athletes occupied the seats closest to the court. The Laker Girls danced. Music pulsed. And Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal were trying to lead the Lakers to a fourth consecutive NBA championship. But the Spurs, led by David Robinson and Tim Duncan, stood in the way. The atmosphere was alluring.

Partway through the second quarter, Shaq was whistled for his second foul. Dressed in black and wearing Ray-Bans, Jack Nicholson rose from his courtside seat and tore into the referees. With his new movie, Anger Management, atop the box office charts, Nicholson shouted and pointed his finger as if he were in character, revving up the crowd. When the referees told him to sit down, Nicholson got louder. “This is the NBA!” he barked. “You can’t tell me to sit down.”

Egged on by Nicholson’s defiance, fans rose to their feet, cheering him and booing the referees. The tension in the building prompted the officials to consult with security about having the Oscar winner removed from the arena for stepping onto the court. But security advised against it, saying the move might start a riot. Instead, the officials warned Nicholson that he better not set foot on the court again.

“They can’t run me out of here,” Nicholson sneered. “They’re not going to get me out of here. I can stand here if I want to. I pay good money for my ticket.”

LeBron took it all in as Nicholson’s outburst ignited the crowd and Kobe led the Lakers on a run. It was the kind of moment that LeBron longed to star in—the best player in the NBA, competing in front of world-famous entertainers on a grand stage, the crowd going wild. It was a reminder of what LeBron had already figured out—that at its core, a professional sport was much more than a game; it was show business.

Suddenly, a producer from TNT approached LeBron. Courtside reporter Craig Sager wanted to interview him.

LeBron obliged. Stepping into the glow of the white light and facing the camera, LeBron felt the eyes of Lakers fans settling on him.

“With me, perhaps the most highly acclaimed player to ever participate in high school basketball,” Sager said. “LeBron James, first of all con- gratulations on an outstanding career and a national championship. How difficult was it to handle all the attention and publicity?”

“I think for any normal person it would be pretty hard,” LeBron said. “You know, from growing up and having so much adversity in my life, I think it was pretty easy. And with a couple of my teammates and coaches, it made it a lot 

easier.”

You’ll be in the draft. But you don’t know who you’ll be playing for.

Who would you like to play for?”

“Man, this is my long-term goal. I’ll play for anybody.”

Back in Akron, St. V students and teachers who were watching the game couldn’t get over the fact that LeBron was on live television in Los Angeles. That afternoon, he’d been at school. In a post-9/11 world, it wasn’t possible to get from Akron to Los Angeles that fast on commercial flights.

But LeBron was already accustomed to the kind of high-speed travel normally reserved for corporate titans. He’d also become pretty deft at doing live interviews.

“Why are you here tonight?” Sager asked LeBron.

It was a loaded question, one that required LeBron to parse his words. “I’m here to watch Kobe and Shaq,” he said. “Shaq came to my game two years ago and I’m here to watch them try to get a victory.”

Everything LeBron said was true. Yet he had cleverly avoided any mention of Adidas as the impetus for his trip to LA and his presence at the game.

Staring at his television, Sonny Vaccaro nodded. Smart kid, he thought. As LeBron returned to his seat, Kobe drove the lane and put up an acrobatic shot. But TNT announcers Mike Fratello and Marv Albert were focused on LeBron.

“That young man, Marv, that Craig just talked to,” Fratello said, “really has handled himself extremely well under the pressures this year that he was put under.”

LeBron awoke to bright sunshine, warm air, and a view of the water. Sonny had put him and Gloria up in a beachfront hotel in Santa Monica. LeBron recognized that Sonny always went out of his way to treat Gloria like a VIP. LeBron was also aware that Sonny had publicly defended Gloria when journalists had portrayed her as money hungry.

Most of the stories that had been critical of Gloria were written by journalists who had no firsthand experience with poverty. These sportswriters were predominantly white men with no reference point for what it was like to raise a child on your own as a sixteen-year-old Black girl. Sonny didn’t know what that was like, either. But he’d gotten to know Gloria well enough to see a side of her that the media overlooked. “She could’ve taken hundreds of thousands from various people,” Sonny told the Akron Beacon Journal in the spring of 2003. “There’s nobody from the agents to the financial managers to would-be investors that would not have fronted them whatever they wanted or needed. Gloria didn’t ask for or take anything.”

The best chance that Adidas had in landing LeBron rested in the relationship Sonny had established with him and Gloria.

Around noon, LeBron and Gloria got into a limo that delivered them to an opulent mansion in Malibu. It belonged to a mover and shaker in the music industry. Sonny had rented the place for the weekend. And he had it staged for the occasion. Bobby Darin’s “Beyond the Sea” played in the background when Sonny opened the door and greeted LeBron and Gloria

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Twitter influencer blasts Kcee, Asake for performing at Tinubu’s inauguration concert

The popular Twitter influencer, Daniel Regha, has blasted singer Kingsley Chinweike Okonkwo aka Kcee, and other Nigerian musicians who performed at the inauguration concert of the President-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

In a series of tweets on his Twitter handle on Friday, the controversial influencer described Kcee as a sell-out with no morals after hosted the chairman of the Lagos Parks Management Committee, Musiliu Akinsanya aka MC Oluomo.

He added that other musicians including Asake, Fireboy, and Wande Coal should bury their heads in shame for performing at the concert.

Regha wrote: ‘‘Kcee performing at Tinubu’s Inauguration Concert isn’t surprising, he’s proven to be nothing but a sellout with no morals after he & his brother hosted MC Oluomo.

“Asake, Fireboy, Wande Coal, plus others who performed should also be ashamed of themselves; Money isn’t everything.”

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