Argentinian superstar Lionel Messi became the first player to score 400 goals in one of Europe’s top five leagues on this day in 2019.

Messi reached the landmark in his 435th league game for Barcelona, a 3-0 win against Eibar at Camp Nou in a season where he would win his 10th and final La Liga title.

“The figures speak for themselves,” Messi’s coach at the time, Ernesto Valverde, said after the match.

“We don’t know if anyone will ever get close to those statistics but he is unbelievable.”

Cristiano Ronaldo, who throughout his career has vied with Messi to be regarded as the greatest player of their generation, was the first to score 400 goals in Europe’s top five leagues.

The Portuguese star reached the landmark in October 2018 but it took him 63 more appearances to achieve it, and his goals were spread across the English, Spanish and Italian top flights.

At the time Messi reached 400 goals, he had scored 31 hat-tricks for Barcelona, including four occasions where he scored four.

By the time Messi announced his departure from Barcelona in an emotional farewell in August 2021, he had scored an all-time record 474 La Liga goals.

Salary restrictions meant Barca could not afford to keep him, and he moved on to Paris St Germain before joining Inter Miami last summer.

Messi sealed his legacy as one of the all-time greats by leading Argentina to World Cup glory in Qatar in 2022.

Cameron Norrie admits he is concerned about the wrist injury he suffered ahead of the Australian Open.

The British number one was forced to pull out of his quarter-final at the ASB Classic in Auckland, the city where he grew up, on Thursday after feeling pain in his left wrist following a second-round victory over Luca Van Assche.

Norrie is due to play his first match at Melbourne Park on Tuesday against Peruvian Juan Pablo Varillas, and he said: “There was not a particular moment where I felt something happen or anything.

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“The next day I was a bit sore, wasn’t able to play, obviously. I did a scan. It didn’t show anything too much. So I’m here and it’s feeling a bit better.

“I couldn’t play Auckland, so I’m obviously concerned. But we’re managing it with my team. It was better today, which is positive. Luckily I’m scheduled to play on Tuesday, so I have a few more days. I’m looking forward to practice tomorrow.”

The injury is badly timed for 19th seed Norrie, who struggled during the second half of last season and admitted he felt a little burned out.

He was rejuvenated after a strong pre-season, where he worked with new coach Stephen Huss, and claimed an excellent win to start 2024 against in-form Alex De Minaur at the United Cup.

Australian Huss will work alongside Norrie’s main coach Facundo Lagones, with the focus being on training weeks, and Norrie said: “He was so good, such a good influence on everyone in the team.

“He speaks really clearly on what he wants to see and what his ideas are, which I liked. He came in with some really good ideas. Great fit for the team. It was an unbelievable two weeks with him there.

“Great for Facu as well. Facu learnt a lot. I think it was exactly what we needed to talk about a bit more, tactics. I really liked him. There was no ego involved. He came in and he was really excited. He was loving the sessions and the quality we were bringing.

“I’m just pumped to be back on the court playing, competing the way I was there in the United Cup and the match in Auckland. I just want to keep evolving, keep getting better. A lot to learn from last year, but I want to look forward.”

There are also question marks over the fitness of British number two Dan Evans.

The 33-year-old played his first tournament this week in Adelaide after suffering a calf injury in October but admits he is still short of where he needs to be.

“The amount of people who say it’s an old person’s injury, pulling a calf, is astonishing,” said Evans with a wry smile.

“I had to be really cautious with it because all the doctors and physios said to do it again is not what you want. It was my tendon, as well, which is pretty important. My leg is fully fit. Obviously, you have to work the rest up.”

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Evans will take on Italian Lorenzo Sonego in his first match, while second seed Carlos Alcaraz is likely to be waiting should he win that.

“Definitely I can win my first round,” said Evans. “It’s how my body holds up and how it will recover. It was sore last week. I just haven’t had as much practice and training as I would really like.

“But you can have as much practice as you like, if you’re playing Alcaraz, it doesn’t mean you’re going to win anyway.”

Predators spoil Oettinger’s return

Filip Forsberg had a goal and an assist in the third period and Ryan O’Reilly had a goal and two assists to lift the Nashville Predators to a 6-3 win over the Dallas Stars on Friday.

