The only globally recognized and undisputed "greatest of all greatest and a living legend" Lionel Messi scored his 800th career goal for club and country in Argentina's 2-0 friendly win over Panama in Buenos Aires on Thursday night.
After twice hitting the post from free kicks, Messi curled his third try past Panama keeper Jose Carlos Guerra in the 89th minute to hit the 800 goal mark and send the sold-out crowd at Monumental Stadium into delirium.
"I want to thank you all for the love and recognition that you have been receiving, not only after the World Cup but also for the Copa America," Messi told the crowd after the match. "We said that we were going to give it all for this trophy."
The Argentine superstar came into the game needing just one goal to reach the milestone after scoring his 799th goal in PSG's Ligue 1 win over Nantes on Saturday
Messi hits the 800 mark shortly after being named Best FIFA Men's Player having led Argentina to the 2022 World Cup title in Qatar. He also celebrated scoring his 700th career club goal last month.
The win over Panama came in Argentina's first match since beating France in Qatar last December. The team was roared on by the home supporters as Thiago Almada opened the scoring in the second half and Messi added his historic goal right before full-time.
The full squad from Qatar attended the match and took pictures in front of the World Cup trophy before kickoff, while Messi, manager Lionel Scaloni and others brought their families to the stadium.
A tearful Scaloni said after the match: "Eternal gratitude to these players. Football belongs to them, and without them we wouldn't have won the World Cup.
"Everyone who wears this shirt gives their all and sometimes the results don't come. But this time we got it and it's incredible."
Messi, 35, spent the first 17 years of his senior career with boyhood club Barcelona, where he went on to score an incredible club-record 672 goals in 778 appearances.
His 474 LaLiga goals remains a record for Spain's top division.
Since leaving Barcelona due to the club's financial problems and joining PSG in the summer of 2021, Messi has scored 30 goals for the French champions.
The Rosario star has scored a further 98 goals internationally for Argentina, including seven goals in Qatar as he lifted the World Cup for the first time.
He has been named FIFA's best men's player a record seven times.
MANCHESTER, England, March 23 (Reuters) - World Athletics has banned transgender women from competing in elite female competitions and tightened testosterone restrictions for other athletes, the governing body said on Thursday.
World Athletics president Sebastian Coe said that the decision to exclude transgender women who had gone through male puberty was based "on the overarching need to protect the female category".
The tighter measures around one of the most contentious and divisive issues in sport follow a similar move by World Aquatics in 2022.
World Athletics' council also voted to cut the maximum amount of plasma testosterone for athletes with Differences in Sex Development (DSD) in half, to 2.5 nanomoles per litre from five.
DSD athletes will also have to reduce their testosterone levels below the new limit for a minimum of 24 months across all events to compete, double the previous time.
The governing body had previously floated the option of transgender athletes being allowed to compete in the female category if they, too, maintained testosterone levels below 2.5 nanomoles per litre for 24 months.
Yet it said on Thursday that it became apparent there was little support within the sport for that proposal.
"We're not saying no forever," Coe told a news conference.
Coe announced the formation of a working group, which will be chaired by a transgender athlete, to further study the issue of trans inclusion.
"The working group will look at any prevailing or changing or furthering of our understanding in that space," Coe said. "We don't know enough, we now need to know more, and that is the journey that we're on. But we weren't prepared to risk the female category on that basis."
The tighter testosterone rules will impact DSD athletes such as two-times Olympic 800 metre champion Caster Semenya, Christine Mboma, the 2020 Olympic silver medallist in the 200m, and Francine Niyonsaba, who finished runner-up to Semenya in the 800 at the 2016 Olympics.
This mad man don't know when to rest , Una don win but still dey act like opposition, i hate this fooool and ffk, I hope Tinubu delete their assess when he resume office.
New sets of governors across the country. I hope they deliver dividends of democracy to the electorates wey vote em. Make dem no worry about me cos I no vote for anyone's papa, I dey my house dey chill during the elections.
O ni ku re. Awon eyan Clifford Orji ma gbe awon omo je bi okete. awon anjonu ma ba aye e je. Ewure
Omi epe lofi we nigbati ti win, ti oba ti Fi origaba epe, ara onibale, make I add more for you.
Arun o, ipayinkeke, Ogun kawo lori fese janle, igbe irora ko ni won ni ile. Ajalu lotun lotun losi lo ma ba i wo ati awon Ara ile e. Oti se, ti o omode ba mi ose dani ani kose, kounkoun ki ko ounse, Ito okin bale ko tun pade senu, aba ti alagemo ba da ni osa oke ngba, oti mu e oti mu eleda e.
Residents in an upscale Florida community paused activities Thursday to marvel at the sight of a giant alligator crossing the road.
“Check out this big boy crossing the street in the Forest Glen Community in Naples,” Matt Devitt of WINK Weather stated Saturday on Facebook.
On Instagram, Devitt titled the same footage,“Welcome to Jurassic Park!”
In the footage, captured by a WINK viewer named Catalina, the alligator ignores its admirers as it plods toward one of the neighborhood lawns on trash day.
It was the third time in a month that Devitt shared a clip showing an alligator grabbing the spotlight merely by appearing in public.
One showed a large gator plowing through a metal fence, almost effortlessly, to reach the other side.
The other showed perhaps a larger gator sprawled on a golf course, gazing menacingly toward a photographer. Deviit also proclaimed that to be a “Jurassic” moment.
But alligators appearing in public places at this time of year should not come as a surprise. Florida is home to 1.3 million alligators and, like many critters, they increase activity as spring approaches.
But it’s always astonishing when the larger of these prehistoric-looking reptiles reveal themselves beyond marshes and swamps.
The longest alligator recorded in Florida was a male from Lake Washington in Brevard County, measuring 14 feet, 3-1/2 inches. The heaviest was a 1,043-pound male captured at Orange Lake in Alachua County.
if you're looking up to FG to survive Oyo is your case, I made so much money in this bubu era, I don't even feel a thing cos I don't expect buhari to feed my asssss. I no dey collect salary, you don't need the government to be successful in life, I hope you get that into your thick skull. Even if obi won no be say e go dey share money on the street, you'll still miserable if you don't have a working plan to better your life. Wake up Sule. The clock is ticking
The rate wey dem pained losers dey take create threads on this section, pass normal. I remember before the election they were beating their chests say Obi go win, I told em say na pipe dreams, I hope the likes feed una Lmao. Make una try again in 2027, oh wait I forget say Bola go use 8 years and power go return to the north , oh boy. Otilor 😂🤣😂🤣
jpmoriarti: Yes Camavinga is also looking very good. Great tackling. Good anticipation. Good passer of the ball. Agile. But he loses concentration and gets easily dispossessed sometimes but I think this will improve as he ages
sure he'll definitely improve, that's why I said he's an upcoming monster.