IN UEFA CHAMPION LEAGUE
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Manchester City’s Champions League campaign have opened in frustrating fashion as they were held to a goalless draw by impressive Inter Milan at Etihad Stadium.
Pep Guardiola’s side were never at their most fluent, not helped by an injury to Kevin de Bruyne that forced him off at half-time, but their Italian opponents were well worth their draw.
In a repeat of the 2023 Champions League final won by City in Istanbul, Inter showed superb organisation and attacking threat despite facing increased pressure in the second half.
Erling Haaland, seeking his 100th goal for the hosts, was largely kept quiet, and both sides had chances to make the breakthrough but were unable to capitalise.
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Borussia Dortmund star Jamie Gittens scored twice as the team beat Club Brugge three-nil in the Champions League.
Gittens who scored the team’s first goal in the seventy-six minutes, doubled Dortmund’s lead when he produced two stepovers in the box before firing into the bottom corner.
Serhou Guirassy was fouled by Brandon Mechele in added time and converted the resulting spot-kick with a chip down the middle.
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Rampant Celtic have overpowered Slovan Bratislava at a jubilant Celtic Park to win five-one their opening Champions League game for the first time ever in impressive style.
Liam Scales, Arne Engels, Kyogo Furuhashi, Daizen Maeda and Adam Idah scored a goal each for Celtic, while Slovan Bratislava’s only goal was scored by Kevin Wimmer.
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Girona goalkeeper Paulo Gazzaniga’s late howler gifted Paris Saint-Germain victory against Champions League debutants Girona.
Portuguese left-back Nuno Mendes drilled a low effort at Girona goalkeeper Paulo Gazzaniga from a tight angle, but the keeper made a major error and let the ball sneak through his hands.
Girona are next in league phase action when they host Feyenoord on 2nd October, while PSG travel to Arsenal on 1st October.
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Sparta Prague have marked their return to the Champions League after almost nineteen years with a thumping win over Austrian side Red Bull Salzburg.
Kaan Kairinen, Victor Olatunji and Qazim Laci scored a goal each for Sparta Prague.
Sparta’s win was their first in the Champions League proper since beating Lazio one-nil in December 2003.
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Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou has warned there is no quick fix for his side despite their dramatic late win over Championship side Coventry City in the Carabao Cup third round.
Brennan Johnson and Djed Spence scored a goal each for Tottenham, while Coventry City’s only goal was scored by Brandon Thomas-Asante.
Victory ended Spurs’ two-match losing run and ensured the north London club would be in next Wednesday’s last 16 draw.
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Arsenal manager, Mikel Arteta says captain Martin Odegaard has suffered a quite significant ankle ligament injury.
The midfielder limped off during Norway’s Nations League win over Austria on 9th September.
Odegaard returned to Arsenal for an MRI scan and missed his side’s one-nil win at Tottenham in the north London derby.
Odegaard’s injury means he would miss the trip to Italy and his second-placed side’s visit to leaders Manchester City in the Premier League on Sunday.
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Former Arsenal forward, Ian Wright has heaped plaudits on Super Eagles star, Ademola Lookman ahead of Atalanta’s UEFA Champions League clash with the Gunners.
Mikel Arteta’s side will be up against La Dea at the Gewiss Stadium on Thursday.
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IN NIGERIA
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Flying Eagles have defeated Water FC of Abuja one-nil in their first friendly game.
Bayelsa United striker Rabiu Abdullahi scored the winning goal for the multiple African champions.
The Flying Eagles are preparing for the WAFU B Under-twenty Championship which will hold in Togo next month.
The WAFU Championship will decide the team that will represent the zone at the 2025 Africa Under-twenty Cup of Nations.
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Ikoyi Club 1938 Golf Section has unveiled plans for the 2024 edition of Nigeria Cup,a golf tournament organised annually to celebrate Nigeria’s independence anniversary.
Unveiling the plans at a news briefing in Lagos, Vice Captain of the club, Tunde Oni, said the tournament packaged by Ikoyi Golf Community Nigeria Association, would begin with the children’s tourney on 21st September.
On 22nd September, it will be the turn of Golf for Good and on 23rd September, the Caddies would have their turn on the field.
Activities on 24th September will be centered on having the ladies tournament, while on 25th September, there will be Independence day kitty, while the professional tournament would be held on 26th September.
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Team Anambra have maintained their dominance in athletics at the ongoing 8th National Youth Games in Asaba, winning gold medals in the two hundred metres and four by one hundred metres female events.
