Mauricio Pochettino will battle Juventus after the Champions League round-of-16 draw, calling it a “massive challenge” against a club he has always wanted to face. “It’s fantastic because my family came from Italy, from Turin — unbelievable!” he said. “My name Pochettino is from Italy. It will be fantastic to go there for the first time. “It’s a city and a club I’ve always wanted to play and it’s now fantastic to be going to the city of Turin to play against Juventus.” Pochettino’s team have already come through a difficult group stage that included Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund,…
Author: David Folami
Txiki Begiristain has insisted Manchester City will “have to be careful” after being drawn against Basel in the Champions League round of 16. “We have to respect FC Basel and we have to be careful,” he said. “We need to be ready to play them and do our best because obviously we want to go as far as we can in this competition “We showed against Napoli that we can do well home or away. We had to fight to qualify and to win the group and I think we’ve shown the character and personality needed to do well in…
Louis van Gaal has said that Jose Mourinho coaches “far more boring football” than the Dutch manager was accused of playing when he managed the club. “I would rather watch City play than United,” Van Gaal told the Mirror. “You need quality in a squad and it’s clear City have a better squad. “If you ask me how did I do at United, I will say it was my best year ever, given the circumstances I was working under. “We played football that was quite all right. But it’s not football that is appreciated in England. “And yet, right now,…
Juventus vice-president Pavel Nedved has ordered Paulo Dybala to sort out his private life and focus on his football after the forward’s form dipped. “He’s 24 and it’s normal that he has ups and downs, and obviously he’s a player who could get to the very top,” Nedved saod. “I’d advise him to focus on his football and make lots of sacrifices in his private life and train to the maximum. “Allegri treats everybody equally and he’s always done that at Juve, so he’s not been particularly hard on Paulo. He treated Higuain and Mandzukic the same way because he…
Zinedine Zidane has said his team would not underestimate Club World Cup semifinal opponents Al Jazira when the sides meet in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday. “This is a semifinal against an opponent everyone is saying will be easy to overcome, but if we thought that we would be making a mistake. We saw that last year against Kashima. “When playing against Real Madrid, everybody tries to play their best game and anything could happen.” Gareth Bale and Raphael Varane took part in Tuesday’s training session and are available for selection, Zidane said, although both are more likely to be substitutes.…
Antonio Conte has said Chelsea must have a “positive” reaction to drawing Barcelona in the Champions League round of 16 but warned that the Blues’ past successes against the Catalan giants will count for nothing this time around. “It’s the draw and our reaction must be positive,” Conte said. “As you know very well, when you are in this stage, you must be ready to face every team. In this case, we must be ready for Barcelona. The past is the past. Now is the present and it is another story.” “When you play Barcelona you must give 120 percent…
Since the early football years, football fans have argued consistently over who is the finest English central midfielder to have ever featured in the Premier League. The rift usually boils down to just three names: Liverpool’s Steven Gerrard, Chelsea’s Frank Lampard or Manchester United’s Paul Scholes, with ultimate preference generally being dictated by club allegiance. However, Real Madrid midfielder Toni Kroos — a pretty classy player himself — has now given his two cents by offering forth his considerable opinion on the matter. Asked as part of his #AskToni social media Q&A session which of the aforementioned trio he’d pick…
Nigeria have been sanctioned by FIFA for playing an ineligible player in their final 2018 World Cup qualifying group match against Algeria, which has now been awarded as a 3-0 win to the Desert Warriors. “The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has been sanctioned for fielding an ineligible player in the match between Algeria and Nigeria on 10 November 2017,” the Committee said in a statement. “The match is declared to be forfeited and awarded 3-0 in favour of Algeria, with the NFF also receiving a fine of CHF 6 000. “The sanction relates to the player, Abdullahi Shehu, failing to…
Arsene Wenger says footballers can pick a thing or two from sumo wrestlers when it comes to respecting opponents after big matches, after the fracas that broke out after the Manchester derby. The Arsenal boss said such incidents are “part of the intensity” of big matches and that he could understand if United were upset with City’s celebrations, before pointing to a cultural lesson he learned when coaching in Japan in the 1990s. “I don’t know what happened really,” he told a news conference. “It’s difficult to take when you lose a big game when you see the 100 percent…
Jennifer Lopez announced the final concert dates for her Las Vegas headlining residency. “Jennifer Lopez: All I Have” debuted at The Axis at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in early 2016, and by the time her run ends, she will have performed 125 shows for over 300,000 fans. “Performing ‘All I Have’ in Vegas over the last few years has been an incredible and rewarding experience that I won’t soon forget,” the multitalented global superstar told E! News in a statement. “Some of the best memories on stage from my career will forever be equated with this city. Thank you…
Taylor Swift returned to the London stage for the first time in years at Capital FM’s Jingle Bell Ball and boyfriend Joe Alwyn was there to support his A-list girlfriend. After several high-profile relationships, Taylor seemed to be keeping her latest beau a top secret but this is the pair’s most public sign of romance yet. In the exclusive video, Joe can be seen playing the role of supportive boyfriend as he films Taylor’s show-stopping performance from the sound booth at London’s O2 Arena. Surrounded by members of staff, the actor filmed the crowd’s enthusiastic reaction as his beau performed…
Kim Kardashian and Kanye West are not quarelling over filming the birth of their third baby, despite circulating reports. The claims have been busted, as well as explain how they originated. A story broke recently alleging Kardashian is having “drama in the delivery room.” Of course, she’s not in the delivery room yet as her surrogate is still very much pregnant. But the tabloid claimed to know that there’s a host of problems stressing out the reality star surrounding her daughter’s arrival. The article was investigated and the misinformation was pointed out and confirmed with Kardashian’s rep that the questionable…
Nigerian vocal powerhouse Waje, hailed across the globe for her soaring vocals teams and stagecraft teams up with Africa’s championing diva Yemi Alade for her new single titled ‘I’m Available’. The highlife tune follows-up up her love anthem “In The Air”; and it is produced by Young D. ‘I’m Available’ is available to all.
