Real Madrid moved four points clear of Barcelona at the top of La Liga with a 2-0 win at Elche on Sunday. . After passing up a host of chances in the first-half, Madrid finally made the breakthrough when Karim Benzema tapped home from close range 11 minutes into the second period. . Cristiano Ronaldo then sealed the three points when he bulleted home a header from Isco’s pin-point cross 21 minutes from time. . Boosted by Barca’s shock 1-0 defeat to Malaga on Saturday, Madrid started brightly and should have been well in front by halftime. . Gareth Bale…
Author: David F.
Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers said he had Arsenal and Manchester United in his sights after his team closed on the Champions League places with a 2-0 success at Southampton. . A glorious 30-yard strike by Philippe Coutinho put Liverpool ahead in the third minute of Sunday’s game at St Mary’s and after a number of vain Southampton penalty appeals, Raheem Sterling sealed victory late on. . Liverpool play second-place Manchester City next weekend before tackling fourth-place United and third-place Arsenal over the next six weeks, and Rodgers is confident they can close the two-point gap separating them from the Premier…
Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) president Amaju Pinnick has moved to explain the rationale behind his planned trip to the United Kingdom to visit Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho and Manchester boss Manuel Pellegrini. . Pinnick was in North London last week to visit the Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger and many questioned the reasons for such a visit. . The NFF boss says the benefits of such visits are latent and would impact positively on Nigerian football. . “I have heard of people saying why should I go and visit somebody like Arsene Wenger, the beauty of it is not quantifiable and…
Dimitar Berbatov will be hoping for a goalscoring return against his former arch-enemies Arsenal when AS Monaco come to the red half of north London for their Champions League Round of 16 first leg match on Wednesday. . The Bulgarian is still remembered with affection for the 46 goals he scored for Arsenal’s local rivals Tottenham Hotspur in a two-year spell at White Hart Lane before a 30 million pounds ($46.05 million) move to Manchester United in September 2008. . He scored twice for Fulham at the Emirates in a 3-3 draw in November 2012 and, though he turned 34…
Atletico Madrid, tough to beat on the road in the Champions League, pose a stern test for a Bayer Leverkusen side in poor form and with an equally poor record against Spanish clubs in Europe. . Last season’s runners-up have lost one of their nine away games in the competition since September 2013, winning five of them, and will be confident of taking a positive result home from Wednesday’s Round of 16 first leg. . They bounced back from a surprise defeat at Celta Vigo with a 3-0 success at Almeria in La Liga on Saturday that lifted the Spanish…
Juventus goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon and Borussia Dortmund’s star midfield player Marco Reus have gone Head to Head in a unique interview, ahead of the Juventus v Borussia Dortmund Uefa Champions League™ tie this week. . The two Puma players discussed the game ahead, favourite films, beard growth, and whether it is better to win 4-3 or 1-0. . “Do you prefer shots to the left or the right side of the goal?” Reus cheekily asks, with Buffon replying, “Would I still be playing at the top level at the age of 37 years if I had any weaknesses?” . Both…
Levante scored two late goals on Monday to seal a 2-1 league win over fellow strugglers Granada in a heated encounter that saw three players sent-off. . The visitors took the lead when Youssef El-Arabi converted a 13th minute spot kick after Victor Camarasa handled inside the penalty area. . The tempestuous encounter saw Granada pair Adrian Colunga red carded in the 72nd before scorer El-Arabi and Levante’s Ivan Ramis were both dismissed in the 79th. . Camarasa atoned in the 88th with the equaliser following a disastrous clearance from Granada goalkeeper Oier lazabal. . Forward David Barral scored the…
Juventus goalkeeper and captain Gianluigi Buffon has called for full commitment when the Italian champions host Borussia Dortmund on Tuesday, looking to put one foot in the quarterfinals of the Champions League. . The Turin giants welcome Jurgen Klopp’s side on a high, having boosted their Serie A lead over challengers Roma to nine points at the weekend. . Buffon, who admitted to getting frustrated with himself and the team during difficult encounters in recent weeks, said he has every respect for the Germans. . Dortmund beat Juventus 3-1 to win the 1997 European Cup and were beaten in the…
Barcelona coach Luis Enrique declared on Monday that there would be no hangover from his side’s shock defeat by Malaga in their Champions League last 16 clash with Manchester City. . Barcelona saw an 11-game winning run abruptly ended by Saturday’s 1-0 loss at home to Malaga and despite Tuesday’s first leg with City looming into view, questions about the weekend defeat dominated the eve-of-match press conference. . At times Enrique appeared close to exasperation with the Spanish journalists’ line of questioning, but he said that one bad result should not overshadow the sparkling displays that had come before. .…
Atletico Madrid’s players are hoping coach Diego Simeone can become the club’s equivalent of Alex Ferguson, midfielder Tiago has said amid reports the Argentine is poised to sign a multi-year contract extension. . Simeone, who took over at the end of 2011, has a deal with the Spanish champions until June 2017, while Ferguson became the most successful British manager in history when he was in charge at Manchester United between 1986 and 2012. . Under the inspirational Simeone, Atletico have won the Europa League, the King’s Cup and their first La Liga title in 18 years, while Ferguson’s haul…
