By Tim Stannard

1) Ronaldo becomes Champions League record breaking and ascends to new realm

Sports Burst always likes to pay close attention to Cristiano Ronaldo across all different dimensions from sport to social media, firstly to admire one of the finest footballers in the game and also to keep up to date with the latest innovations in Egyptian steel. 

There will be special focus from SB this weekend on whether Cristiano Ronaldo starts to sneeze, snivel and break into hives during Saturday’s Real Madrid clash against Malaga as it may well be that the Portuguese poacher is allergic to La Liga. 

Normally a footballer tends to be in iffy form in all competitions, not just some. But Cristiano Ronaldo, as ever, likes to do things a little differently. In La Primera, Ronaldo has one goal from eight appearances, a worse record that Dani Ceballos who doesn’t actually play. But in the Champions League, CR7 rampantly reigns supreme. His two goals in the 6-0 trouncing of APOEL sees the footballer on eight goals in five games in the Champions League this season – 18 in the entire 2017 calendar year. A new record.  

But rather than be allergic to La Liga, it might just be that the footballer has risen to a new dimension, a new plateau, become a white-bearded Greek god, free of such earthly torments of having to score goals against Getafe. Either way, Ronaldo is not telling judging by his post-match reaction in Cyprus. "How can I talk to you if I say one thing and you write something else?" said Ronaldo breezing past the mere mortal press pack. 

2) Atletico start Champions League recovery against Roma

Atletico Madrid are very much in the spotlight in Wednesday’s Champions League games with the Rojiblancos having to defeat Roma in the Wanda to stand any chance of making it through to the knock-out stages of the competition – a bare minimum of what is expected for Diego Simeone’s side. 

The big hope for the Argentina coach is that Griezmann is not booed again by the home crowd. “We just need to support him,” said Simeone on a footballer suffering quite the goal drought. 

Atleti would also be hoping that Chelsea find it hard-going against Qarabag. That Azerbaijan clash is live on beIN SPORTS in Canada from 12PM ET / 9AM PT

Barcelona are travelling to a Juventus team suffering a bit of a crisis of confidence in Serie A and also trying hard to forget the 3-0 defeat in the reverse fixture. Meanwhile Celtic could be suffering the kind of hammering only experienced by the Dallas Cowboys these days with a trip to Paris to face PSG – that clash is live on beIN SPORTS CANADA from 2:4OPM ET / 11:40AM PT.

Tune into the XTRA from 7PM ET / 4PM PT where Kevin Egan and Mr Christian Vieri will take you through the best of the day’s action. 

3) Courtois parks Chelsea future as PSG push for Coutinho 

TRANSFER TRACKER! The gift that never stops giving. Ever. Latest player to get the media chattering classes going is Chelsea goalkeeper, Thibaut Courtois, who has advised that talks with Chelsea over a new deal have stalled. The Belgian has just the single year left on his contract at Stamford Bridge, something that has alerted Real Madrid, for one.  

Philippe Coutinho to…PSG? Could happen. In Thiago Silva’s world who feels that there just aren’t enough attacking players or Brazilian footballers in the PSG line-up at the moment. 

“I hope that before the end of the season, for Christmas, we have a surprise.”

Hottest transfer target this summer appears to be Schalke midfielder, Leon Goretzka, who is out of contract this summer – Arsenal, Barcelona, Juventus, and Manchester City all reportedly elbowing each other ahead of the doors opening at an Ikea Black Friday sale. However, Schalke are still hopeful of keeping the German international. 

4) Dynamo out of power as President Trump hypes grudge match 

In Tuesday’s MLS Playoffs, the Seattle Sounders all but sealed a spot in the final after a first leg 2-0 victory against a ten-man Houston Dynamo. The second clash is still very open with Columbus Crew and Toronto FC battling out a goalless draw. The second leg will not take place for another week, though. 

The upcoming Thanksgiving Friday wrestling battle between LaVar Ball and President Donald Trump moved up a notch in terms of hype with US Commander in Chief taunting his rival through Twitter on Wednesday. “Ungrateful fool!” was the social media slur directed at his rival over the holiday’s main event. President Trump then went on to pick a fight with the entire NFL, meaning that a ring the size of a baseball pitch will be needed for the next pay-per-view event. 

Special Wednesday treat! Head to the beIN SPORTS Facebook page for the XTRA Social at 1PM ET / 10AM PT for an early look at what is grinding the beIN SPORTS gears in terms of sports talk today. 

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.