Sports
Sporting Stun Man City In Champions League As Liverpool, Milan Claim Fine Wins
Viktor Gyokeres scored a hat-trick as Ruben Amorim’s Sporting stunned Manchester City with a 4-1 win in the Champions League on Tuesday, while Liverpool trounced Xabi Alonso’s Bayer Leverkusen and AC Milan beat holders Real Madrid in Spain.
Sporting stole the show with their performance in Lisbon, but the Portuguese champions had to come from behind after Phil Foden put City ahead early on.
Amorim was hoping to sign off from the Champions League in style as Sporting coach before he leaves for Manchester United, and Gyokeres then took centre stage.
The Swedish striker equalised seven minutes before half-time, holding off Champions League debutant Jahmai Simpson-Pusey as he ran through to finish.
Sporting then went ahead 19 seconds into the second half as Maximiliano Araujo finished off a fine move, and shortly after that Gyokeres converted a penalty following a foul by Josko Gvardiol.
City could have pulled one back, but Erling Haaland hit the bar from the spot. Gyokeres showed Haaland how to do it as he scored his second spot-kick to complete a hat-trick, condemning City to their heaviest losing margin in Europe since a 3-0 loss to Liverpool in April 2018.
Gyokeres has 23 goals in 17 games in all competitions this season and will surely be the next star to leave Sporting for a bigger club elsewhere following Amorim’s departure.
“It was written that it had to be like that I think, there is no other explanation,” Amorim, at Sporting since 2020, said of a famous victory.
“I think everyone who has been here in the last four years deserved this. It was a special night.”
Diaz hat-trick
City have seven points at the halfway stage in the new-look Champions League, while Sporting are second on 10 points, behind only Liverpool, who are the sole team with the maximum 12 points.
Luis Diaz scored a hat-trick as the Anfield club secured a statement 4-0 win over Leverkusen on the night Alonso returned to Merseyside, with all the goals coming in the second half.
Diaz put Liverpool ahead just after the hour mark and Cody Gakpo headed in shortly after. Diaz scored again to make it 3-0 and then got his third and his team’s fourth in stoppage time, leaving the German champions on seven points after four outings.
“I think it’s a good result against a very good team,” Gakpo told Amazon Prime.
“They played a very good game, but we kept going, trying, creating chances, defending well.”
Real slump again
Madrid suffered their second loss in four games in the competition this season as they went down 3-1 at home to Milan.
The Italians, whose tally of seven European Cups is bettered only by Real’s 15, went ahead early on through Malick Thiaw, but the hosts soon drew level through a Vinicius Junior penalty.
However, Alvaro Morata put Milan back ahead before the interval against his old club, following in to finish after a Rafael Leao shot was parried.
Milan got their third on 73 minutes after great play by Leao set up Tijjani Reijnders to score, and Antonio Ruediger had a late effort disallowed for Real.
“When we are 11 lions on the pitch, it is very difficult for a team to beat us,” Morata said at full-time.
Monaco are third in the standings with 10 points following a 1-0 victory at Bologna, secured thanks to captain Thilo Kehrer’s late goal.
Dortmund are fourth on nine points after Donyell Malen’s 85th-minute goal gave them a 1-0 win at home to Sturm Graz.
Dusan Vlahovic’s penalty allowed Juventus to come from behind and draw 1-1 at Lille, after Canada’s Jonathan David had given the French side the lead.
Celtic impress
Celtic have seven points after a fine fightback secured a 3-1 win for the Scottish champions against RB Leipzig in Glasgow.
Christoph Baumgartner fired Leipzig in front but a brilliant Nicolas Kuehn strike brought Celtic level and he then put them ahead in first-half stoppage time. Reo Hatate got their third.
PSV Eindhoven crushed Girona 4-0, with Ryan Flamingo and Malik Tillman netting in the first half. Arnau Martinez was sent off for Girona before Johan Bakayoko made it 3-0 and Ladislav Krejci scored an own goal.
Dinamo Zagreb came back to win 4-1 at Slovan Bratislava with Sandro Kulenovic scoring twice for the Croatians.
Slovan, Sturm Graz and Leipzig have lost four out of four.
AFP
Sports
Three reasons Victor Osimhen will not join Galatasaray permanently despite interest
Galatasaray are reportedly plotting a permanent move for Victor Osimhen after the striker impressed early since joining the Turkish champions on a season-long loan from Napoli.
Osimhen settled in quickly at the RAMS Park, scoring four goals and contributing another four assists in nine games, including the winning goal against Besiktas.
According to Turkish outlet Sozcu, Gala are prepared to break their transfer record and offer a €50 million bid to Napoli to sign the Nigerian permanently.
Team Talk debunked the news reporting that the club’s sources claimed it is “fake news” with zero chance of happening despite him being a fan favourite already.
Let’s look at three reasons Osimhen can’t join Galatasaray.
