entertainment gist

  Royston Drenthe has joined the 12th club of his career after being unveiled by Spanish minnows Racing Murcia a month after being declared bankrupt having lost £3.2m fortune to failed music and acting career.    The former Real Madrid and Everton winger was unveiled on Thursday after making the shock move to the Spanish lower leagues.      The 33-year-old's move from Dutch second division side Kozakken Boys to the third division in Spain comes just a month after he was declared bankrupt by a court in Holland.    Drenthe spoke to Dutch site voetbalzone following the court verdict, saying the decision will not be final as he explained at that time that his lawyer was on holiday when the verdict was handed down.     'I don't know the ins and outs and I don't know exactly what's going on, but if this is what I think it is, it's not that important,' he told the website.   'I'm always under a magnifying glass, but it will be resolve...

  Real Madrid striker, Karim Benzema will face trial for his alleged involvement in blackmailing former France teammate Matthieu Valbuena in a 'sex tape' scandal, the Versailles prosecutor's office said on Thursday.    The 33-year-old, who is of Algerian descent, is accused of having pressured his former national team teammate to pay blackmailers who threatened to reveal an intimate video in which Valbuena featured.      The prosecutor's office has now announced in a statement to The Associated Press that he will stand trial on the charge of conspiracy to attempt blackmail. A date for the trial has yet to be set.   Following his suspected involvement in the scandal, Benzema was banned from the national team in November 2015.    The investigators who charged Benzema believe he was approached by a childhood friend that year to act as an intermediary and convince Valbuena to deal directly with the blackmailers. Instead, Valbuena informed the pol...

  Cristiano Ronaldo has passed Brazil's Pele to become the second-highest goalscorer ever with his double against Udinese.   The Juventus and  Portuguese forward, 35, scored twice, his 757th and 758th goal of his illustrious career in the 4-1 win for his club to keep the pressure on the top four in Serie A.     Pele registered 757 goals during his career for Santos, New York Cosmos, and Brazil between 1956 and 1977, but now sits third in the all-time list with Ronaldo now one goal behind Josef Bican's total of 759.    Ronaldo will now be looking for the opportunity to equal and then eclipse Bican when Juventus visit AC Milan on Wednesday night.    Meanwhile, Barcelona and Argentina captain Lionel Messi is behind Ronaldo in the all-time record for club and country with 742 goals.

  Galatasaray star, Omar Elabdellaoui was rushed to hospital with fears he may be partially blinded in the eyes after a firework exploded in his hand while celebrating the end of 2020 at his home.   The Norwegian defender, 29, is said to be in serious condition after the horror accident on New Year's Eve.   A club statement confirmed the former Manchester City star had suffered burns to his face and damage to his eyes, with the extent of the damage not yet known.   The statement read: "Our player Omar Elabdellaoui, who was taken to our sponsor hospital Liv Hospital after an unfortunate accident at his home in the evening, was given the first intervention.   "The damage to the eyes of our player who has burns on his face will be understood after further examinations.   "A lot of information will be given about the developments regarding our conscious and life-threatening player."   Galatasaray vice president Abdurrahim Albayrak, coach Fatih Terim and ca...

  The unified WBA, IBF and WBO champion, Anthony Joshua has confirmed he is willing to vacate his WBO heavyweight title, if this helps secure a fight with WBC and Lineal Champion, Tyson Fury in 2021. Joshua defended his belts against IBF mandatory Kubrat Pulev on December 12, and now wants to face the current boxing golden goose Fury in an attempt to get all the belts. A potential hurdle in the way of Joshua fighting Fury is his WBO mandatory challenger– Oleksandr Usyk. Usyk was made the official challenger in June 2019 and has been waiting for his shot to fight Joshua for 18 months. The WBO previously allowed two exceptions for AJ to rematch Andy Ruiz Jr and then fight Pulev, but now insist their mandatory is now due and could take Joshua to court if he decides not to fight Usyk. This could prevent the British super fight between Joshua and Fury that everybody wants to see. Fury is undefeated in his career while Joshua has only lost once.     Now Joshua says he is willin...

