GUNMEN DELIVER MESSI THREAT
Gunmen left a threatening message Thursday for Argentine soccer superstar Lionel Messi and opened fire at a supermarket owned by his in-laws in Argentina’s third-largest city, police said.
Nobody was injured in the early morning attack, and it was unclear why assailants would target Messi or the Unico supermarket in Rosario, owned by the family of his wife, Antonella Roccuzzo.
The city’s mayor, Pablo Javkin, lashed out at federal authorities over what he called their failure to curb a surge in drug-related violence in Rosario, located about 190 miles northwest of the capital of Buenos Aires.
Police said two men on a motorcycle fired at least a dozen shots into an Unico branch in the early hours, and left a message on a piece of carboard that read, “Messi, we’re waiting for you. Javkin is also a drug trafficker, so he won’t take care of you.”
Messi, captain of the national team that won last year’s World Cup for Argentina for the first time in 36 years, has not commented. Messi currently plays for Paris Saint-Germain and spends much of his time overseas, though he often visits Rosario, where he has a home in the suburb of Funes.
Javkin, a center-left politician in opposition to the ruling Peronist coalition, appeared to throw suspicion of complicity for the attack on both criminal gangs and federal security officials.
He said the supermarket was in a section of Rosario that has seen frequent crimes, that he has raised the issue in recent meetings with federal and provincial official law enforcement officials, and that no action has been taken.
Soccer
Barcelona triumphed in the first battle against rival Real Madrid, winning 1-0 at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium in the first leg of the Copa del Rey semifinals on Thursday — the first of three
matches between the Spanish powerhouses in the next few weeks. Barcelona took the victory with an own-goal by Madrid defender Eder Militao in the first half. The rivals also will meet in the Spanish league on March 19 in Barcelona and in the return leg of the Copa semifinals on April 5.
Osasuna defeated Athletic Bilbao 1-0 at home on Wednesday in the first leg of the other semifinal.
• Canada Soccer and the women’s national team have agreed on an interim funding agreement that is retroactive to last year after players threatened to boycott team activities at last month’s SheBelieves Cup tournament.
• Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo and Nashville Predators forward Filip Forsberg have joined the ownership group of Major League Soccer’s Nashville SC. Nashville SC principal owner John Ingram announced their additions.
Antetokounmpo is joined in ownership by his brothers Thanasis, Kostas and Alex.
NFL
Edge rusher Nolan Smith turned heads on the Lucas Oil Stadium turf at the NFL Scouting Combine. The former Georgia star ran the fastest 40-yard dash by a defensive lineman, clocking 4.39 seconds. It was tied for
the best of the day with linebacker Owen Pappoe of Auburn, and was the secondfastest time from an edge rusher since 2003.
Sports and courts
Georgia defensive tackle Jalen Carter returned to the NFL Scouting Combine after turning himself in to Athens police Wednesday night and posting a combined bond of $4,000 on charges of reckless driving and racing in relation to a fatal crash that killed a teammate and team staffer.
Carter, originally projected as one of the top players in next month’s NFL Draft, could lose millions of dollars if he drops from the top of the first round because of his alleged connection to the Jan. 15 crash that killed teammate Devin Willock and a recruiting staffer, 24-year-old Chandler LeCroy.
Police allege in an arrest warrant that Carter was racing his 2021 Jeep Trackhawk against the 2021 Ford Expedition driven by LeCroy at the time of the crash. Willock was a passenger in the SUV LeCroy was driving.
• New Orleans Saints running back Alvin Kamara
and three other men pleaded not guilty in Nevada to charges they beat a man unconscious at a Las Vegas Strip nightclub before the NFL’s 2022 Pro Bowl.
Kamara appeared alongside Cincinnati Bengals cornerback Chris Lammons and co-defendants Darrin Young and Percy Harris in state court. They could face trial July 31, according to the schedule set by the judge.
The four are each charged with a felony and a misdemeanor for allegedly punching, kicking and stomping on Darnell Greene Jr. of Houston during an altercation outside an elevator.
Horse racing
A four-time Eclipse Award winner and a member of racing ’s Hall of Fame since 2017, Venezuelan native Javier Castellano has won the 2023 George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award via a nationwide vote of his fellow riders. Castellano, 45, will be honored in a Runhappy Winner’s Circle ceremony at Santa Anita this spring. The Woolf Award recognizes those riders whose careers and personal character garner esteem for the individual and the sport of Thoroughbred racing, and can only be won once.
Local colleges
Jack Costello homered and a trio of Toreros set forth solid performances on the mound, but a late-game comeback fell short for San Diego baseball (5-2-1, 0-0 WCC) in a tough 3-2 loss to Oregon (5-3, 0-0 Pac-12) as it kicked off its 2023 road schedule.
• The fifth-seeded Point Loma Nazarene women’s basketball team took down fourth-seeded Biola in overtime 67-61 in the PacWest Tournament first round to advance to today’s semifinals in Honolulu. Haylee Saurette (21 points, 10 rebounds) made a pair of game-tying reverse layups in the final 13 seconds to send the game to overtime.
Also
Top-ranked Novak Djokovic beat Hubert Hurkacz 6-3, 7-5 and will face former No. 1 Daniil Medvedev in the semifinals at the ATP Dubai Championships.