By Tim Stannard

1) Toni Kroos in danger of missing PSG rematch in Paris

 Result! Fist bump into thin air!

Sports Burst finally gets to dust off a ‘Kroos-control’ headline after a good three years of impatiently waiting for news about the German to big enough to line up as the number one story.

However, admittedly the more important impact of the news is Real Madrid losing its midfield marshal for up to three weeks due to a knee injury. And that puts into serious doubt the German’s participation in the return leg of the Champions League clash against PSG on March 6^th. A scan will take place on Saturday to further scope out the seriousness of the injury. Mateo Kovacic is expected to fill the German’s tactical vacuum in Sunday’s clash against Real Betis.

Meanwhile the coach of Sunday’s rivals, Quique Setien, is sensing vulnerabilities in the Madrid side after the effort and exertion of Wednesday’s epic victory over PSG and enthuses that “we have a real chance of getting a good result against Madrid.” Tune into the Locker Room at 7PM ET / 4PM PT to see if our pundits think that the form of Coach Zizou and his men will dip in what will be a heck of a clash in the city of Seville.

2) Mourinho denies Paul Pogba rift

Friday saw a feisty Jose Mourinho coming out on the attack against stories that Paul Pogba wants to leave Manchester United and even head to Real Madrid this summer. The Frenchman has been in poor form of late and been in and out of the United’s starting line-up with rumblings that Pogba is unhappy with the position he has been asked to play in – pretty much a few meters ahead of David de Gea, it’s that deep.

“It is a big lie that our relationship is not good,” fumed the Portuguese to the apparently fake news media. “In the last couple of matches he didn’t play well, period, end of story. Now it’s my problem and Paul’s to improve his performance level, you don’t need to be a liar.”

Mourinho was speaking ahead of a FA Cup clash for United against Huddersfield Town.

3) Monaco look to keep up PSG poking

It's Friday football time!

It has been a heart-wrenching, tremor-inducing 24-hours or so without a ball being kicked in a competitive manner over much of the world. However, the mighty Monaco of Monte Carlo will be doing so on beIN SPORTS screens on Friday with Ligue Un's second-place side relishing the chance to take on Dijon to keep up the pressure on PSG at the top. Tune in to beIN SPORTS.com at 2:45PM ET / 11:45AM PT for that one. 

If something more Spanish is what the sporting stomach is craving then beIN ESPANYOL is serving up the ever-entertaining Girona against a dogged Leganes. That gets underway at 3PM ET / 12PM PT. Turkish football fans will be gurgling over Besiktas gearing up for their Champions League clash against Bayern Munich with an away encounter against Konyaspor. Head to beIN CONNECT 3 at 12PM ET / 9AM PT for that one.

English football is offering up two FA Cup fifth round ties with Chelsea hosting Hull City from the Championship and Leicester City also taking on lower league rivals in the form of Sheffield United. Hertha Berlin takes on struggling Mainz in the Bundesliga. The best of the action can be found on the XTRA at 7PM ET / 4PM PT.

4) No four-gold haul for Mikaela Shiffrin

Unfortunately, it's not going to be four golds from four events for Mikaela Shiffrin who came fourth in the women's slalom on Friday at the Winter Olympics. "I didn't quite feel myself today," admitted the 22-year-old a day after winning gold in the giant slalom. 

More bad news was to be found over on the ice with Nathan Chen struggling in the men's short program and dropping to 17th in the rankings. "I've never been in this spot, so I don't really know what to do." Adam Rippon had better luck in his performance, finishing seventh.

But ending a feel-good story for the week, the ‘topless Tongan’ from the opening ceremony did not finish last in his event on Friday, the 15km cross country race. Instead, Pita Taufatofua, ended up a splendid third-from-last, 23 minutes behind gold medalist Dario Cologna of Switzerland.

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. 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.