Jeremy Lauzon, Gustav Nyquist and Juuso Parssinen also scored and Roman Josi had three assists for Nashville, which improved to 6-0-1 in its last seven road games.

Dallas’ Jake Oettinger made 32 saves in his first appearance since Dec. 15.

Jani Hakanpaa, Wyatt Johnston and Matt Duchene tallied for the Stars, who had gone 8-3-2 in Oettinger’s absence.

Farabee scores in overtime to lift Flyers

Joel Farabee scored his second goal of the game at 3:36 of overtime to give the Philadelphia Flyers a 4-3 win over the struggling Minnesota Wild.

Tyson Forester and Owen Tippett also had goals for the Flyers, who have won three of four.

Minnesota’s Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 31 shots and remained tied with Patrick Roy for second on the NHL’s career wins list.

The Wild dropped to 1-6-1 in their last eight games since losing star forward Kirill Kaprizov to an injury on Dec. 30.

Mark Allen registered the second 147 of this year’s Masters as he edged past Mark Selby 6-5 and into the semi-finals.

After losing the first two frames, Allen got off the mark by producing another maximum to add to Ding Junhui’s in the opening round at Alexandra Palace, the third of the Northern Irishman’s career.

Selby subsequently moved 4-1 ahead before Allen claimed four frames in a row, including a break of 103, to take the lead.

After Selby brought things level again, Allen took the final frame to book a semi-final clash with Ali Carter.

Speaking after his match, Allen said: “I don’t know where that maximum came from because it was a really poor performance tonight.

“You never know how a match can change. I was applying myself really well, I just couldn’t find any rhythm and, as the match went on, I grew into it.

“Any win against Mark is a good win, so I’ll take that into tomorrow, but I’ll need to play better.”

Carter earlier knocked out defending champion Judd Trump in another contest that went down to the wire.

Carter was losing 5-4 and facing an exit in the 10th frame only for his opponent to over-cut the matchball red, allowing the 44-year-old to seize his chance and produce a 43 clearance to take it to a decider.

Boosted by that momentum, a break of 64 then saw Carter, who had been 4-2 up, only for Trump to fight back with a break of 129 on his way to winning three frames in succession, through to only his second Masters semi in 13 attempts.

“For all the money, I looked like going 5-3 in front and lost my composure for a couple of frames,” Carter said in his post-match interview.

“I felt like I worked really hard but was delighted to make an unbelievable clearance to force a decider.

“Then how I’ve held myself together there, I don’t know – that’s a feather in my cap.”

The other semi-final sees Ronnie O’Sullivan face Shaun Murphy.

David Wagner has “no concern” about the possibility of Jon Rowe leaving Norwich this month after the young winger underlined why he is so highly-rated with a moment of magic at Hull.

Rowe has reportedly been courting interest from West Ham and Aston Villa and the 20-year-old took his tally for the season to a dozen in all competitions with a fabulous solo goal at the MKM Stadium.

After dispossessing Tyler Morton, Rowe jinked forwards then ghosted past a couple of defenders before dispatching a shot with the outside of his right boot, which arced past Ryan Allsop and into the net.

While he helped Norwich record a 2-1 victory to move to within two points and places of the Sky Bet Championship play-offs, interest in Rowe may now increase following his latest star showing.

But when asked how hard it will be to keep hold of Rowe in this transfer window, Wagner said: “I have no concern that there is any problems.”

The Norwich manager was impressed with the overall display of a player who only made his first senior start in the reverse fixture at the outset of the season in August – which the Canaries also won 2-1.

Wagner added: “Obviously the goal was great, this is what he can produce. We have seen this a few times this season. I liked it a lot but what I liked as well was how he worked and defended.

“The effort and the shift he put in defensively for the team was technically very smart. He really supported his full-back, it was a good performance from him.

“If you consider he’s quite young and he made his first senior start at the beginning of the season, it makes it more interesting.”

Christian Fassnacht, who replaced Rowe in the closing stages, struck in the 88th minute and even though Morton’s injury-time screamer set up a grandstand finale, Norwich clung on for a first win of 2024.

After Hull slipped to a fourth defeat in five matches and missed out on a chance to move into the top six, boss Liam Rosenior admitted his frustration with referee Andrew Kitchen.

