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Messi breaks 40-year-old goals record:

BARCELONA, Spain — Lionel Messi broke German great Gerd Mueller’s 40-year-old record for most goals in a year by scoring for the 86th time in 2012 on Sunday.

The Argentina forward struck twice for Barcelona to lead 2-0 against Real Betis by the 25th minute of the Spanish league match.

His first was an individual effort in the 16th minute to equal Mueller’s mark, and he eclipsed the 1972 milestone with a familiar left-footed finish nine minutes later.

Messi has scored 74 goals for Barcelona and 12 times for Argentina this year, and he has three more games in which he can add to his tally before the end of the year. Mueller scored 85 for Bayern Munich and West Germany.

The 25-year-old Messi passed Brazil great Pele’s single-season milestone of 75 goals for Brazil and Santos in 1958 with his 75th and 76th goals of the year on Nov. 11 to move into second place behind Mueller.

After his record 50 goals in the Spanish league last campaign, Messi has led Barcelona to the best start in the history of the championship this season with 13 wins and a draw after the opening 14 rounds. The scoring ace has found the net 30 times already this season in all competitions for Barcelona.

Messi, who became a father for the first time on Nov. 2 to a baby boy named Thiago, was announced as one of the three finalists for the FIFA world player of the year award, along with teammate Andres Iniesta and Real Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo.

Messi has won the Ballon d’Or award for the past three years in helping Barcelona win three Spanish league titles and two Champions League crowns, along with various other competitions. He is seeking to become the only player to win the award for a fourth time when the winner is announced in Switzerland on Jan. 7.

http://www.theprovince.com/sports/soccer/Soccer+Lionel+Messi+breaks+year+goals+record/7673541/story.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter#axzz2EbDh4QY7

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  • 2 weeks later...

I haven't been following the sport as much as I'd like to this year, beyond stats and tables and the like.

But what exactly has happened to Chelsea? Are they suffering injuries, or is the team just crumbling?

Did you see the Villa match today, GLASSJAW? The Blues sure looked amazing today. 8-0!

Chelsea, despite this year's "problems", are still in a Champion's League spot, 4th in the Premiership. They are a team in transition. Firing a manager who should never have been fired. Hiring a manager who probably should never been hired (Rafa). Injuries to key players... Aging key players... Youngsters in key positions... No Drogba...

Today's win put them back in the hunt for another run at the EPL Championship. They are now level in goal differential with City and United. Should be an interesting second half of the year. Wouldn't be surprised to see Abramovich take a run at Falcao in the January window.

They'll be fine.

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Yeah I guess I didn't realize there's such a tight race outside the top 3! I thought they were out of it entirely, my mistake

Anyway, I was a bit upset to not see Ronaldo's goal (the one where he does the cheeky heel flick over Pique's head, passing to himself and scores a goal the keeper should have saved) wasn't really recognized on any year-end plays.

I don't know, I thought this was a piece of magic, even if the keeper should have had it:

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Daniel Sturridge says he is "humbled and happy" after formally completing his move from Chelsea to Liverpool.

Liverpool, who had been in talks with the 23-year-old's representatives during December, confirmed the striker had signed a long-term contract. The transfer fee is understood to be in the region of £12m.

Sturridge told Liverpool's website: "I am humbled and happy to be here. Brendan Rodgers said he sees me here for a long time, and I also see myself here for a long time. I've not signed here to play for a couple of years and then move on.

"I've signed to be here for as long as possible. It's a humongous club – for me, one of the biggest in the world – and to have the fans and world-class players we have here is amazing."

Sturridge also said he looked forward to playing alongside Luis Suárez. "To have him as a teammate is great. He's a very good player, very talented and rated as a one of the best players in attacking positions in the world right now. It's good to be part of a team with him in and I'm sure we'll be able to play well together.

"With Luis, Raheem [sterling] and the other players that are here, it's going to be great for myself and I'm sure we'll connect well together. We all have similar attributes, so hopefully we'll be able to create a few nightmares for defenders."

Chelsea are set to replace Sturridge with Newcastle's Demba Ba after being given permission to open talks with the Senegal striker.

For the scousers around here, happy?

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For the scousers around here, happy?

Sturridge has the skills. He has the pace. He is young. When he plays regularly, Sturridge has proved he can score, with 20 goals in his last 49 EPL appearances for Chelsea and Bolton (8 goals in 12 appearances last year). Looks good on paper. The potential is there. Will he meld with Suarez, Gerrard and Sterling? Is he going to play striker in a 4-3-3 or 4-5-1? Will he play a wide forward position in a similar formation? Or, will he play in tandem with Suarez up front in a more traditional 4-4-2 or 4-4-1-1?

If he gets a consistent opportunity to start, match in and match out, I think he will be successful. It's a good signing, IMO, but not a great one. 5 years is a long stretch for a largely unproven player. Demba Ba, a big, powerful striker, was what I was hoping for. Still not a great signing, but, it looks like he may replace Sturridge at Blues, so...

I'm happy, but, not ecstatic, by any means. Reds have to do something to build some depth.

Nice win today over Black Cats. Suarez is in great form right now and Gerrard had his best match of the year today. Both great signs for moving up the table. Only 5 points out of Europe and 7 away from Champions League.

Go, Reds!

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The transfer fee that Liverpool paid for Sturridge was probably inflated by about 3-4x because of the fact he's English.

Teams like Liverpool need to start looking abroad for hidden gems instead of spending ridiculous amounts of money on unproven English talent.

I agree that 12M (undisclosed, as of yet) is steep, but, at the January window, often players are overpriced. I agree, too, Scottish, that his nationality probably has something to do with his high fee. Scouting is the name of the game, today, and clubs, including Reds, need to do a better job scouring the globe for talent. The thing is, there are few secrets anymore with football being so huge globally. The internet and satellite TV have opened up all sorts of opportunities to see players that weren't there even 5 years ago.

In other news, it would be nice if Liverpool's Academy were able to produce more players like Sterling, too.

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Oh... My... God...

Liverpool are lucky to be going through in the FA Cup, footy fans! Luis Suarez' goal, coming only minutes after he came on as a sub for Sturridge, came off of a BLATANT hand ball which led directly to the score. Not only should the goal not have counted, but, Suarez should have received a yellow card for his actions.

I feel bad for Mansfield Town as, statistically, they outplayed the Reds. Liverpool dominated the first half, with 70% possession, but, couldn't put more than Sturridge's debut goal past a solid MT keeper. The second half belonged to MT and they were unlucky not to be heading for a replay at Anfield.

There should be a review system in place for cases like this where the officials completely sh!t the bed on a call that costs a team a match.

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Yessss. Nuri Sahin is coming back to Dortmund.

Liverpool wasted him. Not given a proper chance. Their loss.

Agreed, Scottish. Sahin started off really well but hardly got any playing time since Halloween. I'm not sure what Rogers' plan is in rebuilding Reds or if he even has a plan. Sahin could have been a long term fix for Gerrard. Now Sturridge, who could be a great signing... and Sow rumours... Dalgliesh back in as "ambassador"...

Holy Hell!

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