Sinner leads Italy to Davis Cup semifinals; Australia edges past USA
Defending champions Italy advanced to the Davis Cup semifinals on Thursday after defeating Argentina 2-1, with world No 1 Jannik Sinner winning the singles and doubles match.
Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi reached another landmark figure on Wednesday’s match against Valladolid at the Camp Nou Stadium, which the Catalans won 5-1.
In the 34th minute of the game, Messi scored off a free kick and took his overall free kick scoring tally to 50, playing for both Argentina and Barcelona.
The first of the 50 came in November, 2008 in a league game against Atletico Madrid at Camp Nou, the beginning of a free kick extravaganza that has led Messi to a total of 44 for the club and six for the Argentinian national side.
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33 of the free kicks came in La Liga. Another 5 in the Champions League, 3 in Copa del Rey, 2 in the European Super Cup and 1 in the Spanish Super Cup.
With 50 goals from free kicks for Barca and Argentina, the next challenge for Messi is to reach 50 in a Blaugrana shirt as he is just six away from a half-century as an FC Barcelona player.
Talking about the match, Clement Lenglet drew the first blood for Barcelona with a nice volley only in 2nd minute. But Kiko scored the equaliser in the 15th minute after Marc-Andre ter Stegen misplayed a free kick into the box to draw the visiting side level.
Just before the half-hour mark, Arturo Vidal again put the Catalonians in the driving seat, and after that it was all about a Messi show.
Apart from the free kick, the 32-year-old netted Barca’s fourth goal of the match with a superb turn and finish from an Ivan Rakitic pass, firing a low line drive of a volley past Valladolid keeper Jordi Masip before setting Luis Suarez with another sublime assist in the 77th minute to reach the final scoreline of 5-1.
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