Maguire is suspended for the clash.

Harry Maguire reportedly turned down the chance to become Inter Miami’s latest high-profile signing before signing a new deal at Manchester United. The England defender penned a new one-year …

The 26-year-old Argentina forward looks set for a decisive few months, beginning with a Champions League quarter-final at Barcelona

The Soccer Sharps betting podcast takes on Europa League football for the first time this season! Hosts and handicappers, Devin and Jordan, preview each first leg match of the Europa League quarter-finals, delivering expert analysis and advice while sharing their predictions. The show closes out with best bets and Official Plays. 00:00 Introduction 04:23 Braga vs Real Betis 08:02 Bologna vs Aston Villa 12:42 FC Porto vs Nottingham Forest 19:22 SC Freiburg vs Celta Vigo 23:20 Official Plays 👉 Drop your picks in the comments! 📈 Let’s crush these plays and make some money together! ⚽ JOIN OUR DISCORD SERVER: https://discord.gg/cx7WJKWabQ 👀 VIEW OUR P&L SPEADSHEETS: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1jca0dVIW7FumZ27VEcyhdre0Ke5gh7C6?usp=sharing 📧 EMAIL US: [email protected] ❤️ FOLLOW US ON SOCIALS: ✅ X: @TheSoccerSharps ✅ TikTok: thesoccersharps ✅ Instagram: @TheSoccerSharps ✅ Bluesky: @thesoccersharps.bsky.social The Soccer Sharps podcast is a part of The Hooligan Soccer Network. https://hooligan-soccer.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

2026 World Cup Leer

After the early exit in the Champions Cup, Lionel Messi's Inter Miami suffered a drop of four places in the CONCACAF rankings. Inter Miami have struggled to live up to the expectations that surrounded them heading into the season, suffering an early setback with an earlier-than-expected elimination from the 2026 CONCACAF Champions Cup. The Herons’ inconsistent run has now cost them in the standings, with Lionel Messi‘s side dropping four places in the CONCACAF club rankings. Ahead of the start of both the 2026 MLS season and the Champions Cup back in February, CONCACAF published their updated club rankings with Inter Miami sitting third, ahead of every MLS side and trailing only Toluca and Cruz Azul. Two months on, the picture looks considerably different for the Herons. Cruz Azul has since overtaken Toluca as the top-ranked club in CONCACAF, while Inter Miami have tumbled from third down to seventh in the same two-month span. The Herons have been leapfrogged by Seattle Sounders, LAFC, Club America and Tigres UANL, all of whom have boosted their standing by advancing to the quarterfinals of the current Champions Cup. Nashville’s series: the biggest blow for Inter Miami As CONCACAF explains, its rankings are calculated using a weighted system that factors in performances across domestic leagues, national cups, continental tournaments and global competitions. Inter Miami had climbed to third on the strength of their 2025 MLS Cup triumph, but their recent results have steadily eroded that standing. Lionel Messi #10 of Inter Miami CF dribbles the ball against Jeisson Palacios #4 of Nashville SC. The most damaging blow came in the CONCACAF Champions Cup, where Messi and company entered directly at the Round of 16 and were promptly knocked out by Nashville SC in a shocking upset. Combined with an inconsistent MLS campaign featuring three wins, two draws and one defeat, the Herons have seen their status as one of the continent’s dominant clubs take a significant hit. Are Inter Miami relying too much on Messi? Inter Miami’s slide in the CONCACAF rankings is also a reflection of a broader concern about the team’s overall trajectory, having fallen short in one of their primary objectives for the 2026 season. The issue is not a decline in Messi’s individual level, but rather the extent to which the team has become dependent on him to produce. Through six MLS games, Inter Miami have scored 11 goals, with Messi leading the way as the team’s top scorer with five. No other player has managed more than one goal, with the rest of the tally spread across six different scorers including Mateo Silvetti, Telasco Segovia, Rodrigo De Paul, Gonzalo Luján, Micael and most recently Luis Suárez, while designated strikers Tadeo Allende and German Berterame have struggled to find the net. The lack of firepower from the supporting cast is further highlighted by Messi’s own numbers, as the Argentine has yet to register a single assist through five MLS appearances despite posting an expected assists figure of 1.71 on SofaScore and averaging 2.2 key passes per game. After finishing the 2025 regular season with 81 goals in 34 games, a rate of 2.4 per match, Inter Miami’s current average of 1.8 goals per game is a sign of a team running well below its capabilities, and a problem head coach Javier Mascherano will need to address sooner rather than later.

