Sports News

North African giants Al Ahly of Egypt and Esperance of Tunisia will lock horns today in Borg El Arab Stadium, Alexandria, Egypt, in the first leg of the finals of the CAF Champions League. The second leg will be played on 9 November at Stade Olympique de Rades, in Rades, Tunis. At stake is not just the trophy but the ...

Real Madrid have given their coach Julen Lopetegui the boot, less than five months after he was hired to replace Zinedine Zidane. He will be replaced by Santiago Solaris, who coaches Madrid’s junior team. The firing of the former Spanish coach was speculated ahead of the meeting today of Madrid C.F. board of directors, in the wake of the 5-1 ...

Real Madrid are set to sack coach Julen Lopetegui after their 5-1 humiliation by arch-rivals Barcelona. Spanish media reported on Monday that Lopetegui might be replaced by former Chelsea manager Antonio Conte. Lopetegui’s record of four wins, two draws and four defeats has left Real Madrid languishing ninth in the La Liga standings, seven points behind leaders Barca.

Nigeria’s Super Eagles have moved up by four spots to the 44th in the world in the October FIFA -Coca Cola Ranking. In the ranking table published on the website of the world football governing body on Thursday, Nigeria garnered 1431 points as against 1415 it had in September. The movement has now placed Nigeria as the third in Africa behind ...

Paris Saint-Germain continued the blistering start to their Ligue 1 title defence with a record-extending 10th straight win as Kylian Mbappe scored in a 5-0 thrashing of Amiens on Saturday. Coach Thomas Tuchel left key men Neymar, Thiago Silva and Thomas Meunier out of the squad altogether at the Parc des Princes with Wednesday’s Champions League clash with Napoli in ...

What was surely a thrilling match at Stamford Bridge on Saturday as Chelsea and Manchester United played a 2-2 draw was marred by Jose Mourinho’s anger when a Chelsea staff taunted him. Mourinho took exception to the celebrations of one of Sarri’s backroom staff, Marco Ianni, who ran in front him on the touchline, as he seemed set for a ...

Legendary England and Manchester United midfielder, Paul Scholes, said even Lionel Messi would struggle to shine in the current United team and that the struggling club are being laughed at by their rivals. Scholes has been a frequent and vocal critic of his old club, who are languishing in eighth place in the Premier League — five points adrift of ...

A brace by Odion Ighalo and another goal by Ahmed Musa gave Nigeria’s Super Eagles a 3-2 victory over hosts Libya in Sfax, Tunisia, to move top of Group E of 2019 AFCON Qualifiers. The Super Eagles led the game 2-0 in the first half, with Ighalo and Musa scoring three minutes apart. Libya’s Mohamed Zubya reduced the deficit in ...

Odion Ighalo scores a hattrick for Nigeria as they trounced visiting Libya national team 4-0 in an African Cup of Nations qualifier on Saturday. The match was played at the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom state capital. The Punch reports that Ighalo, who plies his trade with Chinese club Changchun Yatai, grabbed the first goal from the ...

FIFA best player of the year Luka Modric remains on track for a second major award after he was named on Monday among 30 nominees for the Ballon d’Or alongside the likes of ex-Real Madrid teammate Cristiano Ronaldo, Barcelona’s Lionel Messi and Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah. The Punch reports that Modric, a World Cup runner-up with Croatia, beat Juventus’ Ronaldo and ...