By Tim Stannard

1) Neymar under fire for Cavani penalty poach

Neymar left Barcelona over the summer to try and reach the level of Cristiano Ronaldo in terms of fame, glory, money and the most important thing of all in the world – number of Instagram followers.  

The Brazilian is well on the way to achieving his goal after scoring four for PSG against Dijon on Wednesday in Ligue Un. However, the shared experience with CR7 is not one that Neymar would have chosen – being booed by home fans despite playing really, really well. 

Ronaldo has frequently endured that sleight from hard-to-please Madridistas, and Neymar suffered the same fate in the Parc des Princes when whacking home his fourth and PSG’s eighth of the night from the penalty spot. 

The problem for the apparently tone-deaf Neymar is that had Edinson Cavani scored, then the Uruguayan would have become the club’s all-time top goal-scorer. But Neymar took the kick from his teammate – again - and suffered a bout of Parisian indignation to further stoke the flames that there is one rule for Neymar in the PSG locker room, and one for everyone else.

That was certainly the hint on the front cover of France sports daily, L’Equipe, which offered up a rare English language headline on Thursday: ‘One Man Show’. Both on and off the pitch it would appear. Tune into the XTRA from 7PM ET / 4PM PT to hear more about the fine line Neymar treads in the City of Light.

2) Real Madrid facing another Copa crunch clash

Cristiano Ronaldo will not be suffering any kind of booing from Real Madrid fans on Thursday in the club’s Copa del Rey clash with Leganes, as the footballer was not called up to the squad for the Last 16 first-leg clash. The rest of the players could well suffer though if their current sorry form continues. 

And that’s quite the gamble from Zinedine Zidane judging some very surprising results this week, with defeats for both Atletico Madrid and Barcelona, the Catalan club’s first of the season. Find out if a struggling Madrid side can start climbing out of its football hole against a feisty local rival live on beIN SPORTS at 3:25PM ET / 12:25AM PT.

Speaking of Barcelona and Gerard Pique looks set to be a Camp Nou king for life with the club announcing a new deal for the stopper that lasts up to 2022 when the defender will turn 35. The new contract has a Dr Evil-style half a billion-dollar buyout clause. 

3) Wenger confirms Alexis exit is imminent

The Alexis Sanchez to Manchester United deal has now turned from rumor to a real-life fact after the striker’s manager, Arsene Wenger, admitted that it was on the cards at a press conference on Thursday.  

“It's likely to happen but things can break down at any minute,” warned Wenger who is expected to bring in United’s unwanted midfielder, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, in return. Wenger also ruled out signing Bordeaux midfielder, Malcom, who is also suffering a bit of a fallout with fans. 

Meanwhile, Borussia Dortmund have warned Arsenal to not even think about making a bid for their discipline-challenged striker, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, with the club’s Sporting Director (and possible Kryptonian supervillain with that name) Michael Zorc snooting Wenger by saying that “we feel it is disrespectful to speak about players from other teams.” 

Catch the best of the transfer gossip by heading to our wonderful Facebook page at 1PM ET / 10AM PT for the XTRA Social show. 

4) Novak reaches boiling point Down Under

TENNIS TIME! More play from the boiling hot Australian Open second round has taken place Down Under. No real shocks in the men’s bracket with Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer passing through to the next round. The Serb noted that the players were performing in “brutal” conditions, though, with temperatures sky high. 

The falling seed in the women’s bracket was Garbine Muguruza after struggling with a foot injury. Genie Bouchard was also eliminated but Maria Sharapova, Angelique Kerber and Madison Keys all progressed to the third round.

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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. Sports Burst 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.