CELEBRITY
RONALDO MARKS 600TH LEAGUE GAME WITH LANDMARK GOAL
Cristiano Ronaldo marked his 600th league appearance with his 20th Serie A goal of the season as Juventus beat Spezia 3-0 on Tuesday (March 2) to move within three points of second-placed AC Milan.
The Portuguese guided in his side’s third goal late on after Alvaro Morata and Federico Chiesa had struck earlier in the second half to put Andrea Pirlo’s side in a commanding position.
Ronaldo, who also hit the post with an effort in the first half, becomes the first player to score at least 20 goals in each of the last 12 seasons in Europe’s top five leagues.
The win leaves Juve third with 49 points from 24 games, behind Milan on 52 and leaders Inter with 56, both of whom are in action this week against Udinese and Parma respectively.
The gap still leaves Juventus with work to do in their quest for a 10th consecutive league title.
“If we don’t win it at the end of the season, we will congratulate the winners, but we must die on the pitch first, until we’re told that there are no more points left to play for,” Morata told Sky Italia.
“That’s what we must do, as long as we have a mathematical chance, we will fight until the end.”
Double substitution
Pirlo’s Juve side slipped up with a draw at mid-table Hellas Verona on Saturday and knew they could not afford any more mistakes, having fallen 10 points behind league leaders Inter.
But they lost defender Matthijs De Ligt to injury in the warm-up and struggled in the opening period, coming closest when Ronaldo dribbled into the box and curled a shot off the foot of the post.
The double introduction of Morata and Federico Bernardeschi with half an hour remaining proved decisive, as the winger teed up the Spanish striker to score his first league goal since December within 60 seconds of coming on.
“Morata is a fundamental player for us; he has a lot of quality, knows how to work with the team, how to attack the space and score goals,” Pirlo said.
“He’s the player that we wanted. Unfortunately he has been missing lately but now we hope he can get back to his best quickly.”
Bernardeschi was involved again as he found Chiesa in the box for Juve’s second goal, with the latter scoring on the rebound after his initial effort was parried by Ivan Provedel.
Ronaldo then broke upfield and scored with a composed finish in the 89th minute to seal the win, although Spezia squandered the chance for a consolation goal when Wojciech Szczesny saved Andrey Galabinov’s penalty with the final kick of the game.
-Reuters
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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