By Tim Stannard

Monday musings over missing Messi

“Where was Messi! Where was he! Mmm!”

That’s the general vibe from the Barcelona world on Monday as fans chew over a madcap 5-4 defeat to Levante in La Liga on Sunday that blows the chance of a first ever undefeated campaign in the modern era with just two matches left.

“FinVictus” sighs Barcelona-based paper Mundo Deportivo on Monday playing on the Spanish word for ‘end’ while Sport laments that there is ‘no defense’ for the loss. And that is getting nearer to the point considering scoring goals wasn’t really a problem for Barca on Sunday, rather than letting them in at the other end.

Anyhoo – the theories of Messi’s absence are three-fold. The Argentinean was injured, was being held back for a friendly in South Africa against the Mamelodi Sundowns on Wednesday – live on beIN SPORTS! – or just didn’t fancy it, what with the World Cup around the corner.

Yerry Mina is also taking a bit of flack with the Colombian defender pulling off quite the Bambi on ice impression in the Levante loss.

Tune into the Locker Room at 7:30PM ET / 4:30PM PT to find out who our panel are blaming.

Neymar reportedly meets new boss…no not Zinedine Zidane

A German newspaper, Süddeutsche, is dealing in the world of alternate theoretical dimensions with the report that former Borussia Dortmund boss, Thomas Tuchel, has had a meeting with Neymar. And that’s an odd occurrence without a ton of exposition.

The German manager is expected to be the new PSG boss after the departure of Unai Emery – to be confirmed potentially next Monday, after the Ligue Un season – and no-one has clue whether the Brazilian will be around to enjoy Tuchel’s tactical stylings despite Neymar only moving to PSG last summer and played about two thirds of the campaign.

Neymar himself certainly wasn’t helping clear the waters of confusion, talking this weekend to complain about all the transfer talk endlessly surrounding him but being unwilling to do anything about it by pledging his future to the French club.

An Italian coaching carrousel of chaos

There are some itchy Italians managers on Monday, none more so than Antonio Conte at Chelsea who looked like a man whose car was being towed for the third time this week in the defeat against Newcastle. And he knew each occasion was deserved. The Italian coach is expected to be serving his final week at the club ahead of Saturday’s FA Cup final against Manchester United despite claims that “I am committed to this club.”

One man who was expected to be filling Conte’s void at Stamford Bridge – and the vacant Arsenal gig at the same time - was Massimo Allegri, however the euphoric Juve boss, fresh from the club’s seventh straight league title win has beamed that he has no intention of leaving the Old Lady. "If they don't fire me, then I think I'm staying at Juventus next year too," chortled Allegri.

Roberto Mancini is expected to have a new job on Monday with the probable announcement that the former Manchester City manager will be taking over the vacant head coach role with the Italian national team. And here’s an out-there one – Napoli’s Mauricio Sarri to announce his departure from the Serie A side this week and Carlo Ancelotti to take over. That’s what CalcioNapoli24 is claiming in what would be a mic-drop move.

Tune into the XTRA at 7PM ET / 4PM PT for the latest on this Italian coaching carrousel of chaos.

Play-offs continue for Warriors and Jets

It’s Monday! Get excited! Okay, you don’t have to if you don’t want to.

There’s a load of top sporting action to behold including the NBA play-offs – a bit of a result yesterday for the Celtics – and the opening clash between the Golden State Warriors against the Houston Rockets. The NHL play-offs continue with game two of the series between the Las Vegas Golden Knights and the Winnipeg Jets – the Canadians are 1-0 up at the moment.

To the world of tennis and the Italian Open is off and running and beIN SPORTS is offering extensive coverage of the WTA side of things with Sloane Stephens looking for a bit of consistency as she gets her tournament underway later on Monday. We are live, live, live right now.

That’s not all, there’s a little bit of soccer going on as well with an English Championship play-off clash between Fulham and Derby County – Derby currently 1-0 up from the first leg. And there’s some Turkish football as well with Fenerbahce looking to make a bid for second spot and Champions League qualification. Catch the best of the action on the XTRA at 7PM ET / 4PM PT.

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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.