19102020 - #EndSARS: Stop Army's planned Op Crocodile Smile

38 — Vanguard, MONDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2020
Osimhen to
cost Napoli
100m
euros – Pundit
N
igeria international, Victor
Osimhen who moved to Napoli
at the end of last season from Lille,
could cost the Serie A club a
whooping 100 million euros if
performance-related variables and
wages in his signing are included,
reports have said..
In the two Serie A matches the
Nigerian has played so far, the
former Lille forward has scored once
and provided one assist.
Following a bright start to his
career at Napoli so far, highlyrespected
Sky Sport Italia pundit
Paolo Condò reckons that Victor
Osimhen is living up to his billing.
Napoli fans will be excited about
their record acquisition, having
opened his goalscoring account
against Atalanta on Saturday and in
CRYSTAL PALACE 1 BRIGHTON 1:
Late Mac Allister
strike steals point
for Seagulls
A LEXIS MAC
ALLISTER came
off the bench to blast
home the
equaliser as
Brighton
snatched
a dramatic late draw
against rivals Palace.
The Eagles looked to
be earning the bragging
rights after Wilfried Zaha’s firsthalf
penalty kept up his personal
crusade against Brighton.
Zaha’s 19th minute effort was
the seventh time he has scored
against Palace’s fierce rivals –
more than he has struck against
any other team in the country.
But Argentine Mac Allister
stunned the hosts when he
crashed home the leveller
from the edge of the box just before the
match moved into stoppage time.
The Seagulls started the better of the
two teams and Yves Bissouma went
close for the visitors on 11 minutes
when he crashed a shot from just
outside the area into the side netting.
Then when Ben White seized on a
loose pass from Tyrick Mitchell into the
box and dragged a shot just across the
face of goal, the alarm bells were
ringing for Palace.
•Osimhen
the previous match he notched an
assist.
Condò gushed about the qualities
Osimhen brings to the table and
believes the Super Eagles striker is
replicating his form at Lille, for whom
he scored 18 goals over the course of
2019-2020.
In quotes carried by Mundo Napoli,
Condò stated : “Napoli are absolutely
Sheff Utd 1 Fulham 1:
SHARP’S late penalty
saves Sheffield United
B
•Sharp
ARCELONA expect Lionel Messi
to join Manchester City at the end
of this season.
Messi, 33, was close to re-uniting with
Pep Guardiola during the most recent
transfer window.
However, the deal was scuppered
when Barcelona made it clear they
would fight him all the way over his
exit.
Messi believed he had a clause in
his contract allowing him to leave for
Rivers to inaugurate committee
on Gov. Wike’s tourney
T
he Rivers State Ministry of Sports will on Monday, October 19, 2020,
inaugurate a committee to organise the 2nd edition of Gov Wike Pre-Season
Tournament.
The inauguration, expected to be performed by the Rivers Sports Commissioner,
Hon Boma Iyaye at the Conference Room of the Ministry, will have in attendance
the Permanent Secretary, Sir Honour Sirawoo, FA Chairman in Rivers State,
Chris Green, among others.
The pre-season tournament is expected to have 16 teams, drawn from the
Nigerian Professional Football League (NPFL) and Nigeria National League
(NNL).
The tournament is primarily aimed at preparing Nigerian clubs ahead of the
2020/2021 NPFL season and CAF Club competitions. The state-owned football
club, Rivers United is among the teams participating at the tournament that
would afford the team the opportunity to test its strength against other clubs.
in the running for the Scudetto!
“This Osimhen is keeping 100% of
all the good things we thought of
seeing him in Lille, on a tactical level
he is opening the opponent’s
defenses. If he arrives in the area you
don’t take the ball away from him, he
runs, shoots and even scores. The
spaces he creates for his teammates
are fabulous”.
Diego Costa ruled out of Champions
League opener against Bayern Munich
A
tletico Madrid have suffered a
severe injury blow with Diego
Costa ruled out of their Champions
League group stage opener against
Bayern Munich after being forced off
with a muscle strain in Saturday’s win
over Celta Vigo.
Diego Simeone’s men returned to
•Diego
winning ways thanks to goals from Luis
Suarez and Yannick Carrasco, but the
gloss was taken off the win when Costa
had to go off injured.
The Spaniard is likely to miss his
team’s next six games, meaning
Simeone will have to manage without
him for their tricky test against last
season’s Champions League winners
on Wednesday night.
BILLY SHARP’S late penalty saved Sheffield United
after Fulham thought they had bagged their first win
of the season with an Ademola Lookman stunner.
Both sides were pointless heading into the match
and it looked like the Cottagers had nicked it after
Lookman’s solo strike in the 77th minute.
But Blades skipper Sharp, who had only come on as
a sub four minutes earlier, smashed home from 12-
yards after Aleksandar Mitrovic’s high foot.
It was a terrible afternoon all round for the
Serbian, who smashed his own spot-kick off
the bar with the game at 0-0 before missing a
great chance at the death to win it.
But while neither Chris Wilder or Scott
Parker will be happy with the point, they are
both on the board to leave Burnley rooted to the
bottom of the table.