Norwich defender Dimitrios Giannoulis was perhaps lucky to avoid a red card moments before Rowe’s 36th-minute opener after swinging an arm at Lewie Coyle, while Aaron Connolly was substituted earlier having suffered a concussion.

A collision with visiting goalkeeper Angus Gunn left Connolly needing treatment before he was withdrawn after a quarter of an hour but what especially irked Rosenior was that Norwich were awarded a free-kick from the incident.

Rosenior said: “I can understand why the goalkeeper’s come out, I don’t know if you can punish him because they’re both going for the ball but it’s clearly our free-kick at the least.

“For us to be penalised for that pretty much sums up how I feel the refereeing decisions have gone against us this season. I thought his performance helped them in every aspect of the game.

“We wanted to play football, we wanted to restart the game, they wanted to slow the game down and make tactical fouls and the referee bought every single one.”

Vincent Kompany fumed over the decision to allow Luton’s controversial stoppage-time equaliser as Burnley were denied a crucial three points in a 1-1 draw against their relegation rivals at Turf Moor.

Carlton Morris headed into an empty net after Burnley goalkeeper James Trafford was blocked by Elijah Adebayo as he tried to claim Alfie Doughty’s cross, but referee Tony Harrington was unmoved and VAR Peter Bankes upheld the goal following a lengthy check.

After Zeki Amdouni’s 36th-minute goal, Burnley had been moments away from celebrating a win that would have put them a point behind Luton and within touching distance of safety, but instead it was the Hatters who moved level on points with 17th-placed Everton.

“It’s a joke, a joke,” the Burnley boss said. “I will start by saying 100 per cent respect and credit to Luton, they’re a terrific outfit, what they do as a club, the players, managers, they deserve whatever is coming to them, a really good club.

“In that phase I’ve just got to defend my team, my club. I don’t understand how we can go through this phase and those events and not come to the conclusion it’s a foul.

“The striker, good luck to him, his first look is at the goalkeeper, he has a look and takes a couple of steps back and backs into him, clears a way for his colleague, then has a look at the referee to see if he gets away with it. The ball goes in, none of the Luton players celebrate, nobody.”

Kompany pointed to a series of controversial decisions that have gone against his side this season.

“For those that where there for Aston Villa, Bournemouth, Forest, how many times is it going to keep happening? A couple of lines in the newspaper and on we go. Consequences? Zero,” he said.

“Maybe we get a bit on one of the specialist things where they explain the referee decision but we won’t spend too much time on it because we need to talk about Manchester United and Liverpool. And we move on…

“It’s against my nature because I would like to congratulate Luton and tell my players what we have to do to improve. I’m shocked.

“I’m disappointed but if you know me tomorrow the only people I will blame is ourselves, what can we do better? But hopefully it will balance out and then we’ll get a lot of angry managers from the opposition when it does.”

Luton boss Rob Edwards admitted he would have been disappointed to have been on Burnley’s end of the decision, but did his best to argue there had been no foul.

“Obviously I’m really pleased to get a point,” he said. “In the end that’s nothing less than we deserved. We were excellent. We dominated large spells of the game. In the first half we dominated and looked a threat. In the second half we blocked things up a bit more made it difficult to get behind…

“We showed a lot of control without hurting them but we kept going, the team doesn’t give in and we found a way, whatever way it was.

“It’s difficult. VAR is there to show if a decision is blatantly wrong and I don’t think it is blatantly wrong. But I can understand their frustration. There is contact there with James Trafford but if it hadn’t have been given I would have been frustrated because it was pretty minimal.”

Burnley boss Vincent Kompany expressed his frustration after his side were held 1-1 at home by a controversial late goal from Carlton Morris.

Morris headed into the net in stoppage time following a collision between his fellow Hatters forward Elijah Adebayo and Clarets goalkeeper James Trafford, with referee Tony Harrington unmoved and the effort standing after a lengthy check from VAR.

Kompany told TNT Sports: “I don’t get it anymore. If we get a foul against us that is given as a penalty that is as soft as it is against Aston Villa (the 3-2 loss on December 30), then what is this here?

“There’s a clear attempt to stop the goalkeeper getting up. It doesn’t take anything away from the performance by Luton, I thought they were incredible today. But it’s just a moment there where the referee has to get it right.

