Luis Suarez never expected to replace Lionel Messi as Barcelona’s number nine when he moved to the Spanish giants from Liverpool in 2014. Suarez has made remarkable improvements on already good form since swapping Anfield for Camp Nou and capped off a second successive La Liga-winning campaign with the Pichichi Trophy, awarded to the top goalscorer. Suarez scored 40 goals from 35 appearances in the league this season, pipping Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo to the award with a hat-trick on the final day of the league season and, more remarkably, usurped Messi as Barca’s preferred central striker in the process.…
Author: David Folami
Cristiano Ronaldo has proven himself the man for the big occasion this season and could decide the Champions League final, former striker Ivan Zamorano has said. The Portugal star has scored 16 goals – including a hat-trick in the quarter-final against Wolfsburg and goals in each leg of the last-16 tie with Roma – during Real Madrid’s run to the final this term, putting him one shy of his own scoring record in a single season, set in their victorious 2013-14 campaign. And Zamorano, who won La Liga and the Copa del Rey in a four-year spell at the Santiago…
Andre-Pierre Gignac admits that France will miss three important players in Karim Benzema, Mathieu Valbuena and Mamadou Sakho at Euro 2016. Valbuena was omitted from the provisional squad by Didier Deschamps after the coach revealed he had concerns over the midfielder’s fitness following injury problems. The 31-year-old’s place in the squad had already been called into question due to the scandal which saw Benzema removed from Deschamps’ plans. The Real Madrid striker was charged with complicity in an attempt to blackmail and participating in a criminal conspiracy as part of an investigation into a sex-tape plot involving Valbuena. Sakho, meanwhile,…
Spain are the double defending champions heading into Euro 2016, but head coach Vicente del Bosque admits his squad is not perfect. Under Luis Aragones, Spain ended their 44-year wait for a major international trophy by seeing off Germany 1-0 in the Euro 2008 final. Del Bosque subsequently took over and guided the team to World Cup glory in 2010 before a successful defence of their European Championship title with a 4-0 demolition of Italy two years later. A dismal World Cup 2014 saw them eliminated in the group stages in Brazil, but Del Bosque is optimistic a new-look squad…
Dieter Hoeness is confident there will be no let-up from Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich when they face Borussia Dortmund in the DFB-Pokal final on Saturday. Bayern clinched the league title this month and will hope to complete another domestic double by seeing off Thomas Tuchel’s men at the Olympiastadion in Berlin. The game is Pep Guardiola’s last in charge of Bayern before he joins Manchester City and Hoeness believes that will give the players even more motivation. He told Omnisport: “I think winning the cup is extremely important for Pep Guardiola, because he wants to say goodbye with a title.…
Manchester United midfielder, Morgan Schneiderlin was seen out and about around the city with his fiancée Camille Sold. Schnederlin who is currently battling to be fit for United’s FA Cup final game against Crystal Palace this weekend was seen on Thursday, May 19 taking a stroll around Manchester with Camille. The midfielder who could be hurting from his exclusion from the France squad for Euro 2016 was casually dressed for the stroll. He wore a hoody and joggers while his fiancée was in a shirt and ripped jeans. Schneiderlin and Camille have been dating for a year before they recently…
English Premier League champions Leicester City will probably need to buy three or four players over the summer to compete in the European Champions League, vice chairman Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha told Reuters on Wednesday. He declined to say how much money he and his father, club owner and duty free magnate Vichai, would spend to meet the challenge of a new competition and additional matches – but said there would be signings. “We know we are going to play a lot of games next season,” said Aiyawatt. “We have to add some players… Maybe we will add three or four.” Manager…
Claudio Ranieri will be honoured with an Italian knighthood by president Sergio Mattarella following his Premier League title heroics in charge of Leicester City. The former Inter and Juventus boss will receive the Grande Ufficiale dell’Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana for “merits acquired by the nation” in the field of sports. Ranieri’s honour is the third level of the Italian knighthood. Players who helped Italy to win the 1982 and 2006 World Cups are Cavalieri Ufficiali dell’Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana – the rank below. Ranieri joins a diverse collection of famous names to have been awarded the…
Juventus midfielder Paul Pogba wants to take the qualities from players such as Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo in order to become a new kind of complete midfielder. The France international has developed into one of the most-coveted midfielders since joining Juventus from Manchester United in 2012, in which time he has won four Serie A titles. Pogba scored eight goals in 35 league appearances this campaign, while setting up 12 more, but he is determined to contribute even more. “I want to become the complete player,” Pogba told ESPN. “I want to do everything: defend, attack, score, give assists,…
Host of the Euro 2016 France has kicked of their preparation for the tournament. Coach Didier Deschamps took his preliminary squad for Euro 2016 to training for the first time on Wednesday, May 18. The likes of Hatem Be Arfa, Hugo Lloris, Laurent Koscielny, Eliaquim Mangala, Bacary Sagna, N’Golo Kanté, Moussa Sissoko and Dimitri Payet took part in training at Aguilera stadium in Biarritz. Deschamps men will spend spend five days on the Atlantic coast training in Stade Aguilera which is home to local rugby team Biarritz Olympique. The players took time away from training to play with children from…
