By Tim Stannard

1) Ronaldo needs haters – and himself - to feel happy

If Sports Burst shared the same super powers as Cristiano Ronaldo, then it would be the JK Rowling of sports writing and never have to work again.

Or maybe just write play adaptions of its favorite columns every ten years. The Portuguese Man of Phwoar has revealed in an interview that the footballer is fueled Taylor Swift-style on haters having to hate, hate, hate, hate and critics poking holes in his football resume. It’s a source that is as renewable as the sun.

"I actually need my haters, they have helped me achieve all I have achieved," announced Ronaldo who also spoke about the biggest influence on himself and his career. And there were no surprises there from Rocket Ronnie – “my biggest inspiration has always been myself…I have been the biggest influence on my own career.”

Seeing as Ronaldo is not exactly in the best of form of the moment, SB is going to perform a huge favor for Real Madrid fans with a line of snark that will bore deep into the footballer’s soul and produce a hat-trick on Saturday – “hey, Ronaldo, is that a wrinkle on your forehead?”

By happy coincidence, you can tune into the XTRA at 7PM ET / 4PM PT for a look at a crossroads in Ronaldo’s Real Madrid career.

2) Claims that Madrid approached Pep in post Benitez world

A journalist and biographer of Pep Guardiola is claiming that Real Madrid approached the former Barca coach’s camp while the manager was in charge of Bayern Munich to take over from Rafa Benitez earlier this year. They were apparently not put off by how quick the response of ‘no’ would come.

“Real Madrid contacted Josep María Orobitg, Pep’s agent, to try and strike a deal. But from the start Pep dismissed it. I was there,” says Marti Perarnau.

That job may now seem tempting after Guardiola’s Man City went six games without a win after Wednesday’s defeat to Manchester United in the EFL Cup.

3) Icardi given hope of Argentina return

It appears that Mauro Icardi's on the pitch antics - scoring a load of goals including two for Inter in Wednesday's win over Torino - could finally cover up his off the pitch business - moving in on the wife of former friend, Maxi Lopez, and marrying her. 

The footballer has been consistently overlooked for selection for Argentina, but current coach Edgardo Bauza opened the door by suggesting that a call-up was still possible for the 23-year-old. "The off the pitch stuff has nothing to do with it," said the Albiceleste boss.

Meanwhile, the job of under pressure Inter boss, Frank de Boer, is still not secure despite the Torino win. The Italian press suggests that a decision on the Dutchman's future will be made on Friday at a shareholder's meeting.

4) Unai calls on help for overworked Edinson Cavani

Ligue Un is a gearing up for a return to action on Friday with PSG taking on Lille in a bit of a must-win match for Unai Emery whose Parisian side are stuttering and flopping like an Italian penalty-taker, currently lying six points off the top of the table.

The PSG coach was talking on Thursday and hinted that the secret of success might well be the rest of the team trying to run around a bit instead of leaving everything to Edinson Cavani.

You can catch Lille v PSG live on beIN SPORTS on Friday from 2:40PM ET / 11:40AM PT.

5) Final Four of WTA finals take shape

The WTA finals are continuing in Singapore with the conclusion of the group stages. Svetlana Kuznetsova was the first player to reach the semi-final stages after Wednesday’s win in Group B. Group A wrapped up on Thursday with Dominika Cibulkova and Angelique Kerber moving through to the final four.

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.