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Tag: UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

  • Victor Osimhen constitutes UEFA Champions League Team Of The Week

    Victor Osimhen constitutes UEFA Champions League Team Of The Week

    Super Eagles striker, Victor Osimhen, has been included in both the UEFA Champions League Team of the Week and the Team of round 16 first-leg.

    Osimhen continued his impressive scoring form for Napoli after getting on the score sheet in their 2-0 win away to 10-man Eintracht Frankfurt on Tuesday, February 21.

    He took his tally for the season to 20 in 24 games in all competitions for the Serie A leaders.

    The team of the week was announced by the football facts and statistics website whoscored.com on their Twitter handle.

    Victor Osimhen included in UEFA Champions League Team Of The Week

    Osimhen alongside three of his Napoli teammates and Real Madrid’s quarter, Karim Benzema, Eder Militao, Vinicius Junior and Luka Modric, all made the Team of the Week.

    While for the Team of the first-leg round of 16, Osimhen was included with the same Madrid players and also three of his Napoli teammates.

    TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports that Osimhen is being linked with moves to Chelsea and Manchester United this summer.

    Born in Nigeria, Osimhen began his senior career in Germany at VfL Wolfsburg in 2017. Following a season and a half at the club, he moved to Belgian side Charleroi on loan in 2018–19, before moving to France at Lille.

    In 2020, Osimhen transferred to Serie A club Napoli for a club-record fee of €70 million. He won the Serie A Best Young Player award in the 2021–22 season.

    Victor Osimhen included in UEFA Champions League Team Of The Week

    Osimhen won the Golden Boot award at the 2015 FIFA U-17 World Cup, which Nigeria won. He made his senior international debut in June 2017 and played at the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations.

    He is currently the ninth all-time highest goalscorer of the Nigeria national team.

    TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports that Osimhen started his career at the Ultimate Strikers Academy, based in Lagos, Nigeria.

    In January 2016, after being noticed for his performances at the 2015 FIFA U-17 World Cup, Osimhen committed to a pre-contract with VfL Wolfsburg, stipulating that he would officially join the club in January 2017

  • PSG VS Bayern: Why I played despite being injured – Mbappe

    PSG VS Bayern: Why I played despite being injured – Mbappe

    French and Paris Saint-Germain forward, Kylian Mbappe has revealed that he wasn’t supposed to feature in the Champions League round of 16 first-leg tie against Bayern Munich at Parc Des Princess.

    Mbappe was still recuperating from a thigh injury but was introduced in the second half of the encounter, however, his introduction didn’t make any difference.

    The France international suffered a hamstring injury on February 1 and the Ligue 1 club initially said he would be out for three weeks.

    However,  Mbappe came on in the 57th minute and changed the tempo of the game, scoring two goals
    but they were ruled out for offside.

    After the game, Mbappe said he wasn’t suppose  to play in the game  “I wasn’t supposed to play but I wanted to play and help my mates.

    “We did everything, we worked night and day to get me some game time.

    “I wanted to [start the game]. But sometimes you have to be satisfied with what you can do, and that’s all I could do,” Mbappe said.

  • UCL: Liverpool end Napoli’s 13 games winning streak in a thrilling encounter

    UCL: Liverpool end Napoli’s 13 games winning streak in a thrilling encounter

    Liverpool have ended Napoli’s unbeaten record in all competition this season by inflicting their first loss of the season. Liverpool snatched a 2-0 win win at Anfield with two late goals.

    Having won five straight games already, Napoli were aiming to set a record of winning all their games in the group stage when they threw in all their best legs in the encounter but their opponent have other ideas.

    It was a game of few clear-cut chances that  ultimately settled by Mohamed Salah, turning home after a Darwin Núñez effort had come within millimetres of crossing the line. The Uruguayan, Darwin Nunez then came in and scored on the death to give Liverpool their fifth straight win of the campaign.

    Neither side had a great deal to play for — Napoli merely needed to avoid a four-goal defeat in order to hang on to top spot, while Liverpool had no real prospects of overturning them. But despite what the scoreline may suggest, it was a fiercely-contested affair.

    After scoring his first hattrick for Napoli over the weekend, Red hot Nigerian striker, Victor Osimhen wasn’t given a breathing space and marked out in the game by the defensive duo of Virgil Van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate.

