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The 2022-23 football season has seen two youngsters dominating the scoring charts, which indicate the passing of the baton from the duopoly from Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.

Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland have been the regular names in the scoresheet, while Ronaldo has earned his name back among the leaders for the top scorers in this calendar year, in international and club football combined.

Against Damac FC in the Saudi Pro League, the five-time Ballon d’Or winner scored from the free-kick after nearly seven months to get yet another goal to his name in 2023.

With the 2023-24 season getting all the more competitive, here is the list for the highest goalscorers this year:

1. Cristiano Ronaldo: 41 goals, 44 games

2. Erling Haaland: 40 goals, 44 games

3. Kylian Mbappe: 36 goals, 37 games

Travel is part of life for footballers, and commercial opportunities have taken plenty of teams to the land down under in recent years, even if they are playing in exhibition competitions rather than the Australian league.

It is always interesting to have a peek at the kind of things the players do off the pitch, and the culture (plus the weather) in Australia is certainly different from that in Europe, where most pros still play. Encounters with kangaroos, jungle antics, and casino gambling are all part of the hobbies and activities that players have explored when they are in Australia.

Cristiano Ronaldo – Casino Gambling

Cristiano Ronaldo is not just one of the best footballers ever, he’s a global superstar and a household name. A lot of casino brands as well as other businesses have taken advantage of his mass following, signing Cristiano up as an ambassador. Multiple casino brands have done exactly this as the Portuguese star has a reputation for gambling at the tables.

This includes when the former-Madrid star is in Australia, as Ronaldo plays poker plus other casino games, and has been seen playing at the Crown Casino in Melbourne during his downtime during a tour, back when he was a Real Madrid player. He was in Australia for the International Champions Cup which was a pre-season tournament hosted by Australia and China. There were some big teams involved and Madrid played AC Milan, Roma, and Manchester City.

As well as being spotted at in-person casinos in Australia, many football superstars play online at a live casino in Australia to enjoy the anonymity of playing online but also be able to play their favorite games. They’re not going to get bombarded with paparazzi by logging into an online poker game or connecting to a live dealer on a casino site.

Australia allows casino gambling and there aren’t the same sort of strict restrictions we sometimes see in other countries, so some of the players who have been to Australia on pre-season tours take advantage of the fact that online gambling and pokies are widely available.

Harry Kane and James Maddison – Golf

Australia is the home of Spurs head coach Ange Postecoglu, and he took his Tottenham team back to Australia on a pre-season tour before leading them into his first Premier League season.

Star players Harry Kane (before his move to Munich) and James Maddison decided to take part in a round of golf, and when their friendly competition took a turn for the weird, they decided to share it on Instagram.

The bizarre occurrence they won’t have been expecting? A kangaroo boxing match right in the middle of their game, which the soccer stars definitely found comical judging by their reactions.

We know that golf is popular among footballers anyway and Australia has some superb (if roasting hot) golf courses that people can enjoy when they get some downtime, there have been many footballers heading to the links when not playing matches.

Heading to the Jungle

“I’m a Celebrity: Get Me Out of Here!”

This is a massive hit show and plenty of footballers (plus people related to the football industry) have been in the jungle to undertake the crazy bushtucker trials and the tribulations of weeks in the jungle eating rice and beans.

Among the players who have been in I’m a Celebrity’s reality show are Ian Wright, David Ginola, and Kieron Dyer, and they’ve definitely had some mixed experiences, with some of the players not really enjoying the experience. Ian Wright said about his time in the jungle:

“They let me down by not showing the whole picture of who I am. I’m never far away from feeling like I could cry. I have very deep feelings that I’ve had to learn to deal with, but I still have my moments.”

David Ginola was one of the fan favourites, and in a recent series, it was Lionesses footballer Jill Scott who gained the nation’s love, as she was named Queen of the Jungle in spite of being less famous than many of her competitors. Scott had only recently retired after winning the Euros with England Women, and since going on the show she has carved a career in punditry both for the men’s and women’s games, this was an incredibly smart career move for her as she showed her charisma and gained the love of the nation.

Conclusion

Footballers will be footballers, and you might not see many of them in Aussie cultural hotspots, snorkelling, or visiting the Opera House, but there are certain hobbies footballers seem to be drawn to including casino gaming and golf. Footballing A-listers like Ronaldo and Harry Kane draw a lot of attention wherever they go and Australia is no different, so there are always stories about the casinos they’ve visited or the games they’re playing off the pitch.

Dinamo Zagreb and Astana will go one-on-one at Stadion Maksimir on Thursday in matchday one of the Europa Conference League Group C, with kick-off slated for 19:00 GMT.

Key Highlights

Dinamo Zagreb warmed up for the visit of Astana with a commanding 3-0 win against Slaven Belupo in the HNL. The win took Dinamo Zagreb’s unbeaten run to five matches. The win also took their winning run to three consecutive matches in the HNL.

Dinamo Zagreb have started strongly to the HNL campaign; they have collected 13 points out of the available 18. They are currently 3rd on the HNL table, two points behind leaders Hajduk Split.

Dinamo Zagreb will focus on retaining their form and performance levels ahead of hosting Astana on Thursday.

Bet here

Astana warmed up for the trip to Dinamo Zagreb with an important 2-1 home win over Tobol. The win ended Astana’s four-match winless run, including two draws and two defeats. 

With the win, Astana are on 43 points, six behind the leaders of the Kazakhstan Premier League, Ordabasy. They will look to retain their form ahead of playing Dinamo Zagreb on Thursday.

Injury Report

Neither side has reported fresh injury issues ahead of the Thursday clash.

Prediction

Dinamo Zagreb will win the home match and get off to a winning start to their Europa Conference League campaign.