  Football star, Neymar, 28, has denied reports he plans to host a New Year's party involving 150 people at his mansion in Brazil . According to reports, the Paris Saint-Germain star, was putting together a celebration at his mansion in Mangaratiba that will last five days, despite the Covid-19 pandemic which has claimed over 190,000 lives in Brazil. But his lawyers have now released a statement saying he has nothing to do with the party, which is being organised by company Agencia Fabrica. On Monday, November 28, Agencia Fabrica insisted the event will adhere to strict health and safety measures to prevent the spread of Covid-19. A statement from the party organisers read: "Agencia Fabrica clarifies that it is the creator and producer of New Year's Eve event in the Costa Verde region, in the State of Rio de Janeiro, which will receive approximately 150 people. "The event will take place in compliance with all health standards determined by public agencies. The compan...

  The Premier League has announced 18 new positive Covid-19 cases among players and staff, the highest weekly total since Project Restart.    According to Mail Online, the latest round of testing saw 1,479 players and staff tested and the results show an increase in last week's total a day after Everton's clash with Manchester City got postponed.    Positive tests reported by City on Monday was not included in the latest results, so 13 cases have emerged at other clubs.      A statement by Premier League read:   The Premier League can today confirm that between Monday 21 December and Sunday 27 December, 1,479 players and club staff were tested for COVID-19.   Of these, there were 18 new positive tests.   Players or club staff who have tested positive will self-isolate for a period of 10 days.   The Premier League is providing this aggregated information for the purposes of competition integrity and transparency.   No speci...

  Arsenal defender, Gabriel  Magalhaes has tested positive for coronavirus and will miss matches with Brighton and West Brom.   The Gunners revealed on Boxing Day that the Brazilian footballer star was self-isolating after a close contact tested positive for the disease, missing the 3-1 home victory over Chelsea.   The 23-year-old, whose test has now returned positive, will now sit out Arsenal's meetings with Brighton on Tuesday and West Brom on Saturday.   An official club statement said: 'Gabriel has tested positive for Covid-19 and is isolating according to UK Government and Premier League protocols.   'We will continue to monitor and support Gabriel, and we are hoping he will be available again after our next two matches.'   Gabriel's diagnosis was announced after Manchester City's match with Everton got called off because of an outbreak among City's squad and playing staff. credit: lindaikejisblog

  Patrick Bamford's early penalty earned Leeds a controversial 1-0 win over Burnley in the Premier League on Sunday, while West Ham twice came from behind to draw 2-2 with Brighton. Marcelo Bielsa's men now enjoy a nine-point cushion over the drop zone as they moved up to 11th, but needed luck on their side as Burnley were denied an equaliser through Ashley Barnes by a refereeing error. The only goal at Elland Road came after just five minutes when Bamford latched onto a long ball over the top and was wiped out by the onrushing Nick Pope. Bamford fired home the resulting penalty into the top corner for his 10th goal of the season. Burnley felt doubly aggrieved when Barnes smashed home after Illan Meslier fumbled a high ball into the box on 17 minutes. The French goalkeeper was awarded a free-kick for backing in by Ben Mee and despite Meslier appearing to be the aggressor, the goal could not be reviewed by VAR as referee Robert Jones had blown for the foul before the ball hit th...

  Thomas Tuchel has been sacked by Paris Saint-Germain and is set to be replaced by Mauricio Pochettino.   The former Borussia Dortmund boss, 47, who joined the club at the beginning of the 2018-19 season, won six trophies with Les Parisiens, including back-to-back Ligue 1 titles, Coupe de France and Coupe de la Ligue in 2020.   But Wednesday night’s 4-0 win over Strasbourg was the end of the road for Tuchel despite PSG being third in the French league, just one point off top spot.   Before the game, Tuchel had given an interview in his homeland in which he was quoted as saying he had, at times, felt more like "a sports politician or sports minister than a coach" during his tenure.   After the win over Strasbourg, he attempted to clarify those comments to  Canal+, saying:  "I didn't say it's more about politics than sport, nor that I lost the fun of training. This is not true... It is possible they translated incorrectly.   "Watch the video interv...