    Meanwhile, the Seria A table toppers still finished  top of the group with 15 points while Liverpool came with same points but on   goal difference.

  • UCL: Liverpool, Bayern, Napoli defeat opponents with high score margin

    UCL: Liverpool, Bayern, Napoli defeat opponents with high score margin

    Barcelona may be heading for the Europa league for the second season running after failing to dispatch a resilient and determined Inter Milan at Camp Nou.

    Recall that Inter Milan were 1-0 better than the same opponent in the previous week at San Siro.

    Ousmane Dembele slotted in a powerful low drive shot in the 40th minute and ran away with the first-half lead.

    On resumption, Inter Milan’s Nicolo Barela scored on the 50th minute to level up for the away team. Lautaro Martinez scored the second goal when he latched on to an error  from Gerald Pique to put the Milan team a goal up.

    Poland import Lewandowski scored for Barcelona to put the scores at 2-2 but the resilient away side Robin Gosens got the third goal to show they meant business.

    Lewandowski again scored through a powerful header to restore parity for the home side as they settled for a 3-3 draw at camp Nou.

    Liverpool showed the stuff they were made off by coming back from a goal down to put seven goals past Rangers FC in the battle of Great Britain.

    Rangers forward, Scot Artfield scored the opener in the 17th minute but Liverpool’s Roberto Firminio equalized on the 24th minute.

    Darwin Nunez doubled the lead on the 66th minute before  Firmio struck again on the 73 minute, substitute Mo Salah scored his first hat trick of the season  under six minutes to put scores at 6-1.

    Harvey Elliot then scored the seventh goal to increase Liverpool’s chances of making it to the second round after Napoli.

    Napoli defeated Ajax 4-2 at Naples to become the second team after Manchester City to qualify for the second round of the UEFA Champions League.

    Bayern defeated Plzen by 4-2 to also cement their place in the second round of the UCL.

    Tottenham Hotspurs also defeated Eintracht Frankurt 3-2  to rise to the top of group D of the UCL.

    Napoli, Manchester City and Bayern have all secured qualification to the tournament’s round of 16.

     

  • UCL: Liverpool, Bayern, Inter secure maximum points on match day three

    UCL: Liverpool, Bayern, Inter secure maximum points on match day three

    Liverpool Football Club have recorded their second win of the present UEFA Champions League campaign after defeating Rangers of Scotland by 2-0.

    Trent Arnold scored his first goal of the campaign for the Reds before Mohammed Salah added the second to secure all maximum points for Liverpool.

    The result ensured Liverpool jump to the second position in group A after having lost their first game to Napoli by 4-1 in Naples.

    Napoli on the other hand are leading the group with nine points after defeating Ajax 6-1 at the Ajax Arena in Amsterdam.

    They have nine points from three games winning all the games played so far in group A.

    Tottenham Hotspurs the second English Premier League on parade on matchday 3 played out a 0-0 draw with German side Eintracht Frankfurt.

    They are now placed second on the log after winning one, drawing one, and losing one.

    Sporting Lisbon of Portugal are topping group D with 6 points after winning two and losing one.

    Spanish giants Barcelona lost their second game of the campaign to Inter-Milan after losing 1-0 to the Italian side at San Siro on Tuesday night.

    Hakan calhanoglu scored late on in the first half to hand Inter Milan their second win of the group.

    Barcelona are now placed third on the table with three matches to go.

    Bayern Munich top the group with nine points after winning all its games.

    Two goals from Leroy Sane, Serge Gnarbry, and Sadio Mane ensured they won Victoria Plzen of Czech Republic by 5-0.

    Matchday three matches continue today with Chelsea slugging it out with AC Milan and Manchester City having a faceoff with Copenhagen of Denmark among many other interesting fixtures of Wednesday night.

  • UCL: Potter’s first match in charge of Chelsea ends in a draw

    UCL: Potter’s first match in charge of Chelsea ends in a draw

    Chelsea manager Graham Potter’s first game in charge of Chelsea has ended on a shaky note, after the club was held to a 1-1 draw by Salzburg of Austria.

    Potter’s side had already gone ahead in the game with Raheem Sterling’s goal before Austrian Midfielder of Nigerian descent Noah Arinzechukwu Okafor equalized for Salzburg to secure a point for his Austrian side.

    It was a largely underwhelming performance from Chelsea, underlining the work Potter must do to repair the flaws in the expensively assembled squad left behind by Tuchel.

