Lionel Messi: No Cristiano Ronaldo rift

Barcelona star Lionel Messi played down suggestions of a personal rift with Real Madrid rival Cristiano Ronaldo as the two prepare for another battle on the pitch this season.

Barcelona hosts Real Sociedad and Real Madrid tackles Valencia as La Liga gets under way this weekend, with the Catalans out to recapture the crown they lost to Madrid last season after three straight titles.

The battle to be named the best player on the planet between Messi and Ronaldo continues as a long-running sideshow, but Messi insists there is nothing personal in it as far as he is concerned.

"I respect him, but I have no relationship with him, as I don't with a lot of other footballers," he told Spanish newspaper Marca.

"I have relationships with my Barcelona clubmates, and with the international squad, Argentinian players who I've got to know well over the years.

"There's never been any kind of anger toward Cristiano.

"It's all made up by the press who want to believe there's a constant duel between the two of us, but I don't compete with Cristiano, nor does he with me."

Barcelona begins life in the post-Pep Guardiola age with new manager Tito Vilanova taking charge of his first league game.

But there have been few other changes at the club, with Jordi Alba the only high profile signing.

On Sunday, Barca will take on a Real Sociedad team that finished six points from relegation last season but was among several clubs to take a point off Barcelona in the early stages of the campaign -- a run Guardiola's team never recovered from as it tried to catch Madrid.

Madrid kicks off, also on Sunday, against a Valencia side that has done much rebuilding this summer, with its six new signings including two midfielders -- Sergio Canales and Fernando Gago -- who have arrived from the Bernabeu.

Valencia finished third last season, but were 30 points adrift of Barcelona.

The action begins on Saturday with a match between newly promoted Celta Vigo and a Malaga team that finished fourth last season but is now downgrading expectations after the scaling back of Sheikh Al Thani's spending and the departure of Santi Cazorla to Arsenal.

Sevilla tackles Getafe and Real Mallorca hosts Espanyol in Saturday's other matches.

Copa del Rey holder Athletic Bilbao faces Real Betis on Sunday before two Europa League-bound teams, Levante and Atletico Madrid, face off.

The two other promoted teams, Deportivo La Coruna and Valladolid, must wait until Monday to get their campaigns started.

Deportivo hosts Osasuna while Valladolid travels to Real Zaragoza. Rayo Vallecano hosts Granada, also on Monday.

Footballer Mario Balotelli expecting baby with ex-girlfriend

The 21 year old footballer is expecting a child with his 24 year old ex-girlfriend Raffaella Fico who is a model. Raffaella revealed this week that she found out she was pregnant in May a month after they broke up. Raffaella and Mario dated for over a year but broke up in April this year because of the footballer's alleged affairs with other women. Raffaella herself once dated Footballer Cristiano Ronaldo.
Raffaella told reporters that Mario is excited about being a dad and they might reconcile for the sake of their child. 

Nigerian Footballer Dies While Playing on the Pitch

A 21 year old Nigeria footballer Henry Chinonso Ihelewere playing football in Romania died today (Sunday) while on the pitch. Ihelewere plays for CS Delta Tulcea,Romania second division club.His team was playing against a local team known as FC Balotești when the incident happened.

How did the footballer died? Soccer lounge gathered that Chinoso was already active on the pitch but after about 15 minutes, he collapsed and an ambulance had to be called in.He could not be resucicated for close to an hour.The medical team later pronounced him dead. The actual cause of the death is still unknown as at the time of going to the press.

Just few months back, Fabrice Muamba a midfielder for Bolton Wanderers in UK collapsed on the football pitch in a match against Tottenham. Muamba stopped breathing and many thought he was dead but his heart ‘re-started’ again after 78 minutes at the London Chest Hospital.