Sports

Inter Milan Win Serie A Title In Derby Thriller With AC Milan

Published

5 months ago

April 23, 2024

Inter Milan won Serie A on Monday after beating AC Milan 2-1 and creating an unassailable lead at the top of the league with their sixth straight derby victory.

Goals from Francesco Acerbi and Marcus Thuram gave Inter a 17-point advantage over closest challengers Milan and secured their 20th league crown with five matches of the season remaining.

Simone Inzaghi won the first league title of his managerial career on a cold, soaking wet evening at the San Siro where a clutch of Inter’s “away” fans in the 75,000 crowd roared in delight at the final whistle.

Milan made a fight of it in the final moments after Fikayo Tomori pulled one back with 10 minutes remaining but Inter held out to kick off a title party.

Inter have become the second team to win 20 Italian league titles and will have a second star stitched onto their jersey, after Juventus who are way out in the lead with 36 league crowns.

Inzaghi’s team did it style, laying waste to the rest of the division and becoming the first team to claim the title by winning the Milan derby.

With outgoing champions Napoli crashing and burning early in the campaign and Milan falling away in the autumn Inter raced off into the distance at the turn of the year.

Juventus looked like putting up a fight but they collapsed in February just as Inter strung together a run of 13 wins which also gave them hope of repeating a deep run in the Champions League.

Inter failed in that mission as they were knocked out of the Champions League by Atletico Madrid in mid-March, but by that time the domestic damage had already been done.

The future looks bright too as Inzaghi, captain Lautaro Martinez and Italy midfielder Nicolo Barella are all set to renew their contracts while smart work in the transfer market and increased revenue has helped mitigate significant financial harm wrought by the Covid-29 pandemic.

Piotr Zielinski and Medhi Taremi will arrive from Napoli and Porto as free agents in the close season while big stars like Marcus Thuram should stay.

Off the pitch Inter’s president Steven Zhang is trying to make sure that investment fund Oaktree don’t take control of the club with non-repayment of an emergency loan — granted in 2021 — next month.

Zhang is looking at taking out another loan with fellow US fund Pimco so that Inter can pay Oaktree loan and ensure that the club don’t wind up owned by Oaktree as Milan did with Elliott in 2018.

AFP

Sports

Champions League: PSG, Dortmund win, Inter Milan hold Man City

Published

17 hours ago

September 19, 2024

Kayode Sanni-Arewa

Paris Saint-Germain needed a late dose of luck to beat Girona 1-0 in the UEFA Champions League on Wednesday night.

The Ligue 1 champions toiled against the debutants at home for 88 minutes without finding the back of the net.

However, Nuno Mendes’ low cross was fumbled into his own net by goalkeeper Paulo Gazzaniga.

England Under-21 winger Jamie Gittens’ double set last year’s Champions League finalists Borussia Dortmund on their way to a 3-0 victory at Club Brugge. Serhou Guirassy scored the third from the penalty spot.

Manchester City and Inter Milan played out a goalless draw at the Etihad.

In Scotland, Celtic thrashed Slovan Bratislava 5-1 to record their biggest win in the competition ever.

Sports

Rising Nigerian Football Star, Hadriel Gets Elite X1 Canada Invitation

Published

18 hours ago

September 19, 2024

Kayode Sanni-Arewa

Eleven year old high rising Nigerian football star Hadriel Chukwuziterem Opara who has been attracting the attention of football coaches and scouts has been selected as one of the 12 players across Canada that will represent Elite X1 Canada in the prestigious NIKE powered Norwich City Mna Cup UK taking place from October 10-14, 2024.

According to the letter of invitation from the organisers, the tournament will enable the players engage in top level competition with 16 academy teams from renowned clubs like Liverpool, Arsenal, Borussia Dortmund, Chelsea, Inter Milan, Sporting Lisbon and Norwich City.

The invitation letter also noted that the players will be exposed to world class facilities at Norwich City FC’s State-of-the – art Lotus training centre featuring advanced training environments like the exclusive Soccer Bot 360 system.

The organisers while stating that the tournament will enable the players showcase their talents on an international stage, assured that all the matches will be filmed, providing a valuable footage that could open doors to future opportunities.

Meanwhile Hadriel a Pepsi Academy product who has not hidden his intention of playing for the National U-15 team noted that he’s humbled by the invitation expressing hope that the programme will help him further improve his football skill.

Sports

Just in: Delta grabs first position at national youth games

Published

18 hours ago

September 19, 2024

Kayode Sanni-Arewa

WITH 41 gold, 27 silver , and 30 bronze medals totalling 98, Delta State has emerged the winner of the 8th edition of the National Youth Games ( NYG), tagged Asaba 2024.

Latest update of proceedings released on Wednesday night showed that Lagos State has outpaced erstwhile second placed Edo State with a total medals haul of 62, comprising 25 gold, 19 silver and 18 bronze medals respectively .

Edo State is placed third with 17 gold, 12 silver and 24 bronze medals respectively.

Ebonyi and Zamfara States could not land any medal to their credit during the games, according to the medals table update so far.

The NYG is expected to come to a close today (Thursday), with the closing ceremony at the Stephen Keshi international Stadium, Asaba, the Delta, Nigeria.