Sheffield United had not scored in their first
two home games but they should have been out
of sight at half-time – with Oli McBurnie the
main culprit.
The Scot glanced his first header just wide
before scuffing a golden chance onto his shoulder
that allowed Alphonse Areola to react.
But if you cannot score yourself, at least you can
rely on Fulham’s generous defence to help.
Koeman hints Messi will leave
Barca next summer
free, but Barca refuted that and made
it clear they would only allow him to
go if his £630million release clause was
triggered.
Not wanting to take his beloved club
to court, and after speaking with new
boss Ronald Koeman, Messi decided
he would remain at the club this
season.
The Catalan giants accept he will be
on his way to the Etihad in around
eight months time.
Koeman recently explained how he
helped convince Messi to stay for this
season: “I was always hoping Messi
would stay for this season.
“If he had left in the summer, I would
have had a very different situation at
Barca.
“He wanted to leave but the club was
very clear to him. The buy out clause
was so high, that not a single club in
the world was going to pay that in these
times.
“I went to his house and took time to
listen to all the things he said. But I
also explained to him that I had not
been a part of the problems he had with
the club and told him how I was going
to work to change things.
Victor Moses took pay
cut to join Spartak
Spartak Moscow General
Director Shamil Gazizov has
revealed that Victor Moses
lowered his salary before sealing
a transfer to the Russian Premier
League club two days before the
close of the summer transfer
window in the country.
The former Nigeria international
has been loaned out to Spartak for
the remainder of the season, with
the Muscovites having an
obligation to buy the versatile
wing-back should he play the
required amount of games and
they qualify for next season’s
Champions League.
When asked if there was an
obligation to buy Moses, Gazizov
told Russian sports daily Sport
Express : “If we are in the
Champions League, we can buy
him”.
Probed further, he added : “ We
can buy him if he plays a certain
number of matches. If we get into
the Champions League with him,
I think there will be no questions.”
The Spartak Moscow chief
revealed that Moses has expressed
his desire to play for the club and
accepted a pay cut to get the deal
over the line.
“ T h e
footballer
wants to
play for
Spartak.
This is the
•Messi
•Moses
Aguero will face no
retrospective action for grabbing
shoulder of assistant referee
M
anchester City
striker Sergio
Aguero ‘will face no
retrospective action’
for grabbing
shoulder of assistant
referee Sian
Massey-Ellis
during Arsenal win.
The Argentine
was arguing a
throw-in decision
given to Arsenal
when he put his
hand on her
shoulder.
Pep Guardiola
defended Aguero,
insisting the striker’s
action was clearly not
aggressive. The City
boss said: ‘Come on
guys, Sergio is the nicest
person I have met in my
life. Look for problems in
other situations, not in
this one.’
Not everyone agreed
with Guardiola, however,
as Match of the Day
pundit Ian Wright
branded Aguero’s
actions ‘unnecessary’
and ‘patronising’.
In Sky Sport’s postmatch
coverage,
Aguero’s former teammate
Micah Richards
said the incident ‘didn’t
look good.
most important point. And
everything else is particular. He
did not come here to earn money,”
Gazizov stressed.
When asked if his new number
8 was earning less than he
pocketed at Chelsea, Gazizov
answered : “Yes, but only slightly.”
•Aguero
He said: ‘He didn’t need to do it
really. You have to respect the
officials. I think she deals with the
situation really well.
‘He’ll know better. I don’t think we
need to go over the top on it but he
shouldn’t be touching the officials, it
doesn’t look good.’
Lampard’s men
will miss out
on top four
— Leboeuf
rank Leboeuf is ‘not convinced’ by
FChelsea’s £90million club-record
signing Kai Havertz and claims his
former side will struggle to finish in
the top four with their current form -
despite a summer splurge in excess of
£200m.
Chelsea’s sluggish start to the 2020-
2021 campaign continued on Saturday
with a disappointing 3-3 draw against
Southampton at Stamford Bridge.
Timo Werner found the net twice in
28 minutes to see Chelsea go 2-0 up,
but it was fellow new boy Havertz who
was caught in possession and robbed
of the ball, allowing Danny Ings to
claw one back for Southampton at a
crucial moment just before half-time.
Che Adams went on to capitalise on
a lack of communication between Kurt
Zouma and Kepa Arrizabalaga to draw
the Saints level.
Havertz did, however, tap in his first
league goal to restore their lead before
Jannik Vestergaard equalised. Despite
the German getting off the mark in the
Premier League, Leboeuf has doubts
about his capabilities.
Speaking to ESPN, he said : ‘I’m not
convinced about Havertz, I’m not that
optimistic.’
But Leboeuf did share his enthusiasm
over Werner, saying: ‘I’m very pleased
with Werner, he’s a real satisfaction.’
Saturday’s draw leaves Chelsea with
just two wins from five league games
and Leboeuf fears on current form that
Frank Lampard’s side could struggle
to finish in the top four.
He added: ‘I’m not convinced at all
about Chelsea right now.