Paris Saint-Germain have confirmed that Lionel Messi will play his last game at the club this week.
The Argentina international’s future has been subject to much speculation this past few months after it emerged he had rejected PSG’s offer for a contract extension.
Yet there was some hope he would have a rethink and stay back at the club, who were keen to keep him.
However, his exit has now been confirmed by PSG PSG manager Christophe Galtier.
In a press conference on Thursday afternoon, the Frenchman announced that the World Cup winner would depart the club at the end of the season.
“Clermont Foot will be Messi’s final game at PSG,” Galtier said.
“I had the privilege of coaching the best player in the history of football. It will be Leo’s last match at the Parc des Princes.”
Messi joined PSG from Barcelona in 2021 and has won a pair of Ligue 1 titles. However, he has not been able to lead the Parisians to the much-coveted Champions League glory.
The 35-year-old hinted that leaving Barcelona allowed him to mature as a player, and some suggest that leaving his comfort zone allowed him to develop the leadership qualities he displayed in winning the Qatar World Cup in December.
Denver Nuggets VS Miami Heat are gearing up for the big match. Game 1 of the 2023 NBA Finals between the Kings of the East and the Champions of the West at Denver. Which side will get the 1-0 series lead in Heat VS Nuggets?
Keep reading for NBA Betting predictions picks, odds, and Sure Tips for the Nuggets VS Heat game in the 2023 NBA Finals, brought to you by MatchPlug. Follow us closely for full coverage of this contest.
Predictions and Betting Preview for Denver Nuggets VS Miami Heat NBA Finals Game 1
The Denver Nuggets rested their bodies at home while the Miami Heat fought to prevent the Boston Celtics from making an iconic comeback.
With a fresh perspective and relaxed bodies, Denver is set to send a powerful message right out of the match in the upcoming series against Miami. The Nuggets’ offense will be a big challenge for the Heat.
So far in the playoffs, Denver is shooting 49 per cent from the floor and 38.6 per cent from the 3-point area. The Joker is the mastermind behind Denver’s smart attack. In the series with the Los Angeles Lakers, he weakened Anthony Davis and his team for an average of 27.8 points on 50.6 FG% and 47.13FG%. There is also Jamal Murray who averaged 32.5 points on 52.7 FG% and 40.53 FG% while also dishing out 5.3 assists and grabbing versus the Purple and Gold.
Betting On Miami Heat
Regular Season Record: 44-38
1XBet Spread: +8.5
1XBet Moneyline: 4.3
1XBet Over/Under: Under 218.5
BetMGM Spread: +8.5
BetMGM Moneyline: 3.90
BetMGM Over/Under: Over 218.5
The Miami Heat is not deterred by anything. After violating the Milwaukee Bucks in the first round, the New York Knicks in the second round, and the Boston Celtics in an intriguing seven-game stretch in the Eastern Conference Finals, Jimmy Butler and the Heat have proven once and for all that they are worthy contenders to win it all this season.
Butler heads the Heat in the playoffs with 28.5 points on 48.3 per cent shooting from the floor.
Miami also succeeds in getting sufficient support from its undrafted players. In the conference finals versus Boston, Caleb Martin averaged 19.3 points, Gabe Vincent 15.8, and Duncan Robinson, 11.4, each one shooting 48 per cent or higher from behind the arc. The three-ball is going to be a big weapon for the Heat.
MatchPlug Prediction
The Denver Nuggets are coasting to a double-digit win, courtesy of Jokic’s offensive mastery and the Nuggets’ rebounding skills.
Major League Baseball resumes on the first day of June with Boston Red Sox VS Cincinnati Reds playing at Fenway Park, Boston, Massachusetts.
Today, the Red Sox and Reds will end a three-game series. Cincinnati outlasted Boston 9-8 in Tuesday’s opener. The Red Sox is a moneyline favourite for today’s closer, and the totals are 9.5 runs.
MatchPlug provides the Sure Win Prediction Today for Red Sox VS Reds. It has the MLB Picks Today, odds, and analysis for this regular season clash.
The Boston Red Sox ended 28-26 on the season after Tuesday’s loss to the Cincinnati Reds. Joel Rodriguez conceded five earned runs while getting only some outs, and the Red Sox fell short after scoring 5 runs in the bottom of the 9th.
Bssoton witnessed its 6th loss in eight games, and they were at the bottom of the AL East on Wednesday. Red Sox are hitting .288/.350/.425 with 13 extra-base hits and only two home runs in the last 7 days and 146 at bats. Masataka Yoshida has gone 7-for-25 in that span, and he is now slashing .313..389/.486 in the season (135 OPS+).
Chris Sale will pitch today, he is 5-2 with a 4.72 ERA, 1.16 WHIP, and 65/14 K/BB ratio in ten starts (55.1 IP) this year. Sale has been excellent in his last five outings, permitting only eight earned runs on 20 hits and 4 walks across 32.1 frames of work.
