By Tim Stannard

1) Bolt no longer triple triple champion

BREAKING NEWS! Usain Bolt is no longer a nine-times gold Olympic medalist, with a triple triple at the Beijing, London and Rio Games in the 100m meters, 200m meters and 100meters relay. This comes after the Beijing sprint relay gold was removed from the Jamaican runner after a failed doping test. But it was not Bolt himself who was found positive, but instead teammate, Nesta Carter.

Carter was one of 454 selected doping samples retested by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) last year, and has been found to contain the banned stimulant methylhexaneamine.

2) Real Madrid’s Copa del Rey mountain

In the cold light of a chilly Wednesday in the Spanish city of Vigo, the odds of Real Madrid overturning a 2-1 deficit in the Copa del Rey against Celta are less than encouraging.

On the 15 times that Madrid have been behind after a home leg in a knock-out competition, only three have produced successful comebacks to win the tie. What’s more, Coach Zizou has travelled north without a heck of a lot players such as Gareth Bale, Luka Modric, Marcelo, Dani Carvajal, and James Rodriguez.

But there’s worse! Both Karim Benzema and Cristiano Ronaldo are both a little out of sorts. Can Madrid pull off a minor miracle? Can a cracking comeback get the Bernabeu train back on track? Who knows! But tune into beIN CONNECT from 3:15PM ET / 12:15PM PT to find out.

3) Luis Enrique calls for respect for refs

Barcelona are in a considerably comfier situation with their own Copa del Rey life after beating Real Sociedad 1-0 in last week’s first leg in San Sebastian.

However, the Basque visitors are a tasty side on their day so Luis Enrique will be sitting on his cushion of alertness on the Camp Nou bench on Thursday. “They are going to pressure us from the start,” warned the Barca boss.

Enrique also tried to undo a little bit of the damage inflicted by Gerard Pique with the captain’s frequent grumbles about refereeing decisions. “They need our help, not our criticism,” declared Enrique.

4) Liverpool tie down the coveted Coutinho

Well Merciful Zeus, there is actual transfer gossip to mull over on Wednesday. Liverpool announced that the much-coveted forward Philip Coutinho, thought to be a summer target for Barcelona, has penned a new deal believed to be for the next five years with the Anfield club. “He knows he can fulfil his dreams and ambitions here at Liverpool,” chirped a happy Jurgen Klopp.

And by happy coincidence, Liverpool are in action in the EFL Cup semifinal second leg against Southampton on Wednesday, trying to overturn a 1-0 defict. And you can catch that game live on beIN SPORTS with coverage beginning from 2:50PM ET / 11:50AM PT. But to whet the appetite, the finale of Group D of AFCON 2017 with Ghana, Mali, Egypt and Uganda all battling for a quarterfinal berth. Tune into beIN CONNECT from 1:45PM ET / 10:45AM PT for all the action.

5) Williams sister final comes closer Down Under

It’s tennis time! And a Serena v Venus all-sister final took a step closer overnight on Tuesday with the former defeating Karolina Pliskova to set up a final-four clash with the veteran player Mirjana Lucic-Baroni.

Over in the men’s bracket, Rafa Nadal booked his spot in the final four after a victory over Milos Raonic to set up a potentially epic semifinal clash against Roger Federer.

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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.