Leaders Barcelona threw a two-goal lead away as late strikes from Lucas Perez and Alex Bergantigave Deportivo La Coruna a 2-2 draw in La Liga on Saturday. A Lionel Messi free kick and a fire strike from Ivan Rakitic put Barca in control but they dropped quality in the closing stages and the visitors took advantage. Messi curled the ball into the top corner of the net from 25 metres to break the resistance of a well-organised Deportivo team after 39 minutes. Rakitic then fired home from a similar distance in the 62nd minute before in-form Lucas pulled a goal…
Author: David Folami
Teenage substitute Kelechi Iheanacho gave a freak stoppage-time winner as Manchester City beat coachless Swansea City 2-1 on Saturday to reclaim top spot. Yaya Toure’s shot deflected in off Iheanacho’s back, barely two minutes after Bafetimbi Gomis’s first goal since August looked to have earned the visitors a draw at a sodden Etihad Stadium. Wilfried Bony had headed City in front against his former club in the first half and Manuel Pellegrini’s side came perilously close to throwing two points away before claiming victory amid a remarkable finish. Swansea, who sacked Garry Monk on Wednesday, continue to go towards trouble,…
Manchester United’s terrible week hit rock bottom as Bournemouth famously condemned them to a 2-1 defeat on Saturday and, to rub salt into the injury, neighbours Manchester City moved back to the top of the Premier League. After City clambered above Leicester City on goal difference with a lucky last-gasp strike in a dramatic 2-1 win over Swansea City, Bournemouth wrote another astonishing fairytale by beating United a week after taking the scalp of champions Chelsea. United’s defeat multiplies the pressure on manager Louis van Gaal, already under pressure for their prosaic playing style and midweek exit from the Champions…
Louis van Gaal was left battling growing pressure after Josh King’s goal earned Bournemouth a 2-1 win on Saturday and condemned Manchester United to a second costly defeat in a week. Having been forced to defend his record in the face of heavy criticism following his side’s Champions League exit at Wolfsburg, United manager Van Gaal again saw his team undone by alarming defensive lapses. Goalkeeper David de Gea was at fault for Junior Stanislas’s second-minute opener – a corner that went straight in – while Daley Blind allowed former United youngster King to score after Marouane Fellaini had equalised.…
Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal invoked the belief of the club’s players and fans after their season took another downward slide with a 2-1 loss at Bournemouth. Former United trainee Josh King scored a 54th-minute winner to prevent United from bouncing back from their mid-week Champions League exit at Wolfsburg and keep them three points off the pace in the Premier League. A return of three wins from 12 games in all competitions, coupled with some turgid football, has seen Van Gaal come in for heavy criticism from fans and pundits, but he said his shoulders were broad enough…
Manuel Pellegrini believes Manchester City showed great spirit they will need to maintain their Premier League title challenge after getting a late 2-1 win over Swansea. Pellegrini’s team looked set to drop two points at home to their managerless opponents on Saturday when substitute Bafetimbi Gomis drove in a 90th-minute equaliser for his first goal since August. But City then found a dramatic stoppage-time winner as Yaya Toure’s shot was deflected in off the back of Kelechi Iheanacho. The victory moved City back to the top of the table, although Arsenal will replace them on Sunday with a victory at…
Valencia coach Gary Neville has emphatically denied he is positioning himself to one day take charge of Manchester United, where he enjoyed an immensely successful 19-year playing career. Neville was handed a shock first managerial role at the Mestalla until the end of the season by Singaporean business partner and Valencia owner Peter Lim earlier this month. However, he didn’t get off to a great start in his first match as head coach as Los Che crashed out of the Champions League in midweek due a 2-0 defeat to Lyon. Yet, with United also failing to reach the knockout stages…
Jose Mourinho’s claim that Chelsea’s season is finally heading in the right direction but will face a tough test when the Premier League champions visit unexpected pace-setters Leicester City on Monday. Claudio Ranieri’s Leicester will go into the game having been taken off the head of the table by Manchester City, who moved top on goal difference following Saturday’s 2-1 win over Swansea City. But their form this season has been in stark contrast to that of Mourinho’s Chelsea, whose last league outing ended in a shock home defeat by Bournemouth. That result left the Blues manager stunned and appeared…
Beautiful Nollywood actress, Adesua Etomi has been nominated for ‘Best Actress’ at the upcoming 2016 edition of the Africa Magic Viewers Choice Award. The actress who was nominated for her impressive delivery in ‘Falling’ will however be facing stiff competition from celebrated screen star Genevieve Nnaji who gets the nod for her portrayal of a disturbed housewife in her self-produced movie, ‘Road to Yesterday’. Other nominees are Nse Ikpe-Etim (The Visit), Mary Lazarus (Don’t cry for me), Belinda Effah (Stop) and Fulu Mugovhani (Ayanda).
