Lionel Messi led the way once again as his goal against Villarreal took the Barcelona star to 50 goals for the season before any other player in Europe s major leagues.

The Argentina captain s goal was typical in its method, Messi dribbling beyond two Villarreal defenders before cutting a shot into the far corner, via a deflection.

With Neymar having opened the scoring at Camp Nou, Messi s strike also took Barca s MSN strikeforce to 100 goals for the third season in a row.

Messi, who reached 500 Barcelona goals with a recent Clasico double, also racked up a 50-goal season for the fifth time in his mesmeric career.

50 Lionel Messi is the first player from the Top 5 European Leagues to reach 50 goals this season in all competitions. Crucial.

— Op…

RoboCup 2009, the world s largest robotics event, kicked off Wednesday in the southern Austrian city of Graz, with some 400 teams and 2,000 robots ready to compete in sports and rescue operations.

On two or four legs, with wheels or virtually on a screen, robots of all sizes will battle it out on the football pitch the most popular event but also face off in a dance competition and domestic chores.

Participants from 44 countries are split into two categories, juniors and seniors, with the former dedicated to robots programmed by young people aged between 10 and 19.

Suitably for the occasion, robots performed the ribbon-cutting ceremony on Wednesday, marking the opening of the five-day event, which is organised by the Graz University of Technology.

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The Washington Football Team and Philadelphia Eagles clash in an NFC East battle on Tuesday night, following the postponement of Week 15’s originally scheduled Sunday contest.

Both teams are sitting on 6-7 records and have a glimmer of hope of reaching the playoffs. This divisional game is always feisty and should be even more competitive with their seasons hanging in the balance.  

Check out our NFL picks and predictions for Washington vs. Philadelphia and find out where we’re leaning in the biggest game of the year for both sides.

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The Dallas Cowboys visiting the Minnesota Vikings may be the best NFL game to watch in Week 11, but it also features a ton of betting value as stud wide receiver CeeDee Lamb goes against a shaky Vikes secondary (while trying to one-up Minnesota star Justin Jefferson too).

Meanwhile, the Bengals-Steelers game wasn’t good enough to stay in the SNF spot… but there’s another No. 1 WR in that matchup who is more than good enough to garner my attention.

With kickoff just hours away, here is my best free NFL player prop picks for today — with a No. 1 wide receiver flavor.

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Ladies and Gentlemen, it’s teaser time!

It brings me great pleasure to share that my teaser cold streak has come to an end, but I won’t dine out on that very long as I still have a hole to get out of with my 6-9 season-long record.

Week 16 odds feature plenty of great options for teaser bettors, with a few big favorites that you can tease inside of the key number of seven and a handful of underdogs that you can tease both three and seven.

Let’s get into this week’s NFL picks, where we’ll hopefully land on a winning pairing that can add a little joy to the holiday season and a little bit (or a lot) of cash to our bankrolls!

Make …

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Holders Spain have been drawn in the same group as 2010 runners-up Netherlands for the FIFA 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

Vicente del Bosque s side beat the Netherlands 1-0 after extra time in Johannesburg three years ago to win football s greatest honour for the first time.

And they were paired with the Netherlands in Group B at Friday s draw, to be joined by Chile and Australia, who are currently the lowest-ranked team in next year s showpiece.

It is the first time that the previous finalists have been drawn in the same group for the next World Cup, and the repeat of the 2010 showpiece comes as early as the second day of the tournament, with the two sides set to meet in Salvador on June 13.

A day earlier, hosts and five-time winners Brazil will open the tournament …

Borussia Dortmund have finally confirmed a new four-year deal for Raphael Guerreiro.

Portugal international Guerreiro had appeared set to commit his future to Dortmund in September, with sporting director Michael Zorc describing himself as very optimistic a contract would be agreed.

The extension was formally announced on Thursday, with the versatile defender set to stay at Signal Iduna Park until 2023.

Guerreiro s previous deal was due to expire at the end of the season, prompting links to Paris Saint-Germain in the previous transfer window.

Upon signing the new terms, Guerreiro said: Borussia Dortmund are a great club where I have been feeling very comfortable with my family for three years.

— Borussia Dortmund (@BlackYellow)

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Getafe secured their first away victory in La Liga this season by scoring twice in two second-half minutes to win 2-1 at Sporting Gijon on Monday.

The visitors only had two points from their first eight matches on the road in 2015-16, but came from behind to move up to 13th in the table and open up a five-point cushion over Sporting, who stay in the bottom three.  

Sporting had taken a 16th-minute lead when on-loan Roma forward Antonio Sanabria netted his sixth league goal of the season with a simple finish from Miguel Angel Guerrero s cut-back.

It looked like Getafe s chances of a comeback were over when Pedro Leon struck the foot of the post with a second-half penalty after Stefan Scepovic had been barged in the back by Jorge Mere six yards from goal.

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Santi Denia views Friday s Olympic gold medal match versus France as an opportunity for Spain to underline their status as European football s finest.

La Roja have enjoyed a terrific 2024 to date, with the country s senior and under-19 sides both claiming European Championship titles last month.

Those successes came on the heels of Luis de la Fuente leading the senior team to UEFA Nations League success in 2023, and his men overcame heavyweights Croatia, Italy, Germany, France and England on their impressive run to Euro 2024 glory.

Olympic hosts France lie in wait in Friday s gold medal match at the Parc des Princes, where Denia is backing his team to bring more pride to their country.

We are delighted that we are a benchmark in Europe and the world, it…