24092020 - BLACK WEDNESDAY: 30 killed in Kogi petrol tanker explosion

38 — Vanguard, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2020
UEFA Player of the Year shortlist:
Messi, Ronaldo absent
for first time in a DECADE
Lionel Messi and Cristiano
Ronaldo are absent from the
final shortlist for the UEFA
Men’s Player of the Year for the
first time in a decade.
Bayern Munich duo Robert
Lewandowski and Manuel Neuer,
plus Manchester City’s Kevin De
Bruyne, were nominated for the
2020 edition on Wednesday.
But in a sign of changing times
in the game, Messi and Ronaldo
didn’t make the top three after
coming up short in the Champions
League.
Barcelona star Messi won the
UEFA award in 2010-11 and 2014-
15 having been nominated six
times in the past 10 seasons.
Ronaldo, of Juventus, has
collected the accolade three times
- in 2013-14, 2015-16 and 2016-17
- all while playing for Real
Madrid.
He has been shortlisted nine
times, finishing second in 2017-18
and third on five occasions.
His Juventus side were stunned
by Lyon in the last-16 of the
Champions League as they again
bombed out of Europe’s premier
competition.
Messi’s Barcelona suffered an
even greater humiliation,
however, as eventual winners
Bayern thrashed them 8-2 in the
quarter-finals.
Both players managed just three
goals in eight Champions League
outings last season, trailing 15-
goal Lewandowski by a
considerable distance.
The Polish striker is favourite to
succeed Liverpool defender Virgil
Ighalo: Man
United will start
campaign at
Brighton
Odion Ighalo has backed
Manchester United to
revive their Premier League
campaign with a win against
Brighton & Hove Albion on
Saturday.
United shuttered against Crystal
Palace in their first game at Old
Trafford, but according to Ighalo
the team was not prepared for their
starting game of the season.
“We’ve not started the league
very well, but we’ve won in the
League Cup and I think it’s a boost
for this weekend’s game against
Brighton. We’ll go there and try to
win and start the Premier League
[again].”
“We were disappointed at the
weekend because we didn’t win
the game against Crystal Palace,”
he continued.
“We only had one week to prepare
for that game; I think they had
been preparing for four weeks. So
it can tell a bit. But, now we’ve won
this game, I think it’s a boost for
us.
van Dijk as the
winner of the
award, which will
be revealed at the
draw ceremony for
the Champions League
group stage on October
1.
Lewandowski’s Bayern
team-mate Neuer is also in the
mix after another outstanding
season as he helped his team win
a Bundesliga, German Cup and
Champions League Treble.
De Bruyne inspired City’s run to
the Champions League quarterfinals,
where they too lost to Lyon,
but City surrendered their Premier
League crown to Liverpool.
Their nominations suggest a
changing of the guard as Ronaldo,
Rivers Sports Commissioner,
Boma Iyaye says the Stateowned
Real Madrid Football
Academy in Port Harcourt will
produce a future generation of
football superstars comparable to
Lionel Messi and Cristiano
Ronaldo.
Iyaye stated this when he visited
the Academy ahead of official
35, and Messi, 33, move beyond
their prime.
It’s been an unsettled summer for
Messi, who tried to engineer a
move away from Barcelona to
reunite with Pep Guardiola at City,
only to reverse his position and
stay at the Nou Camp.
R/Madrid academy to
produce future generation of
stars — Iyaye
resumption, on his way to the
Rivers United Football Club
Camp, shortly after inspecting the
progress of work on the football
pitches of the Adokiye
Amiesimaka Stadium in the
company of his Permanent
Secretary, Sir Honour Sirawoo,
and members of SWAN in Rivers
Rivers Commissioner for Sports, Boma Iyaye (middle) flanked by
Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Sir Honour Sirawoo (left) and
Special Adviser to Rivers State Governor on Real Madrid Academy,
Chris Green while briefing sports journalists after inspecting the
academy in Port Harcourt.
I didn’t expect Super Eagles callup
- Tijani
Red Bull Salzburg loanee
Samson Tijani has confessed
that his maiden invitation to the
Super Eagles for their upcoming
friendlies against Ivory Coast and
HOT ROD
Cafu tips Rodriguez to
be star of Premier
League
RAZIL World Cup legend Cafu
Bexpects James Rodriguez to be the
star of the Premier League this season.
Rodriguez has already impressed in
two matches since arriving at Everton
and opened his goals account in the 5-
2 win over West Brom last weekend.
The Colombian, the 2014 World Cup
Golden Boot winner, had a difficult time
with Real Madrid and mixed
performances on loan at Bayern
Munich.
But Cafu is confident the 29-year-old
will wow fans across the country this
campaign with his playmaking skills.
Cafu said: “I saw James Rodriguez
play for the Colombian national team.
“I saw him play for Real Madrid and
for Bayern, too.
Tunisia came as a surprise, and
has claimed that he did not have
any contact with manager Gernot
Rohr and his assistants in the days
leading up to the squad
announcement.
However, the former Golden
Eaglets skipper has revealed that
the Franco-German football
tactician assured him and other
Nigeria U17 stars last year that
there was a pathway into the
Super Eagles if they kept doing
well.
