Rooney trained on Tuesday after missing out on Saturday’s 2-1 win over Watford with illness. But asked if Rooney would regain his place in the XI, Van Gaal said: “No, not automatically.” Striker Anthony Martial is also fit, but midfielder Ander Herrera and defender Phil Jones are unavailable. Marouane Fellaini, who also missed the Watford match, has recovered from a calf injury. But Van Gaal said the Belgian midfielder, Martial and Rooney would have to “show on the training ground” that they deserved a starting place for the Group B match. Group B leaders United will go through to the…
Author: David Folami
Louis van Gaal has given Luke Shaw a few days off to help his recovery from the broken leg he suffered in Manchester United’s opening Champions League fixture at PSV Eindhoven, partly so he can avoid the potentially upsetting duty of having to view Wednesday night’s return game. The United manager normally operates a strict policy of demanding every squad player attend every game, injured or not, to support colleagues in the team and show solidarity as a club. Even though he accepts Héctor Moreno’s challenge in the first game in September was an accident Van Gaal still thought the…
Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini stated the importance of the injury-hit Premier League team winning their Champions League group as he expects a victory over Juventus in Turin on Wednesday. City have already qualified for the knockout stages but are determined to avoid their usual UCL slip when they went through only as group runners-up, drew Barcelona in the last 16 and suffered early exits. If they beat Juve they will secure top spot in Group D and, despite a lengthy injury list and the poverty of their last outing — a 4-1 defeat at home to Liverpool in the…
Juventus will look to take advantage of Manchester City’s “weak points” when they host the Premier League giants on Wednesday looking to seal their place in the last 16 of the Champions League. City travel to Turin looking for revenge following their 2-1 defeat to Juve at the Etihad in September, as well as redemption from fans after being humbled 4-1 at home by Liverpool at the weekend. Massimiliano Allegri watched Liverpool take an injury-hit City side apart and although the Juve coach hailed the pedigree of Manuel Pellegrini’s side, he says there will be no charity on offer in…
Real Madrid coach Rafa Benitez is “absolutely confident” his players, including striker Cristiano Ronaldo, are solidly behind him following Saturday’s 4-0 defeat by Barcelona in La Liga’s ‘Clasico’. Under-pressure Benitez thanked Real’s president Florentino Perez for his vote of confidence on Monday, and told a news conference ahead of Wednesday’s Champions League Group A game against Shakhtar Donetsk there are “no conflicts” with Ronaldo. The 55-year-old dismissed reports the Portuguese, the Spanish club’s record goalscorer, was unhappy playing under him. “This is not true,” Benitez told reporters. “Cristiano is a very hard-working and an important player to our team. But…
Here it is,,,, Yea yea here we are here once again Make you just be yourself Be yourself Be yourself ehn Eh eh eh eh eh eh Omo I hold o Ah ah ah ah ah ah Shey you know Eh eh eh eh eh eh omo I hold o Ah ah ah ah ah ah Shey you know Eh Eh EH Eh Girl you bad like that You make a liquor man run mad with your back like that You dope like crack oh I’ll surrender my mulla If you know what I mean ye hope I don’t kolobi…
Nollywood actor, IK Ogbonna has revealed how he met his Colombian wife, Sonia Morales, whom he married in a low-key ceremony on June 29 in Belgrade, Serbia. How did IK’s love story with the mother of his son start? Hear what the handsome actor said recently: ‘Basically a friend of mine met me on set and we were talking about me finding a woman, and I think at that time I was out of a relationship and he was trying to advise me to look for someone and I was not even in a hurry to look for someone. I…
Basketmouth has been spotted in Linda Ikeji’s bedroom in her new Banana Island mansion. The popular blogger recently moved into the house – which is worth over N500 million – and now shares neighbourhood with the likes of Mike Adenuga, Iyabo Obasanjo and others. Sharing the picture on Instagram, the comedian wrote: ‘Nobody should just ask me what I’m doing in Linda Ikeji’s bedroom. Nobody!!!!!!’ Basketmouth will be performing alongside Seyi Law, Iyanya, Sound Sultan and others on Sunday, November 29 at the Dance Party Edition of Tyme Out with Tee A.
