Lucas Beltrán had two goals and Lucas Martínez Quarta also scored for Fiorentina in their 6-0 win vs. Cukaricki in the Conference League.

Beltrán scored his first goal and goals for his new club. The 22 year old scored his two goals in the first 10 minutes of the match, with one of them being a chip over the goalkeeper.

Lucas Martínez Quarta has two goals in Serie A and scored his first goal in the Conference League, Fiorentina’s fifth goal of the match.

Lionel Messi has been nominated for the MLS Newcomer of the Year award.

Messi is nominated for an MLS award months after joining Inter Miami. The Best player in the world played only six matches with Inter Miami but has been named as one of the three finalists.

The 36 year old is nominated alongside Eduard Löwen of St. Louis City SC. and Giorgos Giakoumakis of Atlanta United. Messi joined Inter Miami on a free where he scored 11 goals in 14 matches.

The World Cup winner scored 10 of those 11 goals as he captained Inter Miami to a Leagues Cup trophy. In MLS, Messi has one goal in his six matches.

Thiago Almada and Luciano Acosta have been nominated for the MLS MVP award.

Almada and Acosta are two of the three finalists for the award along with Dénis Bouanga of Gabon. With Atlanta United, Almada has 11 goals and a league leading 19 assists.

Luciano Acosta was previously part of the MLS Best XI in 2018 and 2022. At 29 years old, his 17 goals and 14 assists are the highest goal contributions in the league.

Javier Mascherano has commented on the possibility of Lionel Messi playing at the Olympics.

Mascherano will be coaching the Argentina U23 national team in January during the pre-qualifiers where the top two teams from South America will qualify next year. Mascherano, who won gold twice with Argentina at the Olympics, spoke with EFE about Messi potentially playing with the team. Here is what he had to say:

“Leo has the national team’s doors open to do whatever he wants, that’s the reality.

“If he wants to go if we qualify, he will be welcome. My relationship with him is one of great friendship and I would love it.”

“First we have to qualify. After that, obviously, we will analyze the option of Leo coming. But it does us no good to think ahead: The reality is that we first have to qualify.”

Ángel Di María and five other Argentine players have been selected to be on Benfica’s mural as the club pays tribute to their stadium.

Di María, Nicolás Otamendi, Pablo Aimar, Ezequiel Garay, Eduardo Salvio and Nicolás Gaitán are part of the 20 players that have been chosen by fans to be part of the tribute for the 20 years of the Estádio da Luz, which is Benfica’s stadium. Di Maria recently returned to the club while Otamendi is the team captain. On his Instagram, Di Maria posted the following:

“To be one of the 20 chosen by all members and fans of the club is a great pride for me. I have no words to thank everyone. Staying forever on that wall and on one of the stadium walls is something unique and magnificent. Thank you very much to all. BENFICA.”

Pablo Aimar, adored at every club he played for, spent five years with Benfica playing 179 matches. Ezequiel Garay played over 130 matches at the club between 2011-2014, while Eduardo Salvio played for seven years and took part in over 260 matches. Nicolás Gaitán played over 250 matches during his six years at the club.