“I think any ex-pro will say they understand what the striker has been doing in this case, clearing the room for the other striker.”

Kompany, whose men had led against their relegation rivals through Zeki Amdouni’s 36th-minute strike, added: “First I expect the referee to see it, it was that obvious.

“None of the Luton players have celebrated. The striker (looks) to the referee, to see if he got away with it.

“Luckily we have VAR, we think that is going to sort it out, and then it rolls, it rolls, lack of decision and that’s it, 1-1.

“I’m absolutely fine if we concede this goal and it’s consistent and this is allowed – if everyone can do it, I’ll tell my players to do it.

“But we dropped points at Villa after the softest red card and softest penalty against us, and it just keeps happening.

“Here I’m like ‘what do I go and tell (my players)?’. I don’t understand what’s happened to them a couple of weeks ago, what’s happened to them now. The frustration at this moment is very difficult to hide, it’s very difficult to digest it.”

Mauricio Pochettino admitted he is concerned by Christopher Nkunku’s ongoing injury absence with Chelsea’s attacking options looking stretched ahead of Saturday’s meeting with Fulham.

The France international returned from a five-month lay-off following knee surgery only in December but has missed the team’s last two fixtures with a hip issue.

He has been unable to train since before Chelsea’s FA Cup win over Preston on January 6 and the manager said he is unsure when Nkunku, who was the Bundesliga’s top scorer last season with 16 goals for RB Leipzig before moving to west London for £52million, will be available again.

With fellow summer-signing Nicolas Jackson away representing Senegal at the Africa Cup of Nations for what is likely to be at least the rest of the month, and Armando Broja still looking to find form after being sidelined for nine months with an ACL injury, Pochettino has few options in Nkunku’s absence.

Chelsea’s goalscoring form has improved significantly on last season, when their return of 38 was the club’s lowest in the league for almost a century.

They currently have 34 at the halfway stage of the Premier League campaign, but despite this they have repeatedly found it difficult to break teams down, and have failed to convert high possession figures into   clear chances.

They enjoyed 72 per cent of the ball and had 18 shots on goal during Tuesday’s Carabao Cup semi-final first leg away to Middlesbrough, yet still slumped to a 1-0 defeat at the Riverside.

“I’m a little bit worried because I don’t have the whole information (on Nkunku’s injury),” said Pochettino. “If he’s going to be ready or not, or available (after) a short period.

“We need to be very clinical and, if it’s possible, to take some decision. If not, we need to think about how we can fix the problem.”

The 26-year-old shone during the team’s pre-season tour of the United States before injuring his knee in a game against Borussia Dortmund in Chicago.

That sent early plans for Pochettino, who had hoped to use Nkunku as the focal point of his side’s new-look attack, into disarray, and heaped pressure on Jackson and Broja – both only 22 – to take up the goalscoring mantel.

The club have been linked with possible moves for Brentford’s Ivan Toney and Brighton’s Evan Ferguson in January to help bolster their attack.

“(Nkunku) was the only player that was performing, of course in a different league, in Germany,” said Pochettino. “But consistently scoring goals. That was the situation before the start of the season.

“When (the injury) happened, we needed to see about Broja after one year (out injured), and Jackson moving from Villarreal, where he wasn’t top scorer.

“The age of the players, (they are) young guys that need to adapt. That was why we felt a little bit more the hit of (losing) Nkunku.

“He was consistently scoring goals. When you miss a player like this, you hope that players that maybe came here and need time to grow and score goals, it (became) a necessity, compulsory for Jackson to score in every single touch.

“Or Broja, after one year out, needs now to play three games in a row. It’s difficult for him.

“It makes our job more difficult. It’s exciting this project, but situations like this make it more difficult. You have to grow at a different pace.”

Ange Postecoglou has insisted Tottenham are in the Premier League title race.

Spurs have endured a tricky winter period with a litany of injuries and suspensions, but they remain within touching distance of leaders Liverpool.

Tottenham are also only a point behind Arsenal and Manchester City ahead of Sunday’s clash at Manchester United.

“By definition, we are aren’t we? So, yes we are,” Postecoglou claimed.

“I’ve said all along that until the point where you’re not, why would you discount the possibility?

