Paris Saint-Germain midfielder Thiago Motta has identified Sergio Aguero and David Silva as the Manchester City dangermen ahead of Wednesday’s Champions League quarter-final clash. City head to the French capital buoyed by an impressive 4-0 win at AFC Bournemouth on Saturday, with Aguero on target and Silva chipping in with an assist as Manuel Pellegrini’s men stemmed a slump of one win in six Premier League matches. Ligue 1 champions PSG were similarly untroubled as they breezed past Nice 4-1 courtesy of a Zlatan Ibrahimovic hat-trick and Italy international Motta believes both sides will attempt to dictate the play in…
Author: David Folami
Former Chelsea coach, Jose Mourinho on Saturday, April 2 attended the Championship game between Fulham and MK Dons at the Craven Cottage. Mourinho was sacked in December 2015, following a poor run of results at Chelsea and has been reported to agree a pre-contract agreement with Manchester United. The Portuguese coach has been staying in London since his sacking at Chelsea as his son plays for Fulham at the youth level. He has kept a low profile since his sacking as he plans on his return to football. Speaking in Singapore recently, 53-year-old also said he’s looking forward to starting…
Holders Barcelona will seek to overcome their defeat in El Clasico when they host Atletico Madrid on Tuesday in an all-Spanish Champions League quarterfinal, first leg at the Camp Nou. On a night when Barca paid tribute to the late Dutch great Johan Cruyff, the Catalan giants’ 39-game unbeaten run came to a halt after goals from Karim Benzema and Cristiano Ronaldo erased Gerard Pique’s opener. “For me this game is history,” said Barca coach Luis Enrique, electing to turn the page rather than reflect on Saturday’s loss. “There is no pain. We came into the game on the back…
Real Madrid star Gareth Bale believes his side can still win La Liga after coming from behind to inflict Barcelona’s first defeat in 40 games with a 2-1 victory in El Clasico. Madrid still trail Barca by seven points with seven league games to play, but Bale also highlighted the importance of the victory to Madrid’s confidence ahead of their return to Champions League action against Wolfsburg in the quarter-finals on Wednesday. “If we wanted to win the league this was a game we had to win,” said the Welshman. “You never know, football does funny things to teams when…
Daley Blind, who was superb in policing the menace of Belgium striker Romalu Lukaku at Old Trafford, is a case in point. “Daley Blind has played nearly all the matches, so I need to give him rest,” said van Gaal. “I don’t want to, because he is playing very well. I shall give him two days off, so then he is alright, I think.” Anthony Martial, who scored United’s lone goal against Everton on Sunday, has also been a willing workhorse in United’s cause. “I have already said that Anthony Martial, with his age (20) is an exception, because he…
Louis van Gaal is convinced Manchester United are on track to claim a Champions League place from the wreckage of one of Old Trafford’s most difficult seasons in recent memory. Van Gaal’s job as manager, in his second campaign at the club, has been the subject of widespread speculation since United’s early exit from the Champions League group stage in December. That failure was compounded by United’s defeat in the second-tier Europa League by arch-rivals Liverpool last month. However, van Gaal, who has been tipped to make a summer departure to make way for Jose Mourinho, the former Chelsea manager,…
Alexis Sanchez’s early goal put Arsenal in charge at the Emirates Stadium before Alex Iwobi marked a fine display with the second. Second-half goals from Hector Bellerin and Theo Walcott completed the win. Iwobi has now scored in successive games, either side of his competitive debut for Nigeria, and Wenger believes the teenager’s emergence reflects the importance that his club place on youth development. “We have values in our club that are maybe not rated always, but one of them is to give a chance to young people and educate them,” he said. “Every year we bring players out and…
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger vowed that his side will not give up on the Premier League title after closing the gap on leaders Leicester City to eight points. Saturday’s 4-0 victory over Watford came on the back of a win at Everton before the international break and maintained the pressure on Leicester, who host Southampton on Sunday. Victory also enabled Arsenal to close to within four points of north London rivals Tottenham Hotspur, who dropped points in a 1-1 draw at Liverpool. Wenger, whose side have seven games remaining, said: “We want to focus on the way we play and…
Manager Jurgen Klopp blamed Liverpool’s poor injury record for their position in the Premier League table after watching his team draw 1-1 with Tottenham Hotspur at Anfield on Saturday. Liverpool, ninth in the table, took the lead through Philippe Coutinho’s classy side-footed finish but the in-form Harry Kane rescued a point for second-placed Spurs with a clinical strike that marked his 22nd league goal of the season. “After this game, think if there should be seven positions between us,” Klopp told British media. “If not, then we have to think about how we can close this gap. “Usually it’s not…
Brazilian superstar Neymar could join Paris Saint Germain, if the French giants pay his huge 193 million euros ($220 million) get out clause, his agent said on Monday. “Neymar has a contract with Barca until 2018,” Wayne Ribeiro told French sports daily L’Equipe. “But the prospect of living in a city like Paris, and to play for a club like PSG is also a dream for every player. “That’s to say if PSG showed interest in Neymar we could talk about it.” PSG have dominated Ligue 1 since the Qatari takeover of the French capital club in 2011. Laurent Blanc’s…
