Author: Nurudeen Obalola
By Nurudeen Obalola Christian Chukwu, the legendary central ddefender who captained the Green Eagles to win Nigeria’s first-ever Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) title in 1980, is dead. The former Rangers of Enugu star died today aged 74. The death of Chukwu was confirmed by his old teammate and friend Segun Odegbami today. “My Chairman has passed on. I just received the news that between 9:00 and 10:00 this morning, ‘Chairman’ Christian Chukwu, MFR, my bosom friend and team mate, one of the greatest football players in Nigeria’s football history, former captain and coach of Nigeria’s national football team,…
Manchester City, led by the departing Kevin de Bruyne, battled back from two goals down to beat Crystal Palace 5-2 in a thrilling English Premier League clash at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday. England international with Nigerian roots Eberechi Eze and Chris Richards put the visitors into a comfortable lead inside the first 21 minutes, but City hit back after Palace had a third goal ruled out by a close call from the new semi-automated offside technology. Captain De Bruyne, who recently announced he will leave City at the end of the season, played a key role in his side’s stunning…
A Chilean derby between Universidad de Chile and Colo Colo scheduled for Sunday has been postponed after two young fans were killed on Thursday in a crush at a Copa Libertadores match at the Monumental Stadium. Security Minister Luis Cordero said the match between Chile’s two most popular teams had been postponed after a report by the local police cited unsafe conditions for Sunday’s match. The crush occurred when home fans tried to enter the Monumental stadium in Santiago before Colo Colo’s Group E Copa Libertadores match against Brazilian side Fortaleza. The victims, a 13-year-old boy and an 18-year-old female,…
By Nurudeen Obalola Super Eagles striker Victor Osimhen sealed a crucial victory for Galatasaray on Friday as the Turkish Super Lig champions defeated Samsunspor 2-0. Galatasaray’s last Turkish Super Lig result was a 2-1 defeat at Besiktas on March 31, and they needed victory on Friday to fend off Fenerbahce in the title race. Osimhen doubled Galatasaray’s lead after Yunus Akgun had opened the scoring, but it was not all plain sailing for the champions and league leaders. Hosts Samsunspor had the ball in the net early on but the goal was disallowed, to the relief of Osimhen and his…
Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim defended under-fire goalkeeper Andre Onana following the Cameroonian’s costly mistakes in his side’s 2-2 draw at Olympique Lyonnais in their UEFA Europa League quarter-final first leg on Thursday. Onana allowed Thiago Almada’s free-kick to squirm past him in the Groupama Stadium and was also at fault for Rayan Cherki’s last-gasp equaliser that denied United victory. Since the start of last season, no English Premier League club’s goalkeeper has made more errors leading to goals being conceded in all competitions than Onana. “It can happen, if you play football, you play a lot of games, you…
Mohamed Salah has ended speculation about his future by signing a two-year contract extension with Liverpool, the English Premier League leaders announced on Friday. The 32-year-old Egyptian, who joined Liverpool in 2017 from AS Roma, could have left the club for free in the summer with his contract previously set to expire in June. “I’m very excited. We have a great team now. Before also we had a great team. But I signed because I think we have a chance to win other trophies and enjoy my football,” Salah said in a club statement. “It’s great, I had my best…
Goalkeeper Andre Onana was mostly at fault for two goals on Thursday night in France as a last-gasp equaliser earned Lyon a 2-2 draw against Manchester United in their UEFA Europa League quarter-final first leg clash. Also on Thursday night, Super Eagles stars Cyriel Dessers and Leon Balogun helped Rangers to a 0-0 draw with Athletic Bilbao in their Europa League quarter-final first leg in Glasgow despite the hosts going down to 10 men in the first half. At Lyon, United went behind after 25 minutes when under-pressure Onana failed to get a strong enough hand to Thiago Almada’s…
Super Eagles head coach Eric Chelle is eager for the team to participate in the 2025 Unity Cup in May, viewing it as an opportunity to know his players better ahead of the World Cup qualifiers in October. The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) on Wednesday confirmed the participation of the Super Eagles in the Unity Cup, with the 17,000-capacity Gtech Community Stadium, home ground of English Premier League club Brentford, as venue. “The final signatures, seals and indentures were achieved on Wednesday, for this year’s Unity Cup Invitational Tournament involving Nigeria, Jamaica, Ghana and Trinidad & Tobago to go ahead…
Lionel Messi’s second goal of the night, an 84th-minute penalty kick, capped Inter Miami’s 3-1 win over Los Angeles FC on Wednesday in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, sending the Herons to the semi-finals of the CONCACAF Champions Cup. Inter Miami won the two-leg, total-goal semi-final series 3-2, rallying after LAFC earned a 1-0 home victory last week. The Herons’ opponent in the two-legged semi-final will the Vancouver Whitecaps. Los Angeles went up 2-0 on aggregate when Aaron Long scored in the ninth minute, but goals from Messi in the 35th minute and Noah Allen — off a Messi assist — in…
Raphinha equalled Lionel Messi’s club record for goal involvements in a single UEFA Champions League campaign as Barcelona thrashed Borussia Dortmund in Spain on Wednesday night to take command of their quarter-final tie. Also on Wednesday night, Paris St-Germain came from behind to beat Aston Villa 3-1 in their first leg clash in France. Brazil forward Raphinha scored and assisted twice to reach 19 goal involvements in the competition this term, the same as Messi achieved in the 2011-2012 campaign. Raphinha’s 12th European goal of the season gave Barcelona a deserved first-half lead, before Robert Lewandowski struck twice after the…