Last Friday he tossed five innings of a one-run, four-hit ball in a 7-2 victory at the Arizona Diamondbacks. He is now in the 79th percentile in the expected batting average and the 64th percentile in the expected slugging percentage.
Betting On The Cincinnati Reds
1XBet Spread: +1.5
1XBet Moneyline: 2.515
1XBet Over/Under: Under 9.5
BetMGM Spread: +1.5
BetMGM Moneyline: 2.25
BetMGM Over/Under: Over 9.5
The Cincinnati Reds advanced to 25-29 on the season after Tuesday’s close win at Fenway Park, prolonging their winning streak to four matches. After they swept a three-game set against the Chicago Cubs on the road, the Reds almost blew a six-run lead in the bottom of the ninth.
Boston scored five runs off Eduardo Salazar, but Alexis Diaz closed the door to clinch his 13th save this season.
Cincinnati is fired up at the plate, cutting, .333/.398/.551 with four home runs and 19 extra-base hits in the last seven days and 1192 at-bats. Jonathan India slugged two of the four dingers, while Spencer Steer went 9-for-22 with three extra-base hits and a home run over his last five games.
Hunter Greene will pitch today. Greene is 1-4 with a 4.18 ERA, 1.37 WHIP, and 80/22 K/BB ratio in 11 starts (56 innings pitched) this season. He is fresh off his first win in 2023. Last Friday, he threw six innings of a no-hit ball in a 9-0 destruction of the Chicago Cubs, permitting some free passes while putting out 11. Greene struggled in his first four starts for May, delivering a whopping 17 earned runs across 22 innings of work.
Cincinnati has recorded an impressive 167 wRC+ and .407 BABIP against the left-handed pitchers in the last couple of weeks, but experts expect them to struggle against Chris Sale. Only two players from the Reds have played Sale before, and his on a high level lately.
Chris has permitted just three runs over his last three home starts (20.1 innings pitched). The Red Sox have posted a weak 66 wRC+ and .614 OPS against the right-handed pitchers in the last two weeks. Boston has gone 4-1 in Sale’s last five starts.
Cleveland Guardians are in third position in the AL Central Division but their current records are below expectations for a team that won the AL Central and passed the wildcard rounds last season. They are having a hard time making runs this year even after signing first baseman Josh Bell and catcher Mike Zunino in the offseason aimed at giving them more strength.
Bell and Zunino combine for 6 home runs and 33 RBI entering Wednesday afternoon’s series-closing game against the Baltimore Orioles. On Wednesday, Cleveland pulled through a rare tough start from ace Shane Bieber and they outslugged Baltimore 12-8. They had a season-high 17 hits plus a 4-for-6 day from Josh Naylor which included two doubles, a home run and 6 RBI.
Bibee will open against the Twins. He has pitched well since he was called up with a record of 1-1 in 6 starts and an ERA of 2.88. Bibee has 3 solid starts so far and a K/9 rate of 8.9 and a WHIP of 1.09. On the road this season, he is 1-0 in two starts with an ERA of 3.18. His K/9 rate drops to 6.4 on the road and his WHIP rises to 1.32 while he allowed 11 hits in 11.2 innings pitching.
Betting On The Minnesota Twins
1XBet Spread: -1.5
1XBet Moneyline: 1.752
1XBet Over/Under: Over 8.5
BetMGM Spread: -1.5
BetMGM Moneyline: 1.75
BetMGM Over/Under: Under 8
The Minnesota Twins began an early lead in the AL Central and maintained it throughout the all-star break before some deadline deals delayed their momentum and caused a second-half collapse resulting in a division title for Cleveland.
Despite being the only team in the AL Central Divison with a positive run differential, +40, the Twins are only two games over .500 entering the series finale with the Houston Astros on Wednesday night. That night, Louie Varland delivered seven shutout innings for the Twins and was supported by an offense that had 11 hits and 9 runs in a 9-2 series-closing win over the Astros.
Minnesota’s offseason trade acquisition, Pablo Lopez will start the series against Cleveland. Lopez is 3-3 in 11 starts this season with an ERA of 4.11. He has gotten six good starts so far and his K/9 rate is 11.1 with a WHIP of 1.13.
At home this year, Lopez is 2-1 in 5 starts with an ERA of 5.46. Lopez’s WHIP rises to 1.25 at home and his K/9 rate slightly rises to 11.2. In his first season in the AL, his hard-hit percentage has jumped almost 6 per cent from only over 34% to 40%. His strikeout percentage improved too, moving from just under 24% for his career to 30% this season.
Minnesota goes home with a record of 16-12 at Target Field this year. Cleveland enters in four games under .500 on the road this season. Additionally, the Guardians’ light-hitting players will match Lopez and his 11.2 K/9 rate.