Tijani has jumped two age
groups - Flying Eagles and
Olympic Eagles - following his
first call-up to the Super Eagles
and after only four matches as a
professional and 322 minutes
under his belt.
“I feel good about being invited
but I didn’t expect the call-up
because I just moved to Europe,”
Tijani said.
“It was amazing when I came to
Europe, I didn’t even play in the
academy, went directly to the first
team.
“When I was sent on loan, I went
straight to the starting lineup, I
have played all the games.
Champions League, Europa League
set to stick with five subs
UEFA are expected to
announce that managers will
be allowed to use five substitutes
in this season’s Champions
League and Europa League today
in a ruling that could put English
clubs at a significant
disadvantage.
La Liga, Serie A, the Bundesliga
and Ligue 1 have all continued
using five subs this season, but the
experiment introduced during
Project Restart was abandoned by
the Premier League so England’s
top clubs could find themselves
playing by different rules in
domestic and European
competitions.
State.
According to the Commissioner,
the academy is comparable to any
in the world in terms of facilities,
content, curriculum and product.
He expressed satisfaction with
the quality and pace of work so
far; pointing that he was short of
words as to how to thank Rivers
Governor, Nyesom Wike for such
initiative and commitment to
deliver a world-class facility for
future generation.
“I never thought it would be this
huge when we started this
project. I am really short of words
to thank the governor, he has
made sure that funds are
provided for this iconic project
and I am sure that our indigenes
would be proud of this Football
Academy.
“You have seen the hostels, the
classrooms and all other facilities
being put in place, this is a great
legacy and we thank the
Governor for what he has done.
If some of us had this
opportunity, perhaps we would
have done great in football,” he
stated.
The Rivers sports boss stressed
further that he sees future Lionel
Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo
coming out of the academy, while
disclosing that even with a
formal request for admission yet
to be advertised, over 1,000
applications have been sent to
the academy to underline
acceptance amongst Rivers
people and Nigerians at large.
Utaka shines in Japan
Former Nigeria international
Peter Utaka got a brace as
Kyoto Sanga silenced Tochigi SC
3-2 in Wednesday’s Japanese J2
League encounter.
Having played out a 0-0 draw at
Ventforet Kofu, Noritada
Saneyoshi’s team stepped up their
game to secure their ninth victory
of the 2019-20 season.
After a goalless outcome in the
first 30 minutes of the encounter,
the visitors took the initiative a
minute later thanks to Takahiro
Akimoto, who fired past Tomoya
Wakahara.
Two minutes before the half-time
break, Utaka - who went into the
game having failed to score in his
Liverpool new boys set for
debut today
Liverpool travel to Sincil Bank for their EFL
Cup third round tie with Lincoln City.
Jurgen Klopp’s first choice team will be rested
after victory over Chelsea last Sunday and
the Reds’ boss will have an eye on the
Premier League clash with Arsenal
next Monday.
With a packed fixture list Klopp will
have to rotate his side wherever
possible and there will likely be
plenty of changes again for their
first cup tie of the season.
Ahead of the game at Lincoln,
Liverpool assistant manager
Pepijn Lijnders told the club
website that they will be fielding
a team: “With players who feel
responsibility to show our hunger,
the desire.”
Europe’s top clubs have been
lobbying UEFA all summer for five
subs to be permitted on the
grounds of minimising player
fatigue in a season that has been
cut by four weeks due to the impact
of Covid-19, and a decision will be
made at the European governing
body’s Executive Committee
meeting today.
The problem of fixture congestion
will be further highlighted when
UEFA confirm their plans for
Europe’s 2022 World Cup
qualifying tournament, which is
expected to begin with two tripleheaders
next March and
September.
Suarez leaves
Barca’s training
ground in tears
Luis Suarez has been captured
leaving Barcelona’s training
ground in tears as he closes in on
a move to Atletico Madrid.
The Uruguayan said his goodbyes
to good friend Lionel Messi and
the rest of his team-mates on
Wednesday and is expected in the
next few hours to be confirmed as
the latest star to leave the Nou
Camp in a £3.7million deal.
The 33-year-old - who will leave
Barcelona as the club’s third
highest goalscorer of all time - was
then captured shedding tears as
he briefly put his head down while
he drove out of and away from the
Ciutat Esportiva Joan Gamper
facilities.
Since moving to Barcelona from
Liverpool in 2014, Suarez has
netted a remarkable 197 times in
283 appearances and the club are
expected to make a farewell
gesture to the striker on Thursday.
The Uruguayan will sign for two
seasons with Atletico, who have
agreed to pay just under £4m for
each of the two seasons for which
the Uruguayan will sign for.
However - much to the relief of
Ronald Koeman who is against the
clock to bring in fresh faces -
Suarez’ tears appear to signal the
end of yet another transfer saga at
the Catalan side this summer.
last two outings - levelled matters
after capitalising on a horrendous
mistake from Kazuaki Tasaka’s
side.
Both teams approached the last
45 minutes cautiously, and when
it looked like the game at the
Sanga Stadium would end on a no
winner, no vanquished note,
Shimpei Fukuoka put the hosts
ahead in the 76th minute – beating
goalkeeper Shuhei Kawata from
close range.
Four minutes later, Utaka
completed his double to seal the
win for his team to render
Yasutaka Yanagi’s 90th-minute
effort a mere consolation.