    Tuchel was dismissed last Wednesday in the aftermath of Chelsea’s embarrassing 1-0 loss at Dinamo Zagreb in their Champions League opener.

    Liverpool and Manchester City are the only English Premier League Sides that won their match day two UEFA champions League games, Tottenham and Chelsea lost and drew respectively.
  • Champions League: European clubs slug it out on match day two

    Champions League: European clubs slug it out on match day two

    Bunsdeliga champions Bayern Munich will host La liga giants on match day 2 of the UEFA champions League.

    Both teams won their first game with Bayern defeating Inter Milan by 2-0 whilst Barcelona thrashed Victoria Plzen by 5-1.

    Bayern Munich have had the upper hand by  beating Barcelona four times in their last five meetings.

    Meanwhile, Struggling Liverpool  FC  will face Dutch champions Ajax at Anfield after losing its first game of the champions League to Napoli by 4-1 in Naples.

    Tottenham Hotspurs will face Portugal’s Sporting Lisbon in battle of supremacy in group D, the winner of this encounter will go top.

    Victoria Plzen who lost 5-1 to Barcelona will face Inter Milan at Doseen Arena in Czech Republic. Both teams are placed third and fourth place respectively in group c.

    The last game on Tuesday  will see another German side Bayern Leverkusen slug it out with Atletico Madrid of Spain at the Bay Arena.

  • UCL: Tuchel blames entire team for Chelsea’s loss to Dinamo Zagreb

    UCL: Tuchel blames entire team for Chelsea’s loss to Dinamo Zagreb

    Chelsea Manager, Thomas Tuchel, has blamed the entire team including himself for the 1-0 loss to Dinamo Zagreb of Croatia in Tuesday Champions League game.

    Mislav Orsic scored Zagred’s goal in the first half of the encounter to give the Croatian club the lead and it proved to be the only goal of the match.

    Tuchel has now linked the loss to Chelsea’s underperformance in recent times.

    “We had an OK start but we don’t finish our half-chances

    “We don’t feel it when the game is already there to be put to bed in the first 15 or 20 minutes, then we concede one counter-attack which is far too easy and from there we struggle,” he said to BT Sport.

    “We are clearly not where we need to be and where we can be. It’s on me, it’s on us. We need to find a solution.

    “At the moment, everything is missing.”

  • Salah breaks silence on UCL final loss to Real Madrid

    Egyptian and Liverpool winger, Mohamed Salah, has claimed they Liverpool  “deserved” to win the Champions League final and not  Real Madrid.

    The Reds’ hopes of becoming European champions for the seventh time and securing a third trophy of the season were ended by the LaLiga champions in Paris.

    Salah himself was denied six times by an inspired Thibaut Courtois in goal for Madrid.

    “We deserved to win, we had more chances, I got two or three quite big ones but, each time, Thibaut Courtois made incredible saves.

    “It’s his job, Real recruited him for that. He earned his Man of the Match award. It was his evening,” Salah told L’Equipe.

  • Soccer legends Ferdinand, Shearer rue over Real Madrid’s disallowed goal

    England soccer legends, Rio Ferdinand and Alan Shearer have reacted to Real Madrid first half disallowed goal in the encounter versus Liverpool in UEFA champions League final played at Stade de France in Paris on Saturday.

    Recall that French striker Karim Benzema had scored for Real Madrid at the tail end of the first half but the goal was ruled out for offside

    Benzema controlled nicely in the box and then took a couple of touches before trying to round Liverpool goalkeeper, Alisson Becker.

    Benzema lost control of the ball, but Ibrahima Konate and Alisson made a mess of the clearance.

    Three players then challenged for the ball and it came back to Benzema who slotted past Alisson.

    The linesman raised his flag for offside, but replays showed Fabinho got the last touch before Benzema’s strike.

    In his reaction, former Manchester United defender Ferdinand said: “I still don’t understand it. If I am a Real Madrid player, I am going bananas.”

    Also reacting on the disallowed goal Shearer said on BBC Radio 5 Live: “I can’t work that one out because it looked like it came off Fabinho to reach Benzema.

    “It was typical Real Madrid, they do concede chances and if you don’t take them, they punish you with the ability they have upfront.

    “The run in behind was exceptional and he could have scored earlier. Liverpool got away with one there.”