Make sure to bet on Dinamo Zagreb vs FC Astana with 22Bet!

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It’s important to keep your friends close—And enemies closer. We take a positive look at Man City’s performance to better understand what United can do to play better this time around.

Manchester City has been in exceptionally good form in recent months. Their matches against the strongest contenders have all proved to be hints toward what’s to come. We have strong reasons to believe that the team will be making quite a splash in the Champions League 2023-24. Why? Well, let’s find out.

Current Performance

Manchester City is definitely one of the best football teams right now. For example, if you check the chances for the upcoming UEFA Champions League, Man City is likely going to be the winner beating all others.

To test that hypothesis, we looked up some reliable oddsmakers that have pretty solid odds for English football games in general. And right on cue, they are placing Manchester City at +225 while all others trail behind.

Going deeper into this sports betting Canada platform, we found the odds for other teams as well. Bayern Munich is at +550, Real Madrid at +700, Arsenal at +1100, Barcelona at +1400, PSG at +1400 too, and us, Man United, are placed at +1600.

That’s as expected, from whichever angle you look at it like current performance or H2H stats. Though we’re not 100% happy with United’s current standing, nothing is set in stone, really.

Standing, Ranking, and Stats

The team is not only coming off a great performance but is also statistically sound. In recent years, the team has had a tendency to reach the more advanced stages. In the pot, we have teams like Napoli, Munich, PSG, Benfica, and Barcelona with City.

Man City won the last edition (Champions League 2022-23) and will be defending their glory with renewed vigour. That season saw City’s Erling Haaland scoring the tournament’s most goals (12) and Kevin De Bruyne having the tournament’s most assists (6).

Defeating Inter was a great feat—And we believe that the team will continue to perform along similar lines.

We should also note that there have only been two instances where the defending champions managed to defend the trophy. It was Real Madrid both times. The tournament, in general, is quite unpredictable.

If there is another team that can defend the trophy as well as Real Madrid even against stark competition, then it’s probably not Manchester City.

It’s an uphill task. The staff and players can be in good spirits but that wouldn’t matter much. The single elimination in the knockout stages means that it doesn’t directly matter how good the teams are—There is always the possibility of losing and that makes it quite challenging to win back-to-back tournaments.

Europe’s Powerhouse

Man City’s performance is nothing short of a powerhouse. It has exceptional squad depth with talented footballers who have etched their names in history in several European competitions. The bench strength is also nearly as strong as the starting lineup, making the team a formidable opponent to break through.

There’s also the tactical flexibility that we’re only seeing improving lately. The past few weeks have shown us that City’s talented players can overwhelm opponents pretty easily. The ability to adapt the playing style to exploit weaknesses has been instrumental in the success of the team recently—And it’s a skill that will come in very handy in the 2023-24 Champions League.

Quite expectedly, we also saw the team improve their relentless performance. The high-pressing style of the team can actively dismantle and disrupt any kind of build-up play even from the toughest competitors and in the knockout stages.

Forcing turnovers high up the pitch is central to City’s success rate—And if those goal opportunities are correctly capitalized on (which we have all the reason in the world to believe that they will be), we’re looking at fierce gameplay next year from the City squad.

Not surprisingly, the team’s midfield control has also improved over the last year or so. It’s a place of creativity and comprehensive control that, when coupled with the strong defensive unit, can propel the team to ever higher records when they play in the Champions League.

These are all the things that United is facing. The 2022-23 squad is shaping up to be remarkable and we think they have what it takes to beat City in their own game this time around. However, just beating City won’t be enough.

There are bigger and more imminent threats to United’s performance that only a balanced squad can’t solve.

In Conclusion

We have analyzed City’s current performance so that you know what United is up against.

This is the last UEFA competition with 32 teams in the group stage with the format slated to change from 2024-25 onward. Let’s see if City can defend the trophy against bigger threats and where does United land with a powerful squad!

Winning the Big 12 will be no small feat, as the conference features defending conference champ Kansas State and national finalist TCU. Texas and Oklahoma enter their final seasons in the conference led by two Heisman Trophy contenders, QBs Quinn Ewers (+1000) of the Longhorns and Dillon Gabriel (+3000).

As Texas and Oklahoma bid their long farewells, the conference adds a quartet of teams this season in Houston, Cincinnati, UCF and BYU.

How will the conference look this fall, and what should bettors know before Week 1?

We have everything you need to know to bet on the Big 12 ahead of the 2023 season here.

Resources: Schedule | Futures | Standings | Rankings | Football Power Index

Real Madrid host Levante on Thursday in the third to last game of the La Liga season.

Carlo Ancelotti’s side beat Espanyol 4-0 to secure the title two weeks ago before beating Manchester City to reach the Champions League final.

So, after a hectic week, the Italian opted for a rotated team for the Madrid derby last weekend, which Los Blancos lost 1-0.

However, he will be keen to maintain the match sharpness of his key players in preparation for the final against Liverpool.

So, the likes of Karim Benzema, Vinicius Junior, Luka Modric and Thibaut Courtois could all return in what should be an easy encounter at the Santiago Bernabeu.

Marcelo could get a run out at left back, with just a few games left of his illustrious Madrid career.

Meanwhile, academy graduate Jesus Vallejo has impressed in recent weeks and could keep his place in the backline alongside Eder Militao.

Summer signing Eduardo Camavinga is developing into an excellent midfielder while club legend Toni Kroos starts to slow down.

Marco Asensio is expected to complete a front three alongside the deadly duo of Benzema and Vinicius.

Rodrygo would be unlucky to miss out after his Champions League heroics against City.

Possible Real Madrid XI vs Levante