By Tim Stannard

1) Ronaldo make’s La Liga debut in Betis Bernabeu battle 

Nine.

Nine!

That’s how many goals a rampant Leo Messi has scored already this season in La Liga, and that’s how many goals Cristiano Ronaldo has to claw back in the Pichichi race, Spain’s much-acclaimed prize to be the league’s top marksman. “He's extraordinary. There are no words," declared a near speechless Ernesto Valverde on a magical Messi on Tuesday. 

Four goals for Messi against Eibar – a team that had pretty much climbed into a big metaphorical hole of surrender in the Camp Nou on Tuesday - has given the Argentinean quite the lead over Ronaldo, who gets his own league campaign going on Wednesday in the Bernabeu against Betis after serving a five-match suspension. 

And to be honest, Betis fans might be fearing for the fate of their team in a match where the Andalusians could be resting some big guns combined with the fact that a Ronaldo let out of the bag in the Champions League was quite the threat last week against APOEL. 

Real Madrid taking on Betis is the stand-out day in a cluster of great La Liga games. The Bernabeu clash is live on beIN SPORTS from 4PM ET / 1PM PT preceded by a heavyweight contest between Athletic Bilbao and Atletico Madrid. Catch all the best action on the XTRA at 7PM ET / 4PM PT.

2) Benzema given new life-time deal at Bernabeu

Actually, we have to pivot back to Real Madrid for a second and the club has announced its fourth contract renewal in a week – probably to further taunt Barcelona who are failing to tie down Leo Messi and Andres Iniesta into new contracts. 

Karim Benzema – currently injured – has had his deal extended to 2021. If the Frenchman sees it out, then Benzema would have been leading the line for Real Madrid for 11 years. And using the dog years concept, that’s 29 for anyone else due to the stresses and strains of Real Madrid life. 

3) Napoli and Juve continue Serie A battle for supremacy  

Serie A are also having a midweek runaround as well. Tuesday saw Inter losing a 100% record so far with a 1-1 draw at Bologna. 

Two teams will be looking to take advantage of that with a solid Juventus hosting an unpredictable Fiorentina – live on beIN CONNECT 2 from 2:30PM ET – and Napoli travelling to Lazio in the day’s biggest clash. Fourth against first in actual fact. 

 If something more Dutch is to your tastes then both Ajax and Feyenoord are in action in their respective clashes in the KNVB Cup and there is even action from the US of A on the network with the NASL clash that sees New York Cosmos taking on San Francisco Deltas in the biggest east coast – west coast clash since that whole Tupac business. That game is live on beIN SPORTS from 7:30PM ET / 4:30PM PT. 

4) Phelps admits no more Speedo action 

Time to delve into the big characters of the world of sport. And few bigger – in most ways – than Michael Phelps who has said that he is quite happy with his handy haul of 28 Olympic medals. “I’ve got no desire – no desire – to come back,” declared the 32-year-old. 

Kevin Durant has admitted to his Twitter bad behavior in making with the mean about his former team, the Oklahoma City Thunder. “I happened to take it a little too far,” noted Durant. 

And apparent superhuman, Valentino Rossi, is back in business already after breaking his right leg in a motocross accident less than a month ago. The Italian legend will travel to the Aragon MotoGP in attempt to prove his fitness for a race that he had previously been ruled out of. That race is live on beIN SPORTS on Sunday from 7AM ET / 4AM PT. 

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