In their past 10 games, the Guardians are hitting only .224 and are scoring just 2.6 runs per game. The Twins perform just slightly better, averaging only 3.7 runs per match over the last 10 games. Although, Minnesota has strong power numbers at home.
Minnesota is averaging almost 5 runs per game at home this season and has sent 40 home runs in 28 home games. On their pitch, they slug an impressive 1.200 this season.
Bibee finds it difficult to put away batters on the road with a K/9 rate of only over six so the Twins’ lineup should pull some numbers in tonight’s game.
Houston Astros VS Los Angeles Angels play tonight at Minute Maid Park.
Houston’s (32-22-SU and 28-26 RL) starter for tonight is south-paw Framber Valdez. He is 5-4 with a 2.38 ERA and a 1.04 WHIP in 11 appearances. Meanwhile, Los Angeles (29-27 SU and 28-26 RL) will start left-hander Reid Detmers. He is 0-4 with a 4.93 ERA and a 1.53 WHIP in nine outings this season.
The Houston Astros are 2.5 games out of 1st position and 10 games over .500. Are they warming up for another title run or are the Texas Rangers the clear favourite for the AL West?
Houston delivers 4.52 runs per match (15th) and hits .244 (18th) with a .707 OPS (22nd). The Astros hit 56 homers (22nd) and stole 29 bases (26th). The team’s pitching staff has a 3.16 ERA (1st) and a 1.19 WHIP (3rd) with 24 quality starts.
Valdez will pitch for Houston tonight. He once held the Oakland Athletics to one earned run total in successive starts (15.0 IP). Valdez conceded two or fewer runs in almost all his outings this season. He is 8-4 with a 3.73 ERA and 100 strikeouts in 16 career appearances versus LA.
Betting On The Los Angeles Angels
1XBet Spread: +1.5
1XBet Moneyline: 2.744
1XBet Over/Under: Under 8.5
BetMGM Spread: +1.5
BetMGM Moneyline: 2.45
BetMGM Over/Under: Over 8.5
Los Angeles Angels concluded its three-game set with the Chicago Cubs on a 12-5 victory and a series win. Shohei Ohtani homered in successive innings and sent in 4 runs for the visitors. Mike Trout too, went yard with a 476-foot home run giving LA an early lead.
The Angels scored 4.79 runs per game (11th) and hit .256 (11th) with a .749 OPS (9th). The team has hit 73 homers (8th) and stolen 26 bases (28th) in 2023. The LA pitching staff has a 4.21 ERA (15th) and a 1.32 WHIP (17th) with 18 quality starts.
Detmers will pitch for Los Angeles in game one. He gave up a season-high ten hits in his last start, losing to Miami Marlins. He has conceded 3 or lower runs in 7 of his 9 outings and spots a 58:19 K: BB ratio this season.
Los Angeles has an 18-6 run line record as underdogs and a 13-6 run line record as road underdogs this season. Houston has a 19-21 run line record as favourites and a 10-14 run line record as home favourites.
Experts predict the Angels to cover the run line tonight. They are off a series win and have given a breakthrough offensive performance in their finale against the Cubs. Los Angeles’ split vs lefties push (.279 BA/.346 OBP/.441 SLG/.787 OPS), including their road splits (.256/.325/.392/.718).
Scoring against Valdez might be challenging, but Los Angeles has the Angels on their side to keep the score close at least.
Detmers holds the Astros to two runs or lower in 3 of his 4 career outings against them. He’s played well on the mound this season and against Houston with good but not impressive season splits vs left-handed pitchers (.239/.308/.420/.728).
Manchester United will reportedly have to pay Harry Maguire £10 million to lose him this summer transfer window.
The Manchester United captain is among the several players the Old Trafford club are willing to sell this summer as they prepare for a squad rebuild.
Maguire joined Man United in 2019 from Leicester in a then-world-record deal for a defender. However, the £80million United paid for the 30-year-old has never been justified due to his propensity for errors and high-profile gaffes.
As such, he has never had the trust of Erik ten Hag, who prefers to play left-back Luke Shaw, Lisandro Martinez, Raphael Varane, and Victor Lindelof ahead of him in central defence. Although ten Hag isn’t pushing him out of the club, he has left the door open for him to leave.
However, should the 30-year-old leave, it could cost Man United a whopping £10million.
This is because of his wages at Old Trafford.
Maguire earns around £190 million a week and will want to be paid that amount if he is to move this summer. Although Man United have reduced his asking price to £30millikn, not many clubs are willing to pay him the amount he earns at United as wages.
As a result, United may have to find part of the wages left in his two-year deal to successfully offload him. According to a report by Sportsmail, the amount United could lose could be up to £10 million. That is a lot of money for Erik ten Hag’s side, who will be looking for every penny available to sign players this summer.
Meanwhile, Maguire has started just 16 out of United’s 61 competitive games this season.
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