CELEBRITY
CRISTIANO RONALDO SCORES RECORD-BREAKING 100TH JUVENTUS GOAL
Juventus got their top-four bid back on track with an impressive 3-1 win over Sassuolo at the Mapei Stadium on Wednesday evening.
The home side were handed a glorious opportunity to take the lead with just 15 minutes on the clock as a catalogue of defensive errors from Juventus led to Leonardo Bonucci fouling Giacomo Raspadori in the area.
Domenico Berardi stepped up to take the resulting spot-kick though he was denied by the evergreen Gianluigi Buffon as the scores remained at 0-0.
Sassuolo would be made to regret their penalty miss just ten minutes later as Andrea Pirlo’s side hit the front thanks to Adrien Rabiot.
The Frenchman picked up the ball in midfield before driving at the home side’s backline, shrugging off a challenge before picking his spot and drilling a lovely left-footed effort beyond Andrea Consigli to make it 1-0 to Juventus.
Pirlo’s side took a firm grip on proceedings on the stroke of half-time as Cristiano Ronaldo managed to isolate Marlon Santos on the Juventus right.
The Portuguese superstar cut inside, leaving the Sassuolo defender almost flat on his backside before coolly slotting the ball beyond Consigli to make it 2-0 to the visitors and bringing up his 100th goal for the club in the process.
Raspadori halved the deficit shortly before the hour mark as he combined superbly on the edge of the area with Manuel Locatelli before firing past Buffon, though the fightback lasted little more than seven minutes.
Anything Ronaldo can do Paulo Dybala can do better, and the Argentinian forward grabbed his 100th Juventus goal midway through the second half as he rounded off a swift Juve counter-attack with a deft clip over the goalkeeper.
In truth, the scoreline probably flattered the visitors a little with Sassuolo giving a good account of themselves, though it was Pirlo’s side who took home the spoils and strengthened their bid for Champions League football.
Cristiano Ronaldo has become the first footballer to reach billionaire status, according to the latest Bloomberg Billionaires Index, which has valued the Portugal great’s net worth at an estimated $1.4 billion.
The 40-year-old striker’s financial ascent comes after he signed a new contract with Saudi side Al-Nassr in June reportedly worth more than $400 million.
Bloomberg said that Ronaldo earned more than $550 million in salary between 2002 and 2023, supplemented by a decade-long Nike deal worth nearly $18 million annually, and lucrative endorsements with Armani, Castrol and others that added more than $175 million to his fortune.
Ronaldo’s move to Al-Nassr from Manchester United in 2023 had already made him the highest-paid player in football history, with an annual salary of 177 million pounds ($237.52 million), plus bonuses and a reported 15% share in his Saudi Arabia club.
Argentina and Inter Miami forward Lionel Messi has earned more than $600 million in pre-tax salary during his career.
Ronaldo’s billionaire status places him among a rare group of athletes that includes basketball greats Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and LeBron James, golfer Tiger Woods and tennis player Roger Federer.
Ronaldo suggested he is not considering retirement any time soon.
“I still have a passion for this,” he said at the Portugal Football Globes gala on Tuesday. “My family says it’s time to quit and they ask me why I want to score 1000 goals if I’ve already scored 900-something. But I don’t think that way inside.
“I’m still producing good things, I’m helping my club and the national team. Why not continue? I am sure that when I finish I will leave full because I gave everything of myself. I know I don’t have many years left to play, but the few I have left, I have to enjoy them to the fullest.”
-Reuters
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Former England soccer captain David Beckham and actor Gary Oldman were knighted in King Charles’ annual birthday honours list on Saturday, while sculptor Antony Gormley was made a Companion of Honour.
Beckham, 50, joined Manchester United as a trainee in 1993, going on to make almost 400 appearances for the club where he won a string of titles and cups.
He subsequently played for Real Madrid, LA Galaxy, and Inter Milan, as well as captaining his country 58 times and making 115 appearances.
His marriage to fashion designer and former Spice Girl Victoria Beckham in 1999 cemented a celebrity status which went far beyond his sporting exploits.
Oldman, 67, started his career on the stage, where he was a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, before rising to prominence in film. He won the best actor Oscar for playing Winston Churchill in the 2017 drama “Darkest Hour”.
He also had roles in the “Dark Knight Trilogy” and the “Harry Potter” movie series and more recently starred in the TV spy drama “Slow Horses”.
Other famous names receiving honours included damehoods for musical theatre star Elaine Paige, novelist Pat Barker and ceramics maker Emma Bridgewater.
Roger Daltrey, lead singer of rock band the Who and a patron of the Teenage Cancer Trust, received a knighthood for services to charity.
More than 1,200 people received honours for their achievements, with a particular focus on those who had given their time to public service, the government said.
King Charles’ official birthday will be celebrated with the annual “Trooping the Colour” military parade in London on Saturday. His actual birthday is on November 14
-Reuters
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One of three judges in Diego Maradona’s closely scrutinized homicide trial in Argentina resigned on Tuesday amid a scandal triggered by the alleged filming of an unauthorised documentary, bringing uncertainty to the future of legal proceedings.
The high-profile trial over the death of soccer star Maradona began on March 11 in the South American country where the World Cup winner is still revered.
-Reuters
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