“We’ve gone through a really tough period and we’re hanging in there. We had four games when results went against us, but we’ve clawed our way back. We’re still in there.

“Our performances for the most part have been pretty consistent, but all that is meaningless if we don’t finish the season stronger than the first half of the season and that’s what we’ve got to do.”

A season of transition was expected for Spurs after they finished eighth last term and sold record scorer Harry Kane on the eve of the campaign.

Postecoglou enjoyed a flying start instead with Tottenham at the summit in November, but a costly 4-1 loss to Chelsea sparked a run of four defeats in five.

Spurs have regrouped admirably since and after securing the additions of Timo Werner and Radu Dragusin this week, the Aussie coach is not prepared to put a limit on his squad’s potential.

“No, I don’t think that would be right for the players and for the club,” Postecoglou added.

“We have scratched and clawed our way into a decent position in the league, we’re into the next round of the cup, those possibilities are always there.

“And we certainly want to tackle them as robustly as possible without any fear or fear of not achieving anything.

“We’ve done it from day one, we’ve had a vision of the sort of football we want to play and some parts are really, really good and have surprised me with the progress and other parts we’re still in the early stages of development.

“We’ve got a platform here to kick on and try on from here.

“It does excite me. Look, that has to be the objective and the aim and we’ve got to take every opportunity we have to get stronger.

“Part of that process is just a trust thing, they have obviously invested in me, you can only gain that trust over a period of time and after doing certain things.

“The club itself probably took a lot of comfort from our summer window knowing they got their business right there and going into this window, saying you want to work quickly, there’s a leap of faith there which the club has to have in me and what I’m doing.

“I think the first part of the season has helped that and hopefully that keeps accelerating because hopefully it can accelerate our work and where we want to get to.”

The prognosis for James Maddison is encouraging with the England international set to return to training next week with the intention of being fit to face Man City in the FA Cup on January 26.

Postecoglou said: “He’s getting closer. He hasn’t trained with the group yet. Obviously after Man United we’ve got two weeks.

“I’ll be hoping between the two Manchester game he’s back training with the first team as long as there’s no setbacks in that two-week window.

“I think we’ve got three games in that week after the Man City game so, him and Manor Solomon are the next two that should be fairly close after that provided there’s no setbacks.”

Erling Haaland is expected to be sidelined until the end of January, Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has said.

The prolific Norwegian striker has missed City’s last eight games, including their Club World Cup triumph in Saudi Arabia, with a foot injury.

City had hoped to welcome the 23-year-old back early in the new year but the problem is proving more troublesome than expected and the player is not yet back in full training.

The expectation now is that he will be able to resume work as the club, without a game next weekend, travel to Abu Dhabi for a warm-weather training camp after Saturday’s game at Newcastle.

Guardiola said: “Yes, (he’s had) a little bit of disturbing problems in his feet. It’s fine but the doctors decided to stop for one week and maybe restart in Abu Dhabi.

“Hopefully at the end of this month he’ll be ready. It was a little bit more than we expected in the beginning.

“It’s the bone. It needs time. With every injury you can do whatever you want but it’s a question of time.”

Haaland scored 52 goals last season during an outstanding first campaign with City and had already netted 19 this term.

Guardiola feels his firepower has been sorely missed.

“We miss Erling a lot,” the Spaniard said. “We need him. Hopefully he can come back and play the last four or five months without a problem.

“When you are injured at end of November, you miss a lot of games. It’s the toughest period.”

In a further blow for City, defender Manuel Akanji is facing a spell on the sidelines.

The Switzerland international was forced off early in last weekend’s FA Cup victory over Huddersfield following a heavy challenge.

He joins centre-back John Stones on the casualty list.

Guardiola said: “He will be some weeks out. It’s not a big problem but until the end of the month.

“Now we’re lucky that we don’t have games in the next 10 days after Newcastle. We’ll see how they feel in the good weather in Abu Dhabi.”

Chauncey Billups lamented a "perfect storm" as the Portland Trail Blazers fell to a 139-77 defeat to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Friday.

The 62-point margin of defeat was the joint-fifth largest in NBA history and marked a record victory for the Thunder in franchise history.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander registered 31 points at Paycom Center and Jalen Williams 21, while Josh Giddey had a triple-double.

