Author: Adejuyigbe Francis

Fulham manager, Marco Silva was full of chagrin for Alex Iwobi after the Nigerian opened his goal account for the club against Norwich City on Wednesday night. Iwobi was handed his first start in the Carabao Cup third-round fixture. The Nigeria international put up a good display in the game and was on target for the Cottagers in the 72nd minute following a brilliant pass from Harry Wilson. Silva had nothing but praises for the Nigerian midfielder after the game. “As you know, he’s a player that I know really well. I was responsible for him signing for Everton as…

Spanish police raided the offices of the referees’ committee as part of an investigation into Barcelona’s alleged corrupt payments to an official. Barcelona face charges of corruption over payments made to Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira, a former vice-president of the committee, in return for favourable refereeing decisions. Uefa is also investigating the matter. Barcelona deny any wrongdoing and no arrests were made during the search in Madrid. The Spanish Civil Guard searched the Spanish Technical Committee of Referees (CTA) headquarters on Thursday. BBC Sport has been told that the judge presiding over the case demanded documentation from the CTA. This was…

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has decried the sudden rise of fake dollars and cyber crimes in the Benue axis. Its Acting Chairman, Mr Abdulkarim Chukkol, who disclosed this on Thursday in Makurdi, said the commission had taken measures to address the situation. The EFCC chairman spoke during a workshop on “Effective Reporting of Economic and Financial Crimes,” organised for 30 journalists from major media organisations in the country. Chukkol was represented by the Head of the Makurdi Zonal Office of EFCC, Mr Friday Ebelo. He said the primary aim of the commission was to reduce corruption in…

Napoli manager, Rudi Garcia has said that the club didn’t intend to hurt Victor Osimhen with the controversial TikTok video. Recall the Partonopei shared a video on their TikTok account which appeared to be mocking Osimhen after he missed a penalty in the club’s goalless draw against Bologna last weekend. The 24-year-old threatened to take legal action against the club and has also taken down all images of him in the Partenopei jersey on his Instagram account. The Nigeria international had earlier been involved in a bust-up with Garcia after he was substituted against Bologna. The Ballon d’Or nominee, however,…

The junta in Burkina Faso, which toppled a military regime to gain power, has announced that there was a coup attempt. In a statement, the junta said an attempt by some army officers to seize power and plunge the country into chaos was thwarted. “The dark intention of attacking the institutions of the Republic and plunging our country in chaos… investigations will help unmask the instigators of this plot.” “Officers and other alleged actors involved in this attempt at destabilisation have been arrested and others are actively sought,” read the statement from Rimtalba Jean Emmanuel Ouedraogo, spokesman for the regime.…

The Abia State Governor, Dr Alex Otti has reopened for use the renovated and re-equipped Abia Specialist Hospital and the Amachara General Hospital Umuahia. Otti while reopening the hospitals noted that the Amachara General Hospital which was first opened in 1932 was in decay and allowed to dilapidate by the past administrations. According to him, his government was determined to fix the hospitals and has rehabilitated them for human use. He said a healthy population is the greatest asset to any society,adding that his administration has demonstrated commitment by doing everything to ensure that the strategic health facilities are brought…

Messi watched from the sidelines as Inter Miami CF lost 2-1 to the Houston Dynamo in the U.S. Open Cup final after he was not named in the squad due to an injury picked up while on Argentina duty. Manager Gerardo Martino said Tuesday that whether his star player was available or not would come down to a game-time decision. When the lineup was revealed ahead of the final at DRV PNK Stadium, Messi was not listed on the team sheet. “It was clearly not prudent for him to play, not even for a few minutes,” Martino said after the match. “We couldn’t…

Carabao Cup holders Manchester United will face Newcastle United in this season’s fourth round – a repeat of last season’s Wembley final – after the draw was made for the final 16 teams on Wednesday night. Manchester City’s dreams of going one better than last season and becoming the first English club to win a quadruple were dashed in the third round by Newcastle and Alexander Isak. The Magpies will fancy their chances of going all the way and ending their decades-long major trophy drought. Chelsea have earned some respite from a tough Premier League campaign by beating new foes…

 Nicolas Jackson goal saw Chelsea beat Brighton in an intense game to reach the Carabao Cup fourth round at Stamford Bridge. These two sides have dealt with each other a lot in the past 12 months with 10 members of staff having moved to Chelsea for around £200m – and the match carried an extra edge. Jackson’s winning strike came in the 50th minute after a fine move. That goal was the first Chelsea had scored in four matches and gave them a much-needed boost as boss Mauricio Pochettino looks to get his project moving in the right direction. Ian…

Liverpool are into the fourth round of the Carabao Cup for the fifth successive season after coming from behind to beat a plucky Leicester City team at Anfield on Wednesday night. Liverpool were caught cold in the first few minutes when McAteer gave Leicester the shock lead. Kostas Tsimikas was punished for losing possession and the Foxes broke with lethal impact as Yunus Akgun put the goalscorer through one on one with Caoimhin Kelleher. From there, the first half was one way traffic as the heavily rotated home side set about getting back into the game – the Leicester goal…

Arsenal progressed into round four of the Carabao Cup with a 1-0 win at Brentford on Wednesday. Arsenal took the lead with eight minutes on the clock. Zanka mis-hit a pass back to Ethan Pinnock, who was beaten to the ball by Eddie Nketiah and he selflessly squared for Reiss Nelson to finish from 12 yards. Midway though the first half, Takehiro Tomiyasu made a heroic block to deny Vitaly Janelt after the ball fell to the German following a well-worked throw-in routine. The visitors went close to doubling their advantage on the half-hour mark when Emile Smith Rowe wriggled…

Victor Osimhen was on target as Napoli returned to winning ways by thrashing Udinese 4-1. Khvicha Kvaratskhelia was brought down in the box by Festy Obesele and, after viewing the sideline video, the referee awarded a penalty kick which Piotr Zielinski took and finished with aplomb by sending Marco Silvestri the wrong way. After a dramatic 24 hours where his agent said he was considering suing Napoli over a club social media post, Osimhen got on the scoresheet, taking Politano’s ball in his stride before flicking past Silvestri. The lead was made three by Kvaratskhelia, who after twice hitting the post, brilliantly…