Two referees who were criticised for their performances in Premier League matches over the weekend will not take charge of games in the next round in the English top flight. . Martin Atkinson and Kevin Friend have been appointed as fourth officials for games on Saturday. . Atkinson failed to send off Burnley striker Ashley Barnes for a strong tackle on Chelsea’s Nemanja Matic during a game at Stamford Bridge on Saturday. An unhappy Matic subsequently pushed Barnes to the ground, and received a straight red card. . The Football Association declined on Monday to take retrospective action against Barnes…
Burnley’s Ashley Barnes will not be punished for his ugly tackle on Chelsea’s Nemanja Matic, the English Football Association announced on Monday. . The foot up and studs showing challenge, labelled “criminal” by Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho, in the 70th minute of Saturday’s 1-1 draw resulted in Matic’s sending off for lashing out angrily. . While the Serbian midfielder was dismissed, Burnley forward Barnes went unpunished by referee Martin Atkinson and the Clarets took advantage of their numerical advantage to snatch a late equaliser. . Having initially gone to ground in pain, Matic ran towards Barnes and bundled him to…
Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard accused Mario Balotelli of being disrespectful after the controversial Italian striker snatched penalty-taking duties away from Jordan Henderson during Thursday’s 1-0 Europa League win over Besiktas. . Gerrard was angry that Balotelli overruled Henderson when the stand-in Reds skipper tried to take an 85th-minute penalty in the last 32, first leg at Anfield. . With the game goalless, Jordon Ibe won the spot-kick and England international Henderson appeared set to fulfil his role as the assigned penalty taker in the absence of the injured Gerrard. . But Balotelli took the ball out of Henderson’s hands, prompting…
Chelsea Football Club have condemned an incident, captured in amateur video footage in the Paris metro, that shows fans pushing a black man off a train and chanting “we’re racist”. . The video was filmed before Chelsea’s Champions League match against Paris St Germain at the Parc des Princes stadium in Paris on Tuesday evening. . The men can be heard chanting “we’re racist, we’re racist, and that’s the way we like it”. . A Paris police prefecture spokesman said on Wednesday that no immediate complaint had been filed in relation to the video which was posted on the website…
Preston goalkeeper Thorsten Stuckmann says Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney apologised for the way he won a penalty in Monday’s 3-1 FA Cup win at Deepdale. . The striker went down in the box after a challenge from Stuckmann, who appeared to make little or no contact. . “Rooney told me: ‘Sorry, it was my chance to get a penalty. I had to use that’,” Stuckmann told The Sun. . The England striker scored United’s third from the spot to secure an FA Cup quarter-final tie at home to Arsenal. . The incident split opinion among the BBC pundits during Monday…
Out-of-contract Super Eagles boss,Stephen Keshi will be offered a two-year deal worth N120m following the recommendation of the technical and development sub-committee of the Nigeria Football Federation that the big boss should be retained . . The sub-committee,Complete Sports scooped recommended a two-year deal for the former Eagles captain with a N7m monthly pay but a member of the executive committee of the federation who does not want to be named says the federation cannot afford the recommended salary and has opted to retain the coach on his former salary of N5m a month. The source also rubbished reports in…
Former Nigeria skipper Joseph Yobo has urged the Flying Eagles to work harder so they could be bigger stars than he and his contemporaries were. . Yobo met up with the Nigeria U-20 at the Murtala Mohammed Airport in Lagos at the weekend on their way to Ghana for two test matches against their Ghanaian counterparts. . “You can be bigger stars than we were, Yobo told the players. . “I left this country for Europe when I was just 17 and before you know it, I was my family’s bread winner. You can also do same and even more,…
Super Eagles goalkeepers’ trainer, Ike Shorunmu is excited that national team player Brown Ideye is back to his full potentials at West Brom after he was being criticized by fans of the English Premier League side that he was not living up to his £10 million transfer fees. . “I feel excited seeing these young boys doing well in their clubs and to be honest with you, Ideye will now have a relaxed mind to play and with time, he will even do more than the coach expects from him. It is good he has started scoring and with that,…
Former U-20 international Gero Abdullahi was the surprise exclusion from the 21 –man list released by the Head Coach of U-23 Eagles Coach Samson Siasia for this weekend’s All- Africa Games qualifying game against Gabon in Libreville. . Others who failed to make the team are Aminu Umar, who arrived late to camp and Warri Wolves’ forward Freedom Omofonma who also arrived camp late after his club’s CAF Confederation Cup game in Burkina Faso. . The list of 16 home boys and five overseas- based professionals are expected to depart the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos on Wednesday evening for…
Dominant in the first half but scrappy and ineffective in the second, Bayern Munich blamed themselves for failing to score in their 0-0 draw at Shakhtar Donetsk for their Champions League Round of 16 first leg on Tuesday. . The Bavarians had the best scoring chances and allowed only one shot on goal from their opponents but did not make their dominance count, lacking the final pass in front of goal. . “Now it is clear. We have to win in Munich. Nothing else will do,” said Dutch winger Arjen Robben. “We had a good first half and we had…