By Tim Stannard

1) Copa del Rey’s less glamorous rivals go for gold

Tis a Thursday for true football fans, members of the soccer Illuminati and their shady Davos meetings. The impassioned believers of the beautiful game.

The sun has dawned on day that sees a clash between two Argentinean managers and two clubs from the rainy north of Spain. There has been much snooty, snobbish sniffing of late over Celta Vigo’s Copa del Rey semi-final meeting with Alaves on the befuddled grounds that neither of the two sides happen to be Atletico Madrid or Barcelona.

That was the pairing of Wednesday’s cup clash in what was a humdinger of a game but a 1-2 defeat for Atletico Madrid. But there is no reason that one of the most exciting sides in La Liga – Celta Vigo, mighty slayers of Real Madrid in the last round – cannot bring their A-game against Alaves, mighty slayers of…er…Alcorcon.

Bring it on! If your heart is fair and true and you are not just a glory-hunter, then tune into beIN SPORTS CONNECT from 3PM ET / 11AM PT.

2) Two AFCON giants look for final date with Egypt

And if you are looking for a warm-up to this titanic clash and then some football overlap, rush and go find a screen of some sort for AFCON 2017’s second semifinal. Egypt squeezed through to the final with a penalty shoot-out victory over Burkina Faso on Wednesday. The Pharaohs will be facing a regional big-hitter in the ultimate dust-up in the shape of either Cameroon or Ghana.

The former certainly have pedigree in African football but were not expected to prevail at AFCON due to general disharmony and disorganization. But prevail, they have with rare team unity. Ghana, on the other hand, are looking to overturn what has been true AFCON heartache.

The Black Stars have reached the final four stage in each of the last six tournaments but have not lifted the trophy since 1982. What’s worse, Ghana lead by Avram Grant were beaten finalists in 2015. That clash is live on beIN SPORTS with coverage beginning from 1:50PM ET / 10:50AM PT.

Alternatively, you may want to swing by Championship table toppers, Brighton, facing Huddersfield live on beIN SPORTS CONNECT from 2:30PM ET / 11:30AM PT.  

3) Frank Lampard retires from professional game

Yes, one of two people were thinking that it had already happened, but on Thursday Frank Lampard announced his official retirement from professional football, after an illustrious two decades long career at West Ham, Chelsea, Manchester City and New York City FC. Oh, and Swansea apparently.

“I’m immensely proud of the trophies I’ve won, of representing my country over 100 times and of scoring more than 300 career goals,” said a modest Lampard on his Facebook page. Actually, mild boasting is pretty much allowed in Lampard’s case.  Tune into the XTRA from 7PM ET / 4PM for a reflection on the Englishman’s career.

4) Tiger Woods bunkered in desert disaster

It’s time to drop in on the Tiger Woods comeback campaign. Unfortunately, the news is not so hot though with the former world number one competing at the Dubai Desert Classic. Which presumably has grass as well or hitting a golf ball could be problematic.

Woods shot a five-over-par 77 in the opening round to trail behind round one leader, Sergio Garcia by 12 shots. The American golfing legend failed to make a birdie and huffed in the clubhouse that "I could have shot something near even par if I would have made some putts but I made nothing."

5) No Russia love for Venus

BREAKING NEWS! Another US sporting icon was in action on Thursday, with Venus Williams taking on Kristina Mladenovic at the St Petersburg Ladies Trophy just days after her miraculous appearance at the Australian Open final against her sister. You may have read about that.

But a tired Venus was unable to get past her French opponent and lost out 6-3, 6-1 in a game that was live on beIN SPORTS, home of top WTA tennis. Oh yes.

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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. 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.