Ecuador se impuso ante Uruguay y sumó tres puntos importantes para mantenerse líder en la tabla. Colombia superó a Chile por la mínima y escaló posiciones en el Grupo A. La CONMEBOL Sub17 2026 disputó la primera jornada del Grupo A correspondiente a la Fecha 3, este martes 7 de abril, en el estadio CARFEM de Ypané – Paraguay. La selección ecuatoriana venció 2-1 a Uruguay y se mantiene como líder de la tabla. Por su parte, Colombia superó 1-0 a Chile en un duelo parejo, imponiéndose por la mínima diferencia para quedarse con tres puntos importantes en su camino hacia la clasificación. Ver esta publicación en Instagram Una publicación compartida de CONMEBOLtorneos (@conmeboltorneos) Próxima jornada – 8 de abril – Fecha 3 | Grupo B: Bolivia vs. Perú – Estadio Ameliano, Villeta. Venezuela vs. Argentina – Estadio Ameliano, Villeta. Ecuador 2-1 Uruguay - Grupo A Ecuador superó 2-1 a Uruguay en el duelo inaugural de la jornada y se mantiene como líder del grupo. Jhon Chica abrió el marcador para Ecuador a los 12’, mientras que Nicolás Scotti igualó a los 28’ para la ‘Celeste’. En la segunda mitad, Steven Guerrero anotó a los 67’ y selló el triunfo para la ‘Tri’. Ver esta publicación en Instagram Una publicación compartida de CONMEBOLtorneos (@conmeboltorneos) - Números del partido - Ecuador ganó cuatro de sus últimos seis partidos contra Uruguay en CONMEBOL Sub17 (2D), después de haber ganado solo uno de sus anteriores cinco duelos con la Celeste en el torneo (2E 2D). Desde 2009, Ecuador arranca un CONMEBOL Sub17 sin derrota en sus primeros tres partidos (2V 1E) por cuarta vez, tras 2011 (2V 1E), 2015 (3V) y 2019 (2V 1E). Hólger Quintero (1G 1A) es el primer jugador de Ecuador que marca y asiste en esta edición del CONMEBOL Sub17, mientras que Nicolás Scotti (1G 1A) es el primero que lo hace para Uruguay en el torneo en 2026. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdtXlEVNX10 Colombia 1-0 Chile - Grupo A Colombia se impuso 1-0 a Chile y escaló posiciones en la tabla del Grupo A. José Escorcia anotó el único tanto del encuentro a los 49' de la primera etapa. Ver esta publicación en Instagram Una publicación compartida de CONMEBOLtorneos (@conmeboltorneos) - Números del partido - Colombia anotó su segundo gol de penal en las últimas dos ediciones del CONMEBOL Sub17, con la apertura del marcador hoy ante Chile. De hecho, solo el conjunto colombiano y el chileno tienen más de un gol por esta vía en este lapso, ambos con dos. Colombia realizó 25 remates ante Chile en este partido, la mayor cantidad de disparos en un encuentro de la actual CONMEBOL Sub17, junto a lo hecho por Paraguay ante Ecuador. Colombia extiende su invicto actual en CONMEBOL Sub17 a cinco partidos (3V 2E), su mejor racha en el torneo desde una similar en 2009 (3V 2E). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8c60Vh-zLkU – Dónde ver – Ver esta publicación en Instagram Una publicación compartida de CONMEBOLtorneos (@conmeboltorneos) CONMEBOL.com/OPTA

With his hat-trick against Orlando City, LAFC star Denis Bouanga claimed the fifth MLS Player of the Matchday award in his career, but remains far from legends Lionel Messi and Hani Mukhtar. Denis Bouanga was one of the standout performers of Matchday 6 in the 2026 MLS season, scoring a hat trick in LAFC‘s dominant 6-0 win over Orlando City. The Gabonese striker claimed his fifth career MLS Player of the Matchday award in the process, though he still has plenty of ground to make up on Inter Miami’s Lionel Messi and Nashville SC’s Hany Mukhtar. In Saturday’s rout of Orlando, Son Heung-min turned heads by registering four assists in the first half alone, matching one of Messi’s records in the process, though three of those passes set up Bouanga, who made no mistake in front of goal. MLS opted to award the goalscorer over the South Korean as the match’s standout player. It marked Bouanga’s first Player of the Matchday honor of the 2026 season and the fifth of his MLS career since joining LAFC in 2022. That total places him among the top three active players in the category, trailing only Mukhtar and Messi. Keeping pace with that duo, however, will be no easy feat. Mukhtar sits second on the all-time active list with eight Player of the Matchday awards since arriving at Nashville SC in 2020. Denis Bouanga #99 of Los Angeles Football Club shoots and scores against LD Alajuelense. Topping that list is an even steeper climb. Messi leads all active players with 13 MLS Matchday awards, eight more than Bouanga, having become the first player to claim six across back-to-back seasons in 2024 and 2025. He has already added another in 2026, taking home the Matchday 2 honor, also against Orlando City, a strong sign that his form shows no signs of fading. Bouanga chasing hat-trick record Unlike Messi and Mukhtar, who operate more as playmakers, Bouanga has built his MLS reputation on his goal-scoring ability. Saturday’s hat trick pushed his regular-season contributions to 99, with 69 goals and 30 assists in 107 games. Netting all three goals within the first 28 minutes also made it the fourth-fastest hat trick from the opening whistle in MLS history. One milestone he is firmly chasing is the all-time MLS regular-season hat-trick record. His tally now stands at five, leaving him within striking distance of Josef Martinez’s mark of seven. By contrast, Messi has scored just two MLS hat tricks, both with Inter Miami, with the most recent coming in October 2025 against Nashville.

