With the world watching him in a World Cup opener against Iceland, the normally brilliant Messi struck a weak spot-kick that was saved, leaving Argentina with a disappointing 1-1 draw.
European champions Portugal spurned a two-goal lead against Tunisia, stumbling to a 2-2 draw, as France, one of the World Cup favourites, flexed their muscles with a comfortable 2-0 win over Ireland in warm-up friendlies on Monday.
Analysis of the eight groups for the 2018 FIFA World Cup to be held in Russia.
Romelu Lukaku scored twice to earn Belgium a 2-1 victory over Switzerland in the Nations League on Friday, lifting the mood in the country after a week marred by match-fixing allegations.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Monday.
Let's make some effort to make it come true and close the gender gap once and for all.
Atletico Madrid slumped to a 3-0 defeat at resurgent Real Sociedad on Thursday which means Barcelona need one more victory to wrap up a 25th Spanish La Liga title while Malaga were relegated after losing 1-0 at Levante.
Sukanya Verma looks at what stood out in a mostly humdrum affair.
According to the Global Entrepreneurial Report India is the global leader for entrepreneurism.
Images from the English Premier League matches played across England on Sunday.
"We were travelling to Iceland from India via Frankfurt with our 4-year-old daughter when I was asked to move aside for this 'random check', no explanations offered. I was taken into a room and was asked to lift my dress/take it off so that I could be checked to make sure I wasn't carrying anything under my clothes," Shruthi Basappa alleged in the Facebook post.
the countries assured of places in the 32-team field for next year's World Cup finals in Russia after Tuesday's qualifiers.
The SC in its judgment said that discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation is a violation of Freedom of Expression. "Sexual orientation of an individual is natural and discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation is a violation of Freedom of Expression, Supreme Court," the court said.
Defending champion H S Prannoy eked out a thrilling win over China's Qiao Bin to advance to the quarterfinals of the $120,000 Swiss Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament, in Basel on Thursday.
Barcelona have signed centre back Samuel Umtiti from Olympique Lyon for 25 million euros ($27.75 million), the La Liga winners said on Tuesday.
The Wives and girlfriends of the England stars playing in cash-rich Premier League have rocked England shirts with their other-half's name on.
Here are some of the best moments from the 'event-of-a-lifetime.
We're back... Round Two of the line up of Miss Universe 2016 contestants.
Following is a match by match look at the English Premier League's weekend fixtures:
Liverpool were on the end of the biggest sensation of the English Premier League season when bottom club Swansea City repelled a dramatic comeback from Juergen Klopp's title chasers to earn their first-ever league win at Anfield.
When the North Korean athletes took over, it became a more austere affair.
A guide to the Croatia starting 11 ahead of the World Cup final against France.
Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Antoine Griezmann appear among the 55 nominees for the FIFPro 2016 World 11 released on Friday but England forward Wayne Rooney failed to make the shortlist for the first time. Portugal captain Ronaldo, led his country to victory at Euro 2016, while France forward Griezmann was the top player at the tournament. It is the first time that 25-year-old Griezmann has made the cut, but England captain Rooney is absent for the first time in the competition's 12-year history, after England crashed out of Euro 2016 to lowly Iceland.
India has moved down from 32nd place last year and remains classified among 'flawed democracies'.
'If you are caught in a violent storm at sea you have to deal with it and find a way out which Abhilash Tomy did.'
Germany scored five times in 27 minutes in the first half to crush Estonia 8-0 and make it three wins in three Euro 2020 Group C qualifiers.
A Sergio Aguero hat-trick helped Manchester City get back to winning ways in the Premier League with a 3-1 victory over Newcastle United, as they stayed 12 points ahead of Manchester United who had to dig deep to secure a 1-0 win at Burnley.
On the 10th anniversary of the global financial crisis, a multi-part series analyses the lessons learnt and those not learnt.
A summary of Thursday's Euro 2020 qualifying matches.
Former Chelsea and Barcelona striker Eidur Gudjohnsen has offered to play for Brazilian team Chapecoense following the air crash in Colombia last week in which most of their players died.
At Rediff Labs, we analysed the data on military expenditure by Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
Click on the flag to see what makes that country so happy.
A collection of off-beat stories from around the world.
The Global Peace Index 2017, by the Institute of Economics and Peace found that the global level of peace slightly improved, by 0.28 per cent in score. A total of 93 countries improved, while 68 countries deteriorated.
Organizers of the World Chess Championship sued on Monday to block a trio of website operators from broadcasting chess moves at the November 11-30 match in New York, which is expected to draw millions of online viewers.
France football legend Thierry Henry, who's on his maiden visit to India, has put Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo among the top contenders to win this year's Ballon d'Or trophy.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
The favourites to win next year's World Cup in Russia were given navigable paths to the last 16 with the coaches of Germany, Brazil, Argentina and Spain having reason to feel reasonably optimistic after Friday's draw.
From yacht cruise to jet skiing, get a taste of adventure this summer.
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