1. Premier League dream
Premier League side Chelsea attempted to sign the Super Eagles star until the final moments of the summer transfer window when the deal was off after failure to reach an agreement on personal terms. The Blues reportedly retain their interest, with Arsenal also monitoring the situation.
Osimhen is said to dream of playing on the top flight of English football. He will turn 26 in December, and his best time to fulfil the dream is to get a move in January or, at the latest, next summer.
2. Galatasaray and Napoli are apart in fee
Osimhen had a release clause of £113 million inserted into the new Napoli contract he signed in the summer of 2023, a figure which eventually proved to be a stumbling block to his desired move last summer, with interest clubs unwilling to pay.
He extended his contract by a year before joining Galatasaray on loan, and a new release clause of €75 million was inserted, but the Turkish champions will reportedly offer a third of that, which is sure to be dismissed by the Neapolitans.
3. Salary demands
Osimhen’s current salary at Napoli is reportedly €12.82mil per year or €246,538 per week, while the Turkish club announced to the public that they would pay the former Lille striker €115,000 per week, way below his current grade. It is unclear if the Lions will raise their offer.
The Nigerian has a more lucrative salary offer of over €500,000 per week in Saudi Arabia, with Al-Ahli possibly returning for him in the summer.
Source: www.legit.ng
Sports
FG Panel Indicts AFN In Ofili’s Paris Olympics Omission
An investigative committee set up by the Federal Government has stated that the inactions of some officials of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria were responsible for Favour Ofili’s non-registration for the women’s 100-meter race at the Paris Olympics.
The PUNCH reports that Nigeria failed to win any medals at the end of the 2024 Paris Olympics, held between the 26th of July, and the 11th of August, 2024.
Added to the failure to secure any medals were the controversies, including the exclusion of Ofili from the Women’s 100m race, and the revelation by Ese Ukpeseraye that she had to borrow a track bike from the German team to compete.
In its report made available to journalists on Monday, the Committee Chairman, Mumini Alao, stated that the omission of Ofili’s name was traceable to the following organisations: the Athletics Federation of Nigeria, the Nigeria Olympic Committee, World Athletics, and the International Olympic Committee.
The committee also mentioned that the Secretary General of the AFN, Rita Mosindi, was “Negligent in her duty of communicating to the Ministry of Sports Development and the Nigeria Olympic Committee information about Ofili’s event status in a reliable and timely manner.”
The committee also faulted Samuel Onikeku, AFN Technical Director, who it said demonstrated “poor judgment” by failing to act on a “hint” of Ofili’s non-registration for the 100m event, adding that the situation may have been saved had Onikeku reported or acted on the information.
The report recommended that the officials be penalised by appropriate authorities and that the AFN should pay the sum of N8 million to Ofili for “the disappointment and depression that she suffered on account of her omission”.
In the case of Ese Ukpeseraye, the Committee asked the athlete to write a formal apology to the Nigerian Cycling Federation, and the Nigerian contingent for the embarrassment caused on account of her X (formerly Twitter) post which stated she had to borrow a track bike.
“The cyclist, Ese Ukpeseraye, should write a formal apology to the Nigeria Cycling Federation (NCF) for the embarrassment that she caused the Federation and the Nigerian contingent to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games on account of the unauthorised post that she made on social media, X (formerly Twitter) about the bicycle that she used for the Cycling track event at the Olympics”, the post read.
The committee had submitted its report to the defunct Ministry of Sports Development on October 22, a day before President Tinubu scrapped the Ministry, transferring its functions and responsibilities to the National Sports Commission, chaired by Shehu Dikko.
Sports
NPFL: Musa scores for Kano Pillars, Rivers United falter
Ahmed Musa scored the winning goal as Kano Pillars rallied to beat Plateau United 2-1 on Sunday.
Plateau United took the lead through Gafar Saka on 66 minutes.
Rabiu Ali equalised for Pillars 13 minutes from time, while Musa fired home the winning goal in stoppage time
In Lagos, Rivers United lost for the first time in the Nigeria Premier Football League, NPFL, this season, going down to a 2-0 defeat against Ikorodu City.
Ayomide Cole gave Ikorodu City the lead three minutes after the break.
Rivio Ayemnwere doubled the advantage eight minutes later.
Elsewhere, holders Rangers claimed a 2-0 win over Nasarawa United at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium, Enugu.
Last season’s top scorer, Godwin Obaje, scored both goals for the Flying Antelopes.
FULL RESULTS
Rangers 2-0 Nasarawa Utd
Kano Pillars 1-0 Plateau Utd
Sunshine Stars 1-2 Insurance
Abia Warriors 0-1 Heartland
Bayelsa Utd 1-1 Enyimba
Ikorodu City 2-0 Rivers Utd
Tornadoes 1-0 3SC
Akwa Utd 2-1 Kwara Utd
Remo Stars 1-0 Lobi
FT El-Kanemi 1-0 Katsina Utd
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