Italy legend Dino Baggio shared his opinion on why Diego Maradona is considered even better than Lionel Messi. Approaching the end of his professional career, Lionel Messi is regarded by many as the greatest player of all time. However, in that debate, other heavyweights come into play, such as Diego Maradona, whom Italy icon Dino Baggio considered the number one. During an interview with Diario AS, the former Juventus and Parma midfielder was asked about his view of modern soccer, particularly Serie A, comparing it with the 1980s and 1990s. Baggio acknowledged that it was more difficult to play in Italy back then: “Perhaps Messi could have had problems here in his day.” That led the conversation toward the differences in soccer over the years. Dino based his opinion on the fact that a few decades ago referees were more lenient when it came to physical contact, resulting in a harsher sport for talented players. “Today, fouls are called before contact, practically,” Baggio noted, before highlighting who he considered the best player in the world during those years. “Maradona, in modern times, would score a thousand goals per season. You can’t imagine what they would hit him with when he was at Napoli,” said the 1994 FIFA World Cup finalist. Dino Baggio playing for Italy vs England in a World Cup qualifier in 1997. Immediately, Dino Baggio compared the two Argentine superstars and pointed out the difference between them: “Messi, back then, would have been equally brilliant, but completely, absolutely crushed. That’s why I say Diego was the greatest. The God of world soccer.” Comparisons between Messi and Maradona Dino Baggio is not the first to highlight the contrast between the leniency of the past and the extreme caution of modern soccer. This is usually one of the arguments used to place stars from previous decades, like Diego Maradona, Pele, or Alfredo Di Stefano, above modern geniuses like Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo. Some statistics support this view. FIFA shared an analysis on its official website a few years ago regarding the number of fouls committed in each edition of the World Cup (with records starting in Chile 1962) and the players who were most frequently fouled. There is an indisputable leader in the rankings. Diego Maradona is the player who received the most fouls in World Cup history, totaling 152 across his four tournaments (1982, 1986, 1990, and 1994). He doubles the second player on the list, Lionel Messi, who was fouled 75 times across his five tournaments from 2006 onwards. Further down are Brazil’s Jairzinho (64), Neymar (60), and Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo (58). The most astonishing fact is that Maradona ranks first, second, and third for the most fouls received in a single World Cup. In Mexico 1986, he was fouled 53 times; in Italy 1990, 50 times; and in Spain 1982, 36 times. Only in fourth place does another player appear—curiously also Argentine—Ariel Ortega, with 33 fouls in France 1998.

Kylian Mbappe scored for Real Madrid against Bayern Munich and joined stars like Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo in a select UEFA Champions League group. On Tuesday, Real Madrid lost 2-1 to Bayern Munich in the first leg of the UEFA Champions League quarterfinals. Kylian Mbappe scored for the Spanish side, joining Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo in an elite group: players who have scored the most goals in a single edition of the competition. In the 74th minute, Real Madrid were down 0-2 and Bayern Munich had chances to extend their lead, which would have all but sealed the tie. In that context, a low cross from Trent Alexander-Arnold found the French forward inside the box for Los Blancos’ goal. That was Mbappe’s 14th goal in this season’s European campaign. So far, only six players had scored that many or more in a single Champions League edition since its creation in 1955, according to statistics expert Mister Chip on his X account. Top scorers in a single Champions League edition The first player to score 14 goals in a single Champions League edition was Jose Altafini, an AC Milan legend, who reached that mark in 1963 while leading the Italian side to its first European title. That record stood until 2003, when Ruud van Nistelrooy matched it with Manchester United. Real Madrid are back in the tie 👊 Kylian Mbappé with a fine finish from an incredible assist by Trent Alexander-Arnold ⚪️ pic.twitter.com/9wFJWh4XVk — CBS Sports Golazo ⚽️ (@CBSSportsGolazo) April 7, 2026 From that point on, several other players have reached – and surpassed – the 14-goal mark: Lionel Messi, Robert Lewandowski, Karim Benzema, and Cristiano Ronaldo. The Portuguese star holds a special place on this list, as he is the only player to achieve it on three separate occasions. Mbappe can keep making Champions League history Real Madrid’s 2-1 defeat at the Santiago Bernabeu does not mean the tie is settled in Bayern Munich’s favor. The teams will meet again next week in Germany, where anything can happen. Kylian Mbappe will not only look to help his team reach the semifinals but also continue adding to his goal tally. At best, he could have up to four more matches left in the Champions League if Real Madrid reach the final. That could allow him to challenge Cristiano Ronaldo’s record for most goals in a single edition of the competition. The Portuguese forward set the mark in 2013-14, scoring 17 goals during Real Madrid’s title run. Mbappe is just three goals away from that record, and at his current pace, he could realistically reach it. At the same time, the French star is climbing the all-time scoring charts in European competitions. On Tuesday, he matched Filippo Inzaghi with 70 goals, placing him seventh on the list. His next target is another active player, Harry Kane, who has 75. Above them are Raul Gonzalez (76), Karim Benzema (92), Robert Lewandowski (117), Lionel Messi (132), and Cristiano Ronaldo (145).