"It was almost like a perfect storm, to be honest with you," Billups told reporters after the game. "Nothing really worked for us.

"I mean, this was, sheesh – not much really good to say about this one for us. 

"I thought that we generated some pretty good looks in the first half. The fact that we couldn't make pretty much anything deflated us."

Only once before have the Trail Blazers been on the end of a worse defeat – a 65-point loss to Indiana Pacers in 1998.

The victory for Oklahoma City was their third in a row, having also defeated the Miami Heat and the Washington Wizards this week.

Coach Mark Daigneault was particularly pleased with how his side adapted after returning home in the early hours of the same day.

"I thought we cleared a couple hurdles tonight," Daigneault said. 

"The first one was the start of the game, how ready we were to play and the energy we were able to generate with a tough schedule.

"It's mind over matter. And then the other hurdle was playing with a lead. I thought we played pretty well with a lead, both ends of the floor."

Oklahoma City's previous record margin of victory was 45 points, which they registered twice in the 2012-13 season.

The 26-11 Thunder are level with the Minnesota Timberwolves for the best record in the Western Conference. Portland are 10-27 and are in 14th.

Carlton Morris’ controversial stoppage-time equaliser denied Burnley what would have been a crucial victory over relegation rivals Luton as it finished 1-1 at Turf Moor.

Zeki Amdouni’s 36th-minute strike looked like seeing Burnley complete the double over Rob Edwards’ side, but Morris headed home Alfie Doughty’s cross in the second minute of stoppage time.

Celebrations were muted as Burnley appealed for what looked like a foul – goalkeeper James Trafford having been barged out of the way by Elijah Adebayo as he tried to come for the cross.

But referee Tony Harrington was unmoved and after a lengthy check from VAR Peter Bankes the goal stood, to the fury of the home fans.

Up until that moment, Burnley had been good value for a win that would have left them one point behind the Hatters and two behind 17th-placed Everton, who host Aston Villa on Sunday, but their failure to hang on could be hugely costly come the end of the season.

Amdouni’s strike may have taken a deflection off Johann Berg Gudmundsson as it beat Thomas Kaminski on the line, but few inside Turf Moor would have cared about that had it delivered victory in a fixture which had taken on huge importance for both sides.

Luton had more of the ball but it was Burnley who had looked more threatening, with Wilson Odobert in particular showing why Vincent Kompany had said the 19-year-old was among a group of players whose emergence persuaded him to pull a contract offer to Andros Townsend, who instead started for Luton.

Burnley had a huge chance seven minutes in when Amdouni’s pass put Gudmundsson through on goal, but former Blackburn goalkeeper Kaminski got down to make a vital save.

And that looked like it might be costly for Burnley as Luton seized control of the game for the next 25 minutes, with Ross Barkley dictating play and going close himself with a curling shot touched over by Trafford.

Chiedozie Ogbene tested Trafford from a tight angle before playing a low ball in for Albert Sambi Lokonga, who was guilty of scuffing a very presentable chance.

Burnley were struggling to get over the halfway line but Odobert always looked their most likely outlet down the left-hand side.

The teenager cut in from the left and watched a curling shot drift just over in the 35th minute, but then set up the opening goal moments later.

Odobert got past Teden Mengi inside the box and pulled the ball back, with his cross taking a slight deflection to fall for Amdouni to fire at goal, beating Kaminski as Gudmundsson applied pressure.

Burnley made a bright start to the second half and Lyle Foster should have played Amdouni in, instead over-hitting his pass inside the box. Next, Josh Cullen’s pass found Vitinho, who easily turned away from Doughty but sent his left-footed shot over the crossbar.

Odobert was unlucky just after the hour, cutting inside to get away from Ogbene before his shot took a wicked deflection off Mengi, forcing Kaminski to scramble over and push the ball to safety.

Odobert went close again 10 minutes from time. Substitute Connor Roberts, strongly linked with a January move to Leeds, took a free-kick quickly to set Odobert away down the right and he darted towards goal before stinging the palms of Kaminski.

But just as Burnley fans prepared to celebrate, the mood changed in stoppage time. Trafford had comfortably collected everything Luton had thrown at him late in the game and should have had Doughty’s cross under control.

But Adebayo blocked his path and that left an open goal for Morris to score his fourth of the season.