Areeb Rizvi

proud father, loyal brother and an obedient son

[Fabrizio Romano @FabrizioRomano]

Morocco celebrate their access to round 16 of the World Cup. 🇲🇦

[Nicholas Kristof @NickKristof]

.@elonmusk says that no one can name a person who died from his aid cuts. In fact, I've met the kids who are dying, and I've talked to the families who lost children. In my columns, I've cited many, many names of people who have died because of Musk's aid cuts. A few examples:
*Yamah Freeman was a 23-year-old woman who died in childbirth because Musk cut funding for the diesel for ambulances in her part of Liberia. She couldn't get to a hospital and died as people were carrying her there. I talked to her parents and sister in their village.
*Gbessey Kiadu, age 1, died of malaria because of his cuts to malaria medication in Liberia. I talked to his mom in her village.
*Ibrahim Koroma, an infant, died of AIDS in Sierra Leone after he interrupted HIV supplies. I talked to health workers who cared for him.
*Achol Deng was an 8-year-old girl with HIV in South Sudan who died when Musk cut funding for the health care worker who provided her medicines. I talked to the healthcare workers.
I could go on and on. In almost every village you go to in South Sudan, Uganda, Liberia, Sierra Leone or other countries I reported in, you find people dying because of aid cuts. I challenge Musk: Come with me on a reporting trip, and we'll talk to these moms and dads, and you'll see the dying children themselves. I think if you see the kids whose lives are at stake, maybe you'll change your mind.

[Mehdi Hasan @mehdirhasan]

I quote-tweeted this yesterday but it is still hard to put in words what this post from @NYCMayor means to so many millions of Muslims, especially Shias, not just across the US but across the world. If only more non-Muslims knew less about ISIS & more about Imam Hussain. #ashura

[Kimi Regal @RegalKimi]

After Ronaldo won EURO 2016 while Messi was still without a senior international trophy, a common argument across football media, punditry and mainstream football discourse was that international trophies were not essential to determining individual greatness. Football was said to be a team sport, and a player’s legacy should not be reduced to what he won with his national team.

At the time, Messi had lost four major international finals with Argentina and had even retired from international football after the 2016 Copa América final defeat to Chile.

A few months later, Messi returned. What followed was an unusually busy Copa América schedule. The tournament was played in 2015, 2016, 2019 and 2021, four editions in just six years. Many observers could not help but notice that a player who had repeatedly fallen short was being given more opportunities to win in a short period and rightly so. Eventually, Messi won the 2021 Copa América.

For years, the football world had been told that international trophies were not necessary to be considered the greatest of all time. When Messi lacked an international trophy, the importance of international success was routinely downplayed.

Similarly, when Messi lacked a World Cup, it was not considered essential to being the GOAT. Once he won it in Qatar, however, the World Cup was elevated from being one achievement among many to the achievement that supposedly settled the GOAT debate forever.

To many Ronaldo supporters, this is the clearest example of shifting goalposts in football history. The standards appeared to change at every stage until they aligned perfectly with Messi’s résumé. What was once irrelevant became important. What was important became essential. And once Messi achieved it, the debate was declared over.

In Qatar, Argentina received five penalties during the tournament, a World Cup record for a single team in one edition. Several refereeing decisions involving Argentina remain debated to this day, including Messi’s handball incident against the Netherlands that some believe warranted a second yellow card.

For many critics, these were not isolated incidents but part of a wider pattern they believe has followed Messi throughout his career, where controversial decisions repeatedly seem to fall in his favour. They point to numerous moments over the years where they believe punishments that would have been applied to other players were overlooked when Messi was involved. Some supporters have even argued that similar concerns resurfaced only recently, after another incident in which they believe Messi was fortunate to avoid a red card.

Whether one agrees with that view or not, it has become a significant reason why many Ronaldo supporters remain sceptical of the narrative surrounding Messi’s achievements and the way they are discussed by the football establishment and mainstream media.

For many Ronaldo supporters, the issue has never simply been about preferring one player over another. It is about what they perceive as inconsistent standards. They see achievements weighed differently depending on who accomplished them. They see one player protected from scrutiny while the other is subjected to it at every turn.

That is why many continue to side with Ronaldo. Not because to many he is the greatest to ever kick a ball or he has won every trophy or because he is beyond criticism, but because they believe the standards applied to him have often been harsher than those applied to his greatest rival.

They would rather support a player who loses with his honour intact than celebrate victories they believe are surrounded by unanswered questions.

As José Mourinho once said: “If I have to win in that way, I would be ashamed.”

For them, the issue is not simply who won. It is whether the criteria for greatness remained consistent throughout the debate. In their view, they did not.

[FIFA World Cup @FIFAWorldCup]

CR7.

#FIFAWorldCup

[Areeb Rizvi @lordrizvi]

@Philjustsaying @FabrizioRomano weren’t saying this when the algerian keep let two in for messi

[Nike Football @nikefootball]

There's only one @Cristiano.

Goals on the biggest stage in '06, '10, '14, '18, '22 and now ‘26

[Areeb Rizvi @lordrizvi]

@plasandrunt @afcstuff Chelsea’s best player (Hazard) had to leave to win a champions league too

[Jewish Council of Australia @jewishcouncilAU]

The Australian Jewish community is not a monolith, this is an argument we have made in our submission to the Royal Commission and in coverage today in the Sydney Morning Herald and the Age.

To read our submission in full, head to https://t.co/CbTQnOy2IK

[AJ @AJ__SR7]

Not many things in the sport hit better than a Rodri/Bernardo bitter post-match interview

I can’t help but smile reading it

[Saul Staniforth @SaulStaniforth]

"Sky News has verified the identities of everyone from the school who was killed. 120 students, 73 boys & 47 girls, aged from 6 to 13, & 26 teachers, who were killed in the strike".

@Chesh reports on the primary school bombed by the US. 120 children & 26 teachers, all murdered.

[Areeb Rizvi @lordrizvi]

@Sxne19iv2 @fuadyabz23 we’ve been saying he’s half price since he got here

[Areeb Rizvi @lordrizvi]

@CFCKelv @UTDTrey fuck it we’ll do it again in 26/27

[Premier League @premierleague]

Arsenal cannot be caught. They are the 2025/26 Premier League champions.

[Areeb Rizvi @lordrizvi]

@GetFawkedUK @implausibleblog usually called PTSD which many british and US soldiers also have from their time illegally invading and committing horrors against locals

[H @Interstellar_HG]

Qatar at NO point banned gays from entering their country.

They just said, public display of affection between anyone including straight people was frowned upon.

The US is systematically targeting anyone that isn't white.

Not a single peep from those anti-Qatar activist 👍

[Arsenal @Arsenal]

A sea of red ❤️

[DailyAFC @DailyAFC]

Seeing these 2 scenes right next to each other…wow 🤩

[Arsenal @Arsenal]

Gunners glory.

[Zack Polanski @ZackPolanski]

The IDF has been accused of horrific war crimes in Gaza by the UN Human Rights Council & Amnesty International.

It is just common sense that those involved in war crimes should be held to account.