Rocking hard to Paul Simon’s ‘obvious child ‘with @genevievennaji after our super shoot yesterday . We dance because we made AWESOMENESS!!!And yes..cuz it’s Monday today … We creatives don’t work Monday mornings???….( at least we like to believe that .. I’m About to go edit in a minute) every 5 years or so I get to shoot her for 48 hours..it’s always unbelievable but yesterday and the location shoot were really something.It was clear that God was on our side. We made beautiful art….Plus I got to Work with the most awesome team ever @bimpeonakoya @veronicaodeka @dfalanaartistry @wadamiamolegbe and chins…
Top British rock band, Coldplay are ready to raise the bar in recordings and caliber of collaborations. The band has been granted permission to feature American President, Barrack Obama in their forthcoming album, ‘A Head full of dreams’. Well, technically Obama will not be hitting the studio with Coldplay but the band has been licensed to feature a performance by Obama in the album. Obama had sang the hymn, Amazing Grace at the funeral of Clementa C. Pinckney, a victim of the Charleston Church shooting which will now be used by the rock band. ‘We have a tiny clip of…
The world’s been waiting with anxiously for Adele to get in the studio with a rapper, and it looks like Drake will be the lucky one to make that happen. ‘I really want us to do an official remix,’ Adele told e-talk. ‘I love Drake. I love Drake so much. I even got the coat that’s in the video – I got it delivered the other day, I ordered it. The red one.’ The U.K. songstress even said that she’s been practicing Drake’s ‘Hotline Bling’ dance moves, and now she’s ready to get in the booth. Drake also seems to…
Paris Saint-Germain striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic is planning a special night when he goes back to his native city to tackle his first club Malmo in the Champions League on Wednesday. The 34-year-old began his career with the club in 1999 and scored 16 goals in two seasons before moving to Ajax, where he won two Dutch titles. He has since claimed league crowns in Italy, Spain and France, playing for Juventus, Inter Milan, AC Milan, Barcelona and now PSG. “The perfect scenario would be to win the match, I score three goals and everyone sings my name,” the Sweden captain,…
Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal hopes to make his critics think twice when his team host PSV Eindhoven on Wednesday needing victory to progress in the Champions League. Despite ongoing criticism over the quality of their football, United climbed to second place in the Premier League table after a narrow victory over Watford on Saturday and will have an chance to take over at the summit this weekend when they visit surprise leaders Leicester City. A place in the Champions League last 16 will be theirs if they prevail at Old Trafford on Wednesday and for all the brickbats…
As Paris Saint-Germain striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic returns to his home town on Wednesday, some Malmo fans are torn over whether to support their prodigal son or the team that launched his career. On a football pitch in the immigrant-heavy neighbourhood of Rosengard, where the 34-year-old Swede grew up, one of his childhood teammates sighed as he pondered where his sympathies would lie during the Champions League match between Malmo and PSG. “Both, both. Maybe for Malmo a little bit more,” Ivan Milosevic said, before laughing and adding: “I’m a ‘Malmoitian’,” referring to a term for the city’s inhabitants. Born the…
Depleted Juventus host Manchester City on Wednesday looking for the win that would secure their qualification to the last 16 of the Champions League. City’s 3-1 win away to Sevilla last time out left Manuel Pellegrini’s men top of Group D on nine points and, with Juventus one point behind in second, they will clinch top spot with a win in Turin. But looking at City’s recent form, Juventus have reason to believe they can claim their second successive win over the Citizens, having stunned Pellegrini’s men 2-1 in September when Alvaro Morata hit an 81st minute winner at the…
European champions Barcelona appeared prominently in the 40-man shortlist for the Uefa Team of the Year announced on Tuesday. Barca, who claimed their fifth European title after beating Juventus 3-1 in June’s Champions League final, have eight representatives with the Serie A champions accounting for six. Cristiano Ronaldo was included in the shortlist for the 12th straight time, having been named in the final 11 last year for a record eighth successive season. Bayer Leverkusen’s Turkish midfielder Hakan Calhanoglu, 21, was the youngest player to make the list with veteran Italy and Juventus goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon the oldest at 37.…
Taiwo Awoniyi and Azubuike Okechukwu have arrived at the Nigeria U-23 team’s Flourish Wellness Resort Camp in Banjul, Gambia, reports Theinfostride.com. Awoniyi and skipper of the side Okechukwu arrived at the team’s camp at about 3am Tuesday morning aboard a Royal Air Maroc flight. They were received on arrival by the team secretary, Sirajo Hassan. Okechukwu who is expected to lead the team out in their opening fixture against Mali on Sunday said he is delighted to honour the call to represent to serve his fatherland “Even though I am a little bit tired after playing for my club over…
Sunderland will have to ‘park the bus’ to help them stay in the Premier League this season, manager Sam Allardyce said after they snatched a scrappy 1-0 win at Crystal Palace on Monday. Using a term first said by Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho to describe the defensive strategy once employed by Allardyce at Stamford Bridge with his former club West Ham United, he said the tactic would be key to keeping Sunderland up. The win – Sunderland’s second in the league this season and their first away from home – took them four points above bottom side Aston Villa into…
Manchester City now have enough experience of playing against the European greats to pose a serious challenge in the Champions League, striker Sergio Aguero has said. City, who face Juventus in Turin on Wednesday, lead Group D with nine points and have already made it to the knockout stages with two games to spare. Since Arab billionaire Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan bought the club in 2008, City have qualified for the Champions League five times but failed to reach the knockout stages twice and were dumped out in the round of 16 by Barcelona twice. A win against…
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has accused European football’s governing body Uefa of accepting doping because they allowed his team’s defeat by Dinamo Zagreb to stand despite one of the Croatian club’s players failing a drugs test. After Dinamo beat Arsenal 2-1 in their opening Champions League Group F match in September, midfielder Arijan Aremi tested positive and was banned for four years. The club are appealing. Under Uefa rules the result of a match stands if only one player fails a test. “You cannot say ‘okay, they had a doped player and the result stands'” Wenger told reporters ahead of…