Manchester City’s Kevin de Bruyne says inconsistency has been their major problem this season and hopes his return from injury will give them a boost in the Premier League run-in and their Champions League quarterfinal against Paris St Germain. The Belgian made a scoring return against Bournemouth on Saturday as City ran out 4-0 winners to remain in fourth place, 15 points behind leaders Leicester having played a game less. De Bruyne was sidelined after injuring ankle and knee ligaments at the end of January and City slumped to four defeats and a draw in seven Premier League games without…
The Nigeria Union of Local Government Employee (NULGE) has commended Gov. Kashim Shettima of Borno for giving priority to the worker’s demands. The NULGE National President, Mr Ibrahim Khaleel, gave the commendation in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Maiduguri on Sunday. Khaleel said in spite of the strangulating security challenges, the state government had always paid workers salaries as at when due. He said that workers in the state had never complained of belated salaries, except in Chibok, Hawul, Askira Uba and Kala Balge councils yet to benefit from the N18,000 minimum wage. “We believe…
At least two persons lost their lives and nine others critically injured in an accident involving four vehicles at Kobape area, on Abeokuta-Sagamu Expressway in Ogun on Saturday. Mr Babatunde Akinbiyi, the Public Relations Officer, Ogun State Traffic Compliance and Enforcement Agency (TRACE), confirmed the accident Akinbiyi told newsmen in Abeokuta that the accident happened around 3:45p.m and it involved a Toyota Siena car with registration number APC 929 HU, a Nissan Pathfinder Jeep with registration number KJA 311 CW. “The other two vehicles are a Toyota Carina taxi cab with registration number ABG 810 XA and a Toyota Corolla…
Nigeria’s state oil company has offered to talk to an international watchdog that says it failed to hand over billions of dollars in oil revenues despite government promises to tackle mismanagement and corruption. President Muhammadu Buhari last year fired senior staff at the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and approved a revamp of its structure last month. But in a report published this week, the Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI) said NNPC withheld around two thirds of the $6.3 billion of oil proceeds in the second half of 2015. NRGI said that was an increase of 12 percent from the…
The Oyo State Government has said that the 10-month old agreement it had with organised labour in the state over unpaid salaries subsisted, warning them to refrain from confrontation. This is contained in a statement signed by Alhaji Ismael Alli, a former Secretary to the State Government and leader of the government delegation and made available to newsmen in Ibadan on Saturday. “We urge labour leaders to embrace dialogue and consultation instead of issuing threats and ultimatum of strike. “As stakeholders they should brainstorm on how to bail the state out of its financial predicament,” it said. The News Agency…
On Saturday, April 2, 2016, the Federal Government reportedly recommenced the payment of subsidy on petrol. It was further reported that Nigerian government subsidised the commodity by N5.84 for every litre of premium motor spirit consumed in Nigeria. The FG also announced that the current official pump prices of petrol would remain at N86 per litre when purchased at filling stations run by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and N86.5 per litre when sold at outlets operated by other oil marketers. It should be noted that the Nigerian government stopped subsidy on petrol in January 2016 after the review of…
The governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai has dared the Christian clergy that prophesied his ‘death’ after initiating a committee for a bill to put religious leaders in check. Speaking in an interview said, El-Rufai stressed that the need for the bill is to checkmate radical preachers that preach intolerance in the state. In his words, “I have not seen anyone talking about Islam actually. Most of the people that say I would die, as if I would not die, are people who call themselves Christian clergy. Of course, I will die. If that apostle is truly an apostle,…
President Muhammadu Buhari on Saturday in Washington DC assured Nigerians in the Diaspora of his administration’s determination to move the country forward as rapidly as possible. The president gave the assurance at an audience with a group of Nigerians, who had distinguished themselves in various professions in the United States. A statement issued in Abuja by the president’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr Femi Adesina, President Buhari said that his administration was fully committed to correcting the errors that had hindered Nigeria’s progress as a nation. “We are determined to get things done properly this time and God…
Stakeholders under the auspices of Project Harmony, a non-governmental organisation, on Sunday urged Nigerians to support the Federal Government’s fight against corruption and mismanagement of the nation’s economy. This is contained in a communiqué issued at the end of a two-day National Conference on New Blueprint for Prevention, Resolution and Management of Conflicts. The communiqué was signed by Mr Hassan Anka of Trade Union Congress (TUC) and Mr Nneka Ikelionwu of the Institute of Peace and Conflict Resolution, among others. It stressed the need for encouragement of grassroots trade union leaders by their apex unions to avoid abuse of trade…
Transportation Minister, Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi has referred to the Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike of Rivers State as a threat to democracy. Amaechi took several swipes at the Rivers’ governor while reacting to several allegations made by the governor saying the Transport Minister and the Independent National Electoral Commission are conniving to upturn results of 8 LG in the Rivers Rerun election. The minister also insisted that Gov. Wike’s ploy is a means of destroying a free and fair elections in the state. In a statement by the media aide to the Minister, he said, “His resort to blackmail, threats…