Sports

Leverkusen Make Europa League Final After Late Draw Against Roma

Published

9 months ago

May 10, 2024

Bayer Leverkusen are through to the Europa League final 4-2 on aggregate after a stoppage-time goal from Josip Stanisic snatched a 2-2 draw at home on Thursday, extending their unbeaten run to a record 49 games.

In a rematch of last season’s Europa League semi-final, Roma came to Leverkusen 2-0 down after the first leg but levelled the tie up despite having little possession thanks to penalties in each half from Leandro Paredes.

With the tie heading for extra time, Alex Grimaldo curled in a corner which goalie Mile Svilar failed to catch, the ball going into the net after bouncing off Roma defender Gianluca Mancini.

Stanisic then kept Leverkusen’s stunning record of late goals alive by scoring on the counter in the seventh minute of added time, breaking Benfica’s European unbeaten record dating back to 1965.

Bundesliga champions Leverkusen will meet Atalanta, who beat Marseille 3-0 (4-1 on aggregate), in the final in Dublin on May 22 with hopes of a remarkable treble still alive.

Alonso again mixed things up tactically and made six changes including surprisingly leaving star attackers Florian Wirtz, Victor Boniface and former Roma striker Patrik Schick on the bench, instead leading the line with Adam Hlozek.

The changes did not impact Leverkusen’s rhythm as the hosts exploded onto the pitch, carving Roma up with creative, fluid movement.

Roma by contrast brought the fight and tried to unsettle the Bundesliga champions, picking up four yellow cards inside the opening 30 minutes.

Exequiel Palacios was the target for much of Roma’s roughhousery but the Argentinian World Cup winner almost had revenge after 29 minutes when his low shot hit the inside of the post and came close to bouncing in off goalkeeper Svilar’s back.

Svilar produced a spectacular double save to keep out shots from Amine Adli and Hlozek on the 38-minute mark.

Roma sent a long ball up the other end and within moments the referee pointed to the spot, after Roma’s Bayer Leverkusen-loanee Sardar Azmoun went down in a tussle with Jonathan Tah.

Palacios’ Argentinian teammate Paredes sent the ball down the middle and Roma were 1-0 up, back into the tie just before half-time.

The second half began like the first, with Leverkusen unable to make their dominance count on the scoreboard — before Roma won another spot kick, this time via VAR for a handball against Hlozek.

Paredes scored again, sending the ball left to take a two-goal lead in the match and level the tie.

Roma held on for dear life and went to ground frequently to hold onto the lead, reminiscent of their performance at the same venue in last year’s semi-final which netted a 0-0 draw and a spot in the final.

With nine minutes remaining, Leverkusen won another corner which Grimaldo swung through the hands of goalie Svilar, who clattered into Chris Smalling, the ball then bouncing in off the face of Mancini.

Roma pushed forward hoping to send things to extra time but Bayern loanee Stanisic hit the Italians on the counter, sending his team-mates sprinting from the bench and keeping his side’s season-long unbeaten run alive.

AFP

Sports

Former Belgium player Radja Nainggolan arrested for alleged cocaine smuggling

Published

1 day ago

January 28, 2025

Kayode Sanni-Arewa

Former Belgian footballer, Radja Nainggolan has reportedly been arrested for alleged involvement in cocaine smuggling.

According to a report by Corriere della Sera, the former AS Roma midfielder was allegedly part of a smuggling operation transporting cocaine from South America to Antwerp.

The Brussels public prosecutor’s office confirmed Nainggolan’s arrest as part of a large-scale raid on 30,000 houses in Antwerp and Brussels on Monday, January 27, 2025.

“The federal judicial police of Brussels carried out thirty house searches on Monday morning in the context of a case from the Organized Crime department of the Brussels public prosecutor’s office. The searches mainly took place in the province of Antwerp and in Brussels.”

“The investigation concerns suspected activities related to the importation of cocaine from South America to Europe via the port of Antwerp, as well as its distribution in Belgium. We can confirm that the footballer RN (Radja Nainggolan) has been taken into custody in connection with this case,” the statement read as quoted by UK outlet, Daily Mail.

“Given that interrogations are ongoing, and in compliance with the principle of presumption of innocence, no further comment will be made at this stage.”

Nainggolan, 36, currently plays for Lokeren-Temse, a lower-tier club in Belgium. He rose to prominence during his time in Italy, representing clubs such as Inter Milan, AS Roma, and Cagliari.

The former midfielder announced his retirement from international football in 2018 after being omitted from Belgium’s squad for the FIFA World Cup that year.

Sports

Full List: AFCON 2025 Draw Confirmed

Published

1 day ago

January 28, 2025

Kayode Sanni-Arewa

The draw for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations, AFCON, has been confirmed on Monday.

The tournament is scheduled to run from December 21, 2025 until January 18, 2026.

All the 24 countries that will be present in Morocco have been found out their initial opponents.

All but two of the 52 Confederation of African Football (CAF) member participated in the qualifying series.

Following the preliminary round, 48 teams were divided into 12 groups of four, playing home and away in a total of six matches, where the top two teams from each group qualified.

The tournament will take place in six cities over four weeks, but there can only be one nation crowned the kings of Africa.

Here are all the important details and the full draw for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations.

AFCON 2025 groups
Group A: Morocco, Mali, Zambia, Comoros
Group B: Egypt, South Africa, Angola, Zimbabwe
Group C: Nigeria, Tunisia, Uganda, Tanzania
Group D: Senegal, DR Congo, Benin, Botswana
Group E: Algeria, Burkina Faso, Equatorial Guinea, Sudan
Group F: Cote d’Ivoire, Cameroon, Gabon, Mozambique

Sports

Para Badminton Int’l: Nigeria’s Bolaji wins gold in Egypt

Published

2 days ago

January 27, 2025

Naijablitznews

By Francesca Hangeior

Paralympic bronze medalist, Eniola Bolaji, on Sunday won gold medal in her final match at the Egypt Para Badminton International 2025.

To get this point, Bolaji won all her previous games in the competition hosted by Egypt.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Bolaji defeated Sweden’s Hillevi Salomonsson 2-0 (21-1, 21-2) in the women’s SL3 final on Sunday in Cairo Egypt.

The African champion demonstrated her skill throughout the tournament, beating Shahinda Mohamed (21-7, 21-2).

She also defeated Basma Nabil-Fawzy (21-6, 21-4) and further conquered Elizabeth Puma (21-2, 21-4) with straight-set victories in earlier rounds.

Bolaji triumphed in dominant style, extending her remarkable winning streak by claiming her 10th title in 10 tournaments, while securing her 58th win in 64 matches

According to the Badminton World Federation (BWF), Bolaji has competed in 10 international championships over the past two years, emerging victorious in all.

This is a remarkable feat that bonds her as a force to be reckoned with in Para Badminton.

She broke multiple records and brought pride to Nigeria and Africa.

Bolaji’s achievement followed her radical success in 2024 where she made history as the first African athlete to win a badminton medal at the Paralympic Games

The Egypt Para Badminton International 2025 which started on Jan.21, ended on today (Jan. 26) in Cairo.