Talented Nollywood actress, Mercy Aigbe has expressed her immense excitement over her nomination at the AMVCA. The pretty screen star, whose movie ‘Victim’ is up for Best Yoruba Film, took to Instagram to share her excitement. Mercy wrote ‘OMGOD! Super excited my movie VICTIMS just got nominated at the forthcoming Africa Magic Viewers Choice Awards! (AMVCA) I bless the Most High! Jehovah indeed u are God!…..To u be all the Glory!’ Victims is up for Best Indigenous Movie alongside ‘Taxi Driver (Oko Asewo), ‘Ayomi’, ‘Shadow’ and ‘Binta Ofege’. Mercy won in the same category two years ago with her movie,…
Nollywood actress, Toyin Aimakhu, who just floated a film academy, has announced that the school will be opened officially in 14 days time. Located at D’Rovans/Wallan Hotel, Ring Road Ibadan, Oyo state, the school, according to the talented actress, is an attempt to give back to the society. ‘Many people have been calling me that they want to be like me and I feel the only way for them to be like me is to get a good training. So, I decided to set up a school where they can get trained. I have been thinking of how to give…
Former Juventus coach and brain behind the Bianconeri’s 1996 Champions League triumph was recently asked about Fiorentina manager Paulo Sousa. “Sousa?” said Lippi, “I met him by chance in the hotel after the match and we had a chat. I reminded him of a midfield for Juve from 1994 to 1996: Conte, Deschamps and Sousa, in fact. Now one coaches Fiorentina with success, one is the CT of Italy and another is the CT of France.” The Portuguese player arrived at Juventus from Sporting in July of 1994. A man who tactically understood the game perfectly, he played as if…
Liverpool return to Premier League action on Sunday against West Bromwich Albion having somewhat fought their way through to the knockout stages of the Europa League with a drab 0-0 draw with Sion on Thursday. This has been a fractious campaign for a number of reasons. It became clear that Brendan Rodgers was no longer suitable as Liverpool manager. This season was his third attempt at balancing the rigours of a top club’s hectic schedule. The best sides have to play two games per week more often than not. That takes an intricate skill in coaching and squad rotation, with…
It hasn’t totally been a very good week for Real Madrid. Kicked out of the Copa del Rey for fielding the ineligible Denis Cheryshev in Cadiz on Dec. 2, both appeals lodged by the club since have failed to see them reinstated. On Thursday, Karim Benzema was suspended by the France Football Federation over the striker’s implication in an ongoing case of alleged extortion involving international teammate Mathieu Valbuena. On Tuesday night, before the 8-0 demolition of Malmo in the Champions League, club president Florentino Perez and manager Rafa Benitez were the subject of the Bernabeu’s ire. On Friday, in…
Being a Manchester United guy, it’s extremely understandable that David Beckham looked a little wary about being made to pose in front of a giant Manchester City flag by celebrity chum Noel Gallagher following the City-supporting musician’s concert at the Royal Albert Hall on Thursday night While we’re not entirely certain about the precise sequence of events that led up to the picture being taken, it’s safe to say that Becks doesn’t look overly enthused about the whole thing. Espeially now that Manchester United just crashed out of the ucl, united fans will not be happy with this.
What a difference a decade makes. With exactly two weeks left to go until Christmas, Lionel Messi and his pals have taken to Instagram to show that they are fully prepared for the big day. Posing under the tree with wife Antonella and his two sons Thiago and Mateo, Messi beamed as he proudly announced: “Waiting for Santa Claus with my family.” It certainly looks a lot more sedate that Messi’s Christmas preparations in 2005, during which he geared up for the Yuletide festivities by donning his Santa hat and swimming with the local residents of Barcelona aquarium.
With all of these big names rumoured to be headed to Manchester, the time may finally have arrived for one of the club’s biggest names in recent years to leave. The Daily Mail says Red Devils captain Wayne Rooney could be the beneficiary of a three-year, £75m deal to join his former England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson at Chinese Super League club Shanghai SIPG. The CSL is growing quickly in the football-crazed nation. One reason is the astronomical sums the league’s clubs are willing to shell out to lure high-profile players and managers to ply their trades there. Rooney has been…
After United crashed out of the Champions League with a 3-2 defeat at the hands of Wolfsburg, the critics are circling at the Old Trafford gates. It’s desperate times for Louis van Gaal and chief executive Ed Woodard, and in this space, desperate times call for desperate rumours. And oh do we have a beauty on that front courtesy of The Times in London. The outlet reports that Manchester United are gathering funds to make a mega move to bring one of Gareth Bale, Cristiano Ronaldo or Neymar (or maybe all three) to the club. OK, the chances of these…
Before now, it was straightforward enough to show Louis van Gaal’s critics a copy of the Premier League table and a picture of Manchester United’s Champions League group and dismiss their critiques on the basis that he was making progress in both. But even though Van Gaal’s injury-ravaged United remain only three points off the top in the Premier League ahead of Saturday’s tricky-looking trip to Bournemouth, there are now profound questions over the quality of their team and Van Gaal’s methods. Elimination from the Champions League group stage on Tuesday was chastening. The manner in which Wolfsburg ruthlessly dissected…
Atletico Madrid president Enrique Cerezo has reportedly dismissed Chelsea striker Diego Costa’s suggestion he could be set for a comeback to the Vicente Calderon. Costa left Atletico for Chelsea in 2014 and played an immense role in last season’s Premier League title success, but the 27-year-old has been linked with a move back for several months. The Spain international did not rule out a return when asked about Atletico in September, and this week he again left the door open to a potential reunion when interviewed on Onda Cero. However, Marca and Mundo Deportivo quote Cerezo as telling an awards…