By Tim Stannard

1) Best Barca buddies meet in match of millennium

One of the hardest moments in life arrives when it is time to send old Fluffy the family the dog to the great farm in the sky. It is a decision made out of love, but with the toughest of consequences. Neymar has stumbled upon the chance to be a true friend to his Barcelona buddy and offer the same service on Thursday.

Leo Messi is clearly troubled by the trials, tribulations and endless failures in finals that comes from playing for Argentina – as well as dealing with Gonzalo Higuain’s frequent chokes. It was a dilemma that saw little Leo temporarily walking away from his Albiceleste life before returning to help lead the team to Russia 2018 in between his groin injuries.

But that is not going so well, with Argentina in sixth place in the CONMEBOL standings and facing Brazil and Colombia in their upcoming fixtures. The very real chance of earning a single point or less from the two fixtures would be troubling to the 2014 finalists but it could ultimately leave Messi with a burden taken off his shoulders.

It is impossible to blow another final, if you won’t be at the tournament in the first place. A beach in Cancun might be better than a trip to the Kremlin. See if Neymar can help put Messi out of his misery live on beIN SPORTS with coverage beginning from 5:30PM ET / 2:30PM PT.

2) James finds peace with Pekerman’s Colombia

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Nope. It’s James being a useful member of a football team rather than a substitute reluctantly thrown onto the pitch by a French manager. Mr Rodriguez is back playing for his country where the midfielder still has a useful role in pulling the strings for the team.

And those strings will need to be tugged repeatedly in a stormer of a clash on Thursday afternoon with Colombia hosting Chile, the current Copa America winners but a side lodged in fifth-place and putting in erratic performances so far in CONMEBOL qualifying.

"He's a fundamental player within the Colombia set up,” announced Coach Pekerman ahead of the game. See if James can show Real Madrid what they are missing live on beIN SPORTS from 3PM ET / 12PM PT at Colombia host Chile.

3) Costa cut from Spain squad with groaning groin

 Just when it looked like a happy, chilled Diego Costa was going to finally deliver the goal-scoring goods for Spain, the Chelsea man goes and gets himself injured. The elbow-flying forward has withdrawn from the Spain squad that was due to face Macedonia in a World Cup qualifier and then England in a friendly.

Costa is suffering a bit of groin trouble and national team coach, Julen Lopetegui, has chosen to call-up Celta Vigo forward, Iago Aspas, who has seven goals in all competitions for his club this season.

4) Atletico nearly completion of Wanda-full stadium

It seems that Atletico Madrid’s new stadium that is due to open at the start of next season is going to be the eighth wonder of the world. Or rather the eight Wanda.

La Liga’s comedy president, Javier Tebas, apparently leaked the name of the new Rojiblancos home at a press event on Thursday. Should Tebas be telling the truth then the stadium would be referring to the Chinese group that owns 20% in the Madrid club.

5) Sharapova’s UN role to be restored

Although it seems like only yesterday that Maria Sharapova was cast into the naughty step with a failed drugs test from the Australian Open, the Russian has been handed another helping hand back into the limelight.

The Russian tennis player will be allowed to return to action in April and the UN has announced that Sharapova will also have her status as UN goodwill ambassador reinstated too.

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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.