The Federal Government has stated that the continued detention of the former National Security Adviser (NSA), Sambo Dasuki, is for his safety and that of Nigerians. The government made the submission in response to a 24-hour order given to it by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) court to justify Dasuki’s detention. Dasuki, who has been in the custody of the Department of State Services (DSS) since his arrest in December, had dragged the Federal Government to the ECOWAS court to challenge his continued detention. Counsel to the government, Dodo Kabiru, said releasing Dasuki would not be in…
Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) President, Ayuba Wabba, has assured the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), of the union’s support in the fight against economic and financial crimes. This is contained in a statement issued by Mr Wilson Uwujaren, Head, Media and Publicity in the EFCC and made available to newsmen on Thursday in Abuja. The statement said Wabba gave the assurance when he visited the chairman of the EFCC. He stressed the importance of having all stakeholders joining forces and showing a united front to fight corruption. “Corruption is a monster that has brought more harm to our country…
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has denied forcing Robert Azibaola to implicate former President Goodluck Jonathan. Azibaola is the cousin of the ex-President who has been in the custody of the EFCC since March 23, 2016. The anti-graft agency said Azibaola was released on administrative bail, but he was still in detention because he could not meet the conditions of his bail. EFCC made this submission in a counter affidavit filed by one of his operatives, Mohammed Hassan. Azibaola had filed a suit through his lawyer, Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, alleging that he has been detained unlawfully by the EFCC.…
The Ijaw Youth Congress (IYC) has warned against what it perceives as the government’s attempt to arrest former President Goodluck Jonathan. The group accused the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) of subtly laying a foundation for the former President’s arrest. The youth body also condemned EFCC’s arrest of Goodluck Jonathan’s cousin, Mr. Robert Azibaola, over an alleged $40m fraud. Punch reports that the IYC President, Mr. Udengs Eradiri, said “They have arrested almost all our people. Azibaola was arrested by the EFCC and we are calling on the EFCC to stop persecuting him further and charge him to court…
According to the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu, the agency has recovered more than $3.1 billion from corrupt persons. Magu made the disclosure during a visit to the London office of the BBC Hausa service over the weekend. “Because of what is going on, I can’t tell you the exact amount we have recovered so far. But we are still collecting the monies,” he said according to Daily Trust. “I can’t tell you for now, but what we have recovered within this period alone, was never recorded since the establishment of the EFCC in…
EFCC Acting Chairman, Ibrahim Magu[/caption]Chairman of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu, has warned fraudsters to stop using his name to extort money from Nigerians in their bid get detained persons released. This is contained in a statement made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), by EFCC’s Head of Media and Publicity, Wilson Uwujaren in Abuja on Thursday, May 19. “It has come to the knowledge of the EFCC that some persons have been using the name of its Chairman fraudulently,” the statement read in part. It said the fraudsters also claimed that they had his…
The Nigerian Army has released the photo (above) of the second rescued Chibok girl, and identified her as Serah Luka. In a statement circulated online by PRNigeria, army spokesman, Usman Sani Kukasheka, said Luka was rescued on Thursday, May 19, following a military operation, in which 35 Boko Haram terrorists were killed and 97 women and children rescued. The girl, according to him, is the number 157 on the list of the abducted school girls. During debriefing, Luka told the army that three other Chibok girls fled when the troops invaded Damboa Local Government area of Borno State, the same…
The leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Ahmed Tinubu has issued a press statement called on Nigerians not to lament about the removal of subsidy by the government. Tinubu said he is aware of the mixed feelings the decision of the government is causing, adding that “However, we should not lament the departure of something just because of its longevity, particularly, when that very policy had ceased to serve us long ago.” Reports have it that Tinubu argued that the former system in the down-stream sector of Nigeria’s oil industry, only benefitted the rich. The APC leader also…
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has revealed that it will interrogate the former Governor of Delta state, Emmanuel Uduaghan. Reports say Uduaghan allegedly received N450m from the $115m which the former minister of petroleum, Diezani Alison-Madueke kept for the 2015 presidential elections. Also on the EFCC interrogation list, is a former Senator, Ndudi Elumelu. The Managing Director (MD) of Fidelity bank PLC, Mr. Nnamdi Okonkwo told the EFCC that he was asked by the former minister of petroleum to help handle the disbursements of the $115m to some Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) officers. Punch reports that an…
Former Minister of State for Defence, Musiliu Obanikoro, in an interview, said he is not a fugitive. Obanikoro said he is not on the run from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). The former Ambassador, who recently bagged a Doctorate degree from from Oglethorpe University in the United States of America on Friday, May 13, 2016, said life is not all about politics. Obanikoro also said “That’s politics for you; you win some, you lose some. And there’s life after politics. I’m going to the US to pursue a degree. “To begin with, no allegation has been made against…