Sports Burst - Real Madrid's Hot Rod
Epic challenge begins to brand Rodrygo as Real Madrid forward hits a hat-trick and the front pages in Champions League win
By Tim Stannard
Rodrygo wins Thursday's headlines to be branded as new Neymar, Ronaldo and Raul after Galatasaray hat-trick
After netting a hat-trick in the Champions League for Real Madrid in a 6-0 win against Galatasaray - or rather Galatas-awry - the 18-year-old Rodrygo is going to face a number of massive challenges in what could be a glittering career.
First off, there's dealing with the hype that has the young forward leading the soccer headlines across the world on Thursday.
Then we have the matter of simply holding down a place at a Real Madrid side with the likes of Gareth Bale and Eden Hazard in such sparkling form and...and...actually, that's going to be the easy part.
Nope, the biggest challenge surrounding Rodrygo is what to brand the player. The Brazilian has to be the 'new' something. Them's the rules.
At least three ideas have been bandied about after the footballer continued to be the one single bright spot of Real Madrid's season so far in Wednesday's win.
The obvious go-to is the 'new Ronaldo' with both footballers being goalscorers and Brazilian. But Rodrygo could also be "the new other Ronaldo" - prolific, considerably more mobile than Ronaldo the First and dragging Real Madrid through matches in years to come.
Rodrygo could also be the 'new Raul' - a fan favorite and fearless inspirational go-getter on the pitch. Or he could be the 'new Neymar' - Brazilian, elegant, precocious at his age, but hopefully without the personally disastrous career move.
This is not going to be easy.
Wenger on brink of becoming Bayern's next boss
beIN SPORTS has been playing matchmaker.
While coincidentally opining for the network on this week's Champions League games, Arsene Wenger was cagier than a desperate wrestling league when pushed and probed on air on whether he would be, could be, should be interested in the vacant Bayern Munich position.
"I will make that decision in the coming days or week," revealed the former Arsenal man.
The sleuthing, Sherlock Sports Burst is latching on to that key phrase from Wenger and the lack of plural in 'week' when matched with the use of 'days' when discussing the timeframe of talks.
This partners nicely with Bayern Munich's interim boss, Hansi Flick, revealing after the team's Champions League victory over Olympiakos that he would only be in charge for two games including Wednesday's match. The second would Bayern's Bundesliga encounter on Saturday - a not insignificant clash against Borussia Dortmund.
In Sports Burst's mind, Wenger arrives in Munich later on Thursday, has a chillax in the evening, perhaps an informal dinner with Bayern president, Uli Hoeness, to check the lay of the land.
Friday...Wenger has never been big on contracts and cash, so a deal will be swiftly struck that sees the Frenchman in charge until the end of the season. The move will then be announced on Sunday if Bayern overcome Borussia Dortmund to not crowd out the positive vibes from the victory.
A defeat? Wenger will be confirmed as Bayern boss by 7PM Central European time on Saturday.
As good as done.
F91 Dudelange face make-or-break night in Europa League
From heavyweight managers and European big beasts...to the Europa League.
It's matchday four in the group stages and the tension and drama literally couldn't be any tauter.
The big story is undoubtedly F91 Dudelange's must-win match against Sevilla. The home side know that Luxembourg is never an easy place to get a result, and that will need to be the situation against Sevilla lest Dudelange slip out of contention for a place in the knockout rounds.
Another plucky upstart in action in one of Thursday's 23 games - 23! - is Manchester United. The Old Trafford outfit marshalled with precision and skill by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer are at home to Partizan Belgrade and the Norwegian coach was full of confidence declaring that "we are on the right track," despite the team lying in 10th in the Premier League and having a worse campaign that Sheffield United and Brighton and Hove Albion.
The Sports Burst live show will be ploughing through all 23 of the day's Europa League's games at 12PM ET. Or ignore them all completely. Could go either way.