By Tim Stannard

1) More fodder for Spain’s conspiracy nuts at Barca handed title in July

Once again, the conspiracy nuts are proved true with their claim that the Powers that Be in Spain want Barcelona to win La Liga above all costs. Or is it the other way around? So hard to remember.

The match-ups for the new season have been released and La Liga may as well have HANDED the league title to the Catalan club on the plate. The opening fixture sees Barcelona AWARDED a gift by hosting Betis on day one, with poor Real Madrid having to travel north to face Real Sociedad. To add insult to injury, the first Clasico will be at the Camp Nou on 3rd December, giving Barcelona a full six points head start before the season has even become. Outrageous!

Cristiano Ronaldo and Leo Messi may be hiding out in their separate villas whilst on vacation in Ibiza, however their yachts are berthed just 20 meters from each other. And looking at the photos, there isn’t too much to call in terms of quality. Like in real life, perhaps?

Meanwhile, Barcelona have been busy showing off Samuel Umtiti who has been at the Camp Nou on Friday for the defender’s medical and presentation after joining from Lyon.

2) Goetze close to Dortmund return as Draxler’s Arsenal hopes dashed

ALMOST DONE DEAL! Mario Goetze is on the brink of a return to Borussia Dortmund, says German paper Bild after a reported agreement with Bayern Munich for a move for $25m.

ALMOST DONE DEAL! Ngolo Kante is set to join Chelsea over the weekend from Leicester City. The eventual deal could be worth $38m.

RUINED DEAL! Napoli owner, Aurelio De Laurentiis, has branded the stories that Gonzalo Higuain was set to be sold to Serie A title rivals as absolute “nonsense.” Reports from Italy say Napoli are looking to waft a fresh deal in front of their Argentinean striker’s face to tempt the forward to stay.

RUINED DEAL! Wolfsburg have poo-pooed the notion that Julian Draxler will be moving to Arsenal this summer. “The situation with Draxler is 100 per cent certain that he will be staying at Wolfsburg,” roared the Bundesliga club’s Sporting Director.

3) Payet rethinks Madrid move as FH Hafnarfjordur continue Champions League bid

Forcing Cristiano Ronaldo out of the Euro 2016 final has made Dimitri Payet rethink any kind of move to Real Madrid this summer. “I’m 100% staying at West Ham,” promised the French international midfielder. Meanwhile, the first competitive game for West Ham in their new Olympic Stadium is set to be a stunner – either Shakhtyor Soligorsk or NK Domzale in the third qualifying round of the Europa League.

The Champions League and Europa League is also working its way through Europe’s riff raff – although Celtic are making live easy for the organization – and have made the draws for the third qualifying round of the Champions League. Sports Burst is giving all its backing to Icelandic side, FH Hafnarfjordur.

4) French sport pays respects to ongoing Nice tragedy

The world of track and field is getting a little bit serious now with the Olympics on the horizon. One of the breakout stars is set to be Jamaican hurdler, Omar Mcleod, who is just one of the big names at the Monaco Diamond League meet live on beIN SPORTS at 2PM ET. The meet will be begun with a minute’s silence to pay respects to those who lost their lives in the devastating attack in neighboring Nice.

The Tour de France was another event to pay respects to those impacted by the events in Nice. However, the race continued with a time-trial stage, which would make it highly unlikely for anyone to end up having to run parts of the course as happened to Chris Froome.

5) Wet conditions produces a tricky track at Moto GP warm-ups

The MotoGP riders are in action in Germany for Sunday’s GP. The conditions for Friday’s practice have been a touch cold and rainy and produced a heavy crash for Jorge Lorenzo, however, the Spaniard was confirmed to be injury free after an X-ray on his wrist. Ducati rider Andrea Iannone was fastest in the day’s first practice session. Tune in at 7.55AM ET / 4.55AM PT for Round 9 from the Sachsenring.

WHAT IS SPORTS BURST?

The life philosophy of sports burst is that if you are not upsetting someone, then you are not trying hard enough. sb is a daily trawl and troll through the morning's sports news to bring you fact-nuggets to make you both smile and swear. hopefully at the same time.