Following the successful release of his latest single titledWorldStar Inc. frontliner, Dammy Krane comes through with the official music video for ‘Your Body’ (Odoo Esisi Mi).
On Nov. 6, Meek Mill, a platinum-selling rapper and Philadelphia native, was sentenced to two and four years in state prison over multiple parole violations stemming from a 2007 case. This decision was handed down by Judge Genece Brinkley, the presiding judge in Meek’s case since 2009. The legal team of the Philly rapper has, unsurprisingly, been fighting the judgments against their client every step of the way. “Just today, we appealed this unfair and improper sentence to the Pennsylvania Superior Court and will ask the court to release Mr.Williams on bail pending appeal,” Mill’s lawyer Brian McMonagle told NPR…
Nicki Minaj celebrated her birthday yesterday (Dec. 8), and received some very high praise from her boo thing Nas on her special day. Esco posted a photo of Nicki sitting on a throne and rocking a crown on Instagram. He captioned the pic, “Queens Get The MFkN Money! Happy Birthday To The QUEEN OF NY / HIP HOP @nickiminaj.” In a second post, he uploaded a snippet of Lil Uzi Vert and Nicki’s new video for “The Way Life Goes (Remix),” along with the caption, “BDAY Vibes.” Nas and Nicki appear to be coming out as a couple more publicly…
Kylie Jenner launched her cosmetic line nearly two years ago. And Kylie Jenner, 20, first teased fans with a glimpse of her new ‘luxury’ $360 make-up brushes on her Kylie Cosmetic Instagram account on Friday. The make-up mogul later took the detailing of her brushes to Twitter, breaking down the cost and quality of the new items-but most fans were not happy. In a Twitter post, Kylie said: ‘I have developed for you guys the most amazing luxury brushes ever. ‘I am very excited! Real brushes don’t compare to synthetic brushes. Different performance/quality/everything. Kylie continued: ‘I am 100% down to…
Eminem recently unveiled the track listing for his hotly anticipated ninth studio album, Revival, earlier this week, and amongst the star-studded lineup of guest singers appearing on the LP is Ed Sheeran. Ed Sheeran has explained just how that collaboration on the song “River” came to be. “I sound like such a c— name-dropping, but I was traveling Australia and Russell Crowe has a house, this big farm,” Sheeran explained, adding that the actor told him he was welcome to stay in the home — complete with a recording studio — while he was traveling. “I get an email from…
No One Ever Really Dies, the upcoming fifth studio album from the trio made up of The Neptunes’ Pharrell Williams and CHad Hugo alongside their childhood friend Shay, will be released later this week. In a new interview, the group spoke of the bold new political direction of the album, something you wouldn’t take away from lead single “Lemonade.” According to Pharrell, is “Don’t Don’t Do It,” a second collaboration with Kendrick. The song will discuss the 2016 shooting of Keith Scott by North Carolina police. “This was something I saw on the news. We have that crazy, crazy man…
Senate President Bukola Saraki and Borno State governor, Kashim Shettim recently made very unflattering remarks about ex-president Goodluck Jonathan’s leadership style and quality. “No matter what you say about him,” began Dr Saraki sanctimoniously, “I don’t think he was someone who was desperate for power. (But) he was not someone that was prepared for leadership.” He made his conclusions with two personal recollections on business and politics, both suggesting that Dr Jonathan was obtuse in his handling of the economy and incomparably and incomprehensibly indulgent in his politics. But in drawing these conclusions, Dr Saraki inadvertently betrayed his own instinctively…