Football heroes of the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris While there were expectations that Lionel Messi would play for Argentina, Kylian Mbappe chose to compete in his home city's Olympics this year. However, the men's football competition at the Paris Games will not feature many big-name players. Being the most well-known athlete in the nation hosting the Games this year, Mbappe's inclusion in coach Thierry Henry's Olympic team would have greatly aided the organizing committee and increased the team's chances of taking home the gold. Olympic 2024 Mbappe, 25, played for the French team that advanced to the Euro 2024 semifinals in Germany, but he had to accept that his new team, Real Madrid, would not permit him to play right away. The issue with the men's football competition is that it starts on Wednesday and ends on August 9. For international football, clubs are not required to release players for a tournament that takes place outside of the regular FIFA window,...

Messi scored his 600th goal for Barcelona in some style with an absolutely  stunning Champions League    free-kick against Liverpool. Messi went into Wednesday night's semi-final first leg having scored his 598th club goal for Barcelona over the weekend against Levante, sealing the LaLiga title in the process. Standing over a dead ball 35 yards out, and with Alisson Becker to beat, Messi duly slammed the ball into the top right-hand corner of the Liverpool goalkeeper's net to leave the Camp Nou crowd elated. Even Jurgen Klopp seemed to be laughing on the touchline at the sheer brilliance of the goal, with Messi adding yet another peach of an effort to a long list of goals from free-kicks this season. Cristiano Ronaldo also scored the 600th goal of his storied club career in a 1-1 draw away to Inter in Serie A on Saturday.