By Nick Harris SJA Internet Sports Writer of the Year  21 March 2012 Lionel Messi became Barcelona’s leading all-time goalscorer last night when he took his Barca tally to 234 goals. (In non-friendly games). You can see a video including EVERY goal here. A Sportingintelligence analysis of the Argentinean genius’s scoring for Barcelona shows: 185 […]

By Sportingintelligence  21 March 2012 Lionel Messi scored his 232nd, 233rd and 234th goals for Barcelona last night, making him the club’s all-time top scorer in official matches. For a COMPREHENSIVE statistical analysis, click here. (Breakdown of goals by foot, opponent etcetera).  Four other players have scored more for Barca including in friendlies: Paulino Alcántara (369 goals); Josep […]

By Nick Harris SJA Internet Sports Writer of the Year 20 March 2012 The global head of sports content at YouTube has ruled out any bid for live rights to show Premier League football matches now or in the foreseeable future despite describing English top-flight football as “a wonderfully powerful attractor of viewers”. In an […]

* Is the Board of Control for Cricket in India really a bastion of trenchant conservatism? Judging by its steadfast refusal to adopt the Umpire Decision Review System (DRS), the answer would seem to be yes; then again, it has been in the vanguard in embracing the all-singing, all-dancing, Brave New World of Twenty20, with […]

Brian Sears 16 March 2012 The Premier League’s 20 clubs have won 772 points between them so far this season, and more than three-quarters of all the points – 588 points, or 76.1 per cent – have been won by the teams scoring the first goal. Some clubs are better than others at capitalising on […]

16 March 2012 Can you identify the sporting arena? We take an aerial view of a topical ball park, football stadium, marathon course, golf course, Games venue, race track, iconic arena, athletic theatre (some literally theatres), pitch, park, stretch of water or wherever else sport takes place. And we ask you to identify it with the help […]

By Nick Harris SJA Internet Sports Writer of the Year 16 March 2012 As the 2011-12 Champions League quarter-finalists discover their fate today, with the most diverse line-up of clubs in the past 15 years (as outlined here), it remains true that Uefa’s showcase tournament is actually becoming narrower and narrower in it’s ‘fairness’, namely […]

By Brian Sears 15 March 2012 Accepted football wisdom already has it that Manchester United have an easier run-in than their main Premier League title rivals Manchester City. But Sportingintelligence analysis of all the remaining fixtures for all 20 teams now shows not only is that true but that United have the easiest run-in in […]

By Sportingintelligence 15 March 2012 Chelsea’s dramatic victory over Napoli in the Champions League on Wednesday night means England remain the only nation never to be without a quarter-finalist in the competition since it became for clubs other than champions, in 1997-98. With both Manchester clubs eliminated in the group stage and both Arsenal and […]

By Sportingintelligence 14 March 2012 An anti-doping conference at Twickenham today includes an appearance by UKAD’s Richard Redman, the official who personally oversaw the investigation into the Martin Gleeson & Hull FC rugby league drugs cover-up. The Mail on Sunday and Sportingintelligence covered this in depth earlier this year. Articles linked here. Questions remain, however, […]