Sports Burst – Zizou: Champ or Chump?
A big decision from Zidane, Messi’s return & Pep’s praise
By Tim Stannard
1) Ronaldo rested for la Liga tussle in Leganes
It’s going to go one way or another for Coach Zizou on Wednesday.
The Real Madrid manager will either be a squad-rotation genius, skillfully squeezing the best out of his team ahead of huge season-defining clashes against Atletico Madrid and Bayern Munich. Or the Frenchman will be a disrespectful dilly-dunce, taking Leganes for granted in the day’s La Liga clash between the top-of-the-table side and their relegation-threatened city rivals.
Real Madrid have announced their squad for Wednesday’s La Liga clash and it does not contain Cristiano Ronaldo, Toni Kroos or Gareth Bale. Not that anyone would notice the latter’s absence, anyway. Theoretically though, the likes of Karim Benzema, Alvaro Morata, Lucas Vazquez and James Rodriquez should be more than capable of overcoming what are set to be stubborn opponents, but in the topsy-turvy world of La Liga…nothing can be taken for granted.
Catch all the action live on beIN SPORTS from 3:25PM ET / 12:25PM PT.
2) Messi makes comeback in Sevilla sizzler
Scratch that whole ‘nothing taken for granted’ bit. One thing can be taken for granted. A ton of goals between Barcelona and Sevilla, and Sevilla probably losing. Those are the cold hard statistics of a match-up between an unpredictably predictable Barcelona side and a Sevilla team rapidly losing its zip and zap under Jorge Sampaoli.
Sevilla have not won in four in La Liga, were lumped on by Leicester City have just the single victory in the last 19 league meetings between the two sides. Barca are welcoming back Leo Messi after a near two-week rest who will face a team against whom he has scored 27 goals. 8-5 is a good score-line bet. That clash gets underway at 1:30PM ET / 10:30AM PT. Tune into the Locker Room from 7:30PM ET / 4:30PM ET for all the reaction.
3) Praise from Pep for Conte ahead of crunch clash
Pep Guardiola is facing a clash against a manager he feels “may be the best in the world” of football – Antonio Conte. Chelsea are hosting City at Stamford Bridge with the Italian manager hoping to avoid back-to-back league defeats with a club for the first time since 2009, and also prevent Tottenham getting any funny ideas about a title run. Spurs are away at Swansea City whilst Arsene Wenger faces more fan protests.
beIN SPORTS CONNECT brings you some tip-top Championship action with play-off hopefuls Huddersfield Town taking on Norwich City at 2:30PM ET / 11:30AM PT. Catch all the best highlights on the Locker Room from 7PM ET / 4PM PT.
4) St. Louis setback in MLS dream
Big news from MLS-land on Tuesday night as the almost-in-the-bag St. Louis franchise took a huge step backwards. City voters rejected funding for a Major League Soccer stadium in what league spokesman Dan Courtemanche called “clearly a significant setback” for the hopes of an expansion franchise in the city.
5) Kerber advances in Monterrey match-up
Tennis time – the Monterrey Open is well underway and world number one, Angelique Kerber, has booked her passage to the second round after a hard-fought win over Francesca Schiavone to take on Mandy Minella.
Coverage starts live on beIN SPORTS from 8PM ET / 5PM PT.
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. 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.
