‘We suffer when Messi doesn’t feel secure’

Real Madrid forward Kylian Mbappe's account on X, formerly known as Twitter, was seemingly hacked on Wednesday, with tweets claiming Cristiano Ronaldo to be better than Lionel Messi and many more being posted. 

A photo of former Barcelona forward Messi, seemingly in tears, was shared from Mbappe's account, with a tweet reading: "Cristiano Ronaldo is the greatest football player of all time. This midget is NOT my goat." 

All of Kylian Mbappe's hacked tweets incase you missed it…

A thread pic.twitter.com/4XEpWpnXQA; george (@StokeyyG2) August 29, 2024

The user behind hacking Mbappe's account also made a series of posts about Manchester United, claiming he was joining them in 2028, while also mentioning that he would never return to his former club Paris Saint-Germain in another post. 
   
The main motive behind it appears to be related to cryptocurrency. The world quickly noticed when his account started promoting a cryptocurrency called '$MBAPPE' with claims that it had reached 90,000 sales.

The tweets were later deleted, appearing to indicate that Mbappe and his team had regained access to the verified account, but not before eyebrows were raised across the football community to spark widespread controversy.

Mbappe, who made his long-awaited move to European giants Real Madrid at the start of the season, is yet to score his first La Liga goal in the two matches so far for the Spanish champions. He will hope to break that duck when Real face Las Palmas tonight.  

Football fever reaches its peak every four years in Bangladesh during the FIFA World Cup, and nowhere is it more evident than on the streets of Dhaka city.

By waving flags of their favorite teams, hanging banners and festoons and drawing frescos, people express their love for the greatest show on Earth.

In this video, we roamed around some areas of the capital to take part in this football mania.

To know more about the colorful city watch Star Live’s video.

Lionel Messi dazzled in his return from injury Saturday, scoring two goals in the space of four minutes and adding an assist in Inter Miami's 3-1 Major League Soccer victory over the Philadelphia Union.

The eight-times Ballon d'Or winner hadn't played since injuring his right ankle during the Copa America final on July 14, when he helped Argentina to victory over Colombia.

Since then he had missed eight MLS games for his club and this month's World Cup qualifiers for his country.

Messi hadn't played for Inter since June 1, but he didn't miss a beat as he was inserted into the starting lineup.

Philadelphia seized the advantage in the second minute on Mikael Uhre's left-footed shot from outside the area.

Messi grabbed the equalizer in the 26th minute, collecting a pass from Luis Suarez and beating defender Kai Wagner before unleashing a right-footed shot to cap a sequence launched by Jordi Alba on the left.

Ecstatic fans were still celebrating when he fired Inter ahead in the 30th, connecting again with Alba and firing a left-footed shot from the center of the area into the bottom right corner.

Inter thought Suarez had made it 3-1 before halftime, but his goal was overturned on a VAR review.

But Suarez added a goal deep in second-half injury time with Messi -- who also picked up his first yellow card in MLS for lingering on a corner kick -- providing the assist.

The victory extended Inter Miami's lead at the top of the MLS standings to 62 points, 10 points clear of their closest Eastern Conference challengers FC Cincinnati with six games remaining in the regular season.

They have already booked their place in the MLS Cup playoffs and Messi's two goals, taking him to 14 in just 13 games, put him back in contention for the title of top scorer.

Suarez, meanwhile, has 17 goals and is two behind the current MLS scoring leader, DC United's Christian Benteke.

After 19,000 fans at Chase Stadium in Fort Lauderdale gave Messi a warm welcome the hosts got a quick scare when Uhre scored with just 58 seconds on the clock.

The Danish attacker controlled a headed clearance from Argentine defender Tomas Aviles and surprised goalkeeper Drake Callender with a blast against the post.

Minutes later, Inter coach Gerardo Martino experienced another shock when Paraguayan center back David Martinez was injured when he intercepted a Philadelphia pass.

- First yellow for Messi -

The Union continued to put Callender under pressure, but on the other end Messi was starting to take advantage of the spaces to team up with Alba and Suarez.

In the 26th minute, Alba ran the length of the pitch and delivered the ball to Suarez, who set up Messi to cut inside Wagner and score.

Four minutes later, Alba sent a cross from the left into the heart of the box that Suarez let through and Messi converted to make it 2-1.

Messi, 37 and in his second season in the United States, is the fastest player to notch his first 15 goals and 15 assists in MLS, in just 19 games.

Lionel Messi is set to return to action with his club Inter Miami on Saturday after spending over two months out with an ankle injury, Miami coach Gerardo Martino said on Friday.

"Yes, he is fine," Martino said before training Friday. "He trained (Thursday), he is in the plans for the game. After training we will figure out the strategy for him, but he is available," added the Argentine.

Inter Miami, who lead the Eastern Conference and are top of the overall standings, host the Philadelphia Union on Saturday.

Messi injured his right ankle during the final of the Copa America on July 14 when he helped Argentina to victory over Colombia.

He has missed eight MLS games for his club and this month's World Cup qualifiers for his country.

"To get back the best player in the world to our team, which was already on a good run, we are all very happy with this situation," said Martino.

World champions Argentina will host Chile tomorrow morning (6am, Bangladesh time) in a 2026 World Cup South American Qualifiers match at the Monumental Stadium in Buenos Aires.

The Albiceleste have won five of six qualifiers and are coming off a successful defense of their Copa America crown.

Chile, on the other hand, have won just once through six qualifiers and are out of the seventh-place playoff spot on goal differential and two points back of sixth-place Brazil.

Coach Lionel Scaloni will present a team without captain Lionel Messi and Angel Di Maria after a long time. The two significant absences force the World Cup winning coach to think about a renewed composition of the national team.

Without Messi, who is in the final stretch of his recovery from ankle injury he had sustained during Copa America final, and without Di Maria, who retired from the national team after winning the 2024 Copa América, the figure of Dibu Martinez as the standard-bearer guarding the three sticks is a fixed one.

With centre-back Cristian Romero as another stable figure in the starting eleven, his partner will likely be Nicolas Otamendi. 

Meanwhile, Lisandro Martinez could be the one to occupy the role of left wingback, although coach Scaloni had also opted for Marcos Acuna in the role. On the right side of defense, Nahuel Molina seems to be the frontrunner ahead of Gonzalo Montiel. 

In the middle of the pitch, Rodrigo De Paul and Alexis Mac Allister are a regular fixture in the nerve centre of the playing field, while Enzo Fernandez seems to be the one who makes up that triangle, winning the fight against Leandro Paredes.  

Finally, in the offensive aspect, there are various doubts and alternatives. With the loss of Di Maria, Nicolas Gonzalez would arrive as a strong alternative to replace him, but there is Alejandro Garnacho to consider.

However, to replace Lionel Messi the choice is more complex. For this, Paulo Dybala could be an alternative to start, but it is more feasible that Scaloni breaks the attacking trident by deploying four midfielders, with Julian Alvarez and Lautaro Martinez as the two forwards.