Chigozie Nwankwo returned 24.71 seconds in the two hundred metres female event to beat Precious Eze also of Anambra who finished in 25.02 seconds.
The quartet of Adaeze Eze, Miracle David, Ifechukwu Nwankwo and Chigozie Nwankwo finished first in the four by one hundred metres in 48.21 seconds to beat Edo and Ogun states which finished 48.82 and 48.90 seconds.
The win increased Anambra’s gold tally to nine and total medals to twenty-five.
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ENGLAND
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Referee Chris Kavanagh says he did not like the decision to send off Declan Rice in Arsenal’s draw with Brighton last month, but said he had no choice.
Rice was sent off during the one-all draw at the Emirates Stadium for a second yellow card after nudging the ball away from Joel Veltman as he prepared to take a free-kick.
The decision, supported by the Key Match Incidents panel, was also backed by chief operation officer of the Professional Game Match Officials Limited Howard Webb.
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Former England and Liverpool striker, Andy Carroll has signed for French fourth-tier club Bordeaux after leaving Amiens.
Carroll dropped two divisions in France’s football pyramid, despite playing in all four of Amiens’ Ligue 2 matches this term.
He scored four goals in thirty-five appearances since joining the club in September 2023 on a free transfer from Reading.
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Stoke City have appointed coach Narcis Pelach from Norwich City as their new manager on a three-year contract.
The Catalan succeeds Steven Schumacher following his shock sacking on Monday after just nine months in charge.
Pelach will be joined by three new backroom men, coaches Dean Whitehead and Paul Clements, as well as performance analyst Harrison Glew.
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OTHER LEAGUES
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Roma have sacked manager Daniele de Rossi just four matches into the new Serie A season.
Roma, who hired De Rossi to replace Jose Mourinho at the Stadio Olimpico in January, have been unable to win any of their Serie A matches this season, drawing three and losing at home to Empoli last month.
Roma are currently 16th in the Serie A standings following their one-all draw at Genoa.
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Al-Nassr have appointed Stefano Pioli as manager to replace Luis Castro.
The Saudi Pro League club, captained by Cristiano Ronaldo, sacked Castro after the team’s slow start to the season that has seen them win just one of their three league games.
Pioli signed a three-year deal.
The Italian tactician led Milan to the 2021-22 Serie A title and was subsequently named the best coach of the season.
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Galatasaray forward, Michy Batshuayi says there is no rivalry between him and Super Eagles striker Victor Osimhen.
The Belgian international stated that he was not competing with Osimhen for the position.
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Former Italy striker, Salvatore Schillaci, the top scorer at the 1990 World Cup, has died at the age of fifty-nine.
Schillaci, better known as ‘Toto’, scored six goals to win the Golden Boot at the 1990 World Cup on home soil.
Schillaci was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2022.
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OTHER SPORTS
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British professional boxer, Anthony Joshua has spoken about the pain he has endured in his boxing career ahead of his IBF world heavyweight title fight with Daniel Dubois at Wembley on Saturday.
He explained about the internal difficulties of attempting to return to the pinnacle of the sport, and how he fell short again against Usyk in August 2022.
Joshua is looking to reclaim a world title for the first time since his first defeat to Oleksandr Usyk in September 2021.
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In Tennis, Heather Watson is out of the Korea Open following a straight-sets defeat by Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk in Seoul.
The 32-year-old qualifier, ranked 183rd in the world, lost 6-2, 6-2 in the second round.
World number 18 Kostyuk, will meet Russian Diana Shnaider,, in the quarter-finals after sealing a straightforward victory.
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In Cricket, Kamindu Mendis has continued his remarkable start to Test cricket by scoring his fourth century on day one of the first Test against New Zealand in Galle.
The left-hander, who scored a hundred and two fifties in the recent series against England, dragged Sri Lanka to 302-7 with 114 from 171 balls.
He now has four centuries in his first seven Tests and eight scores of fifty or more in his eleven innings.
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In Rugby, Scotland legend John Jeffrey says he feels hurt, bitter and betrayed as the former flanker ended his bid to become chairman of World Rugby after failing to secure the support of his own union.
Jeffrey is the vice-chairman of the game’s governing body and was considered the favourite to succeed Sir Bill Beaumont as head of World Rugby in November.
The 65-year-old, one of the stars of Scotland’s 1990 Grand Slam-winning team, was informed on Friday that Scottish Rugby would not be backing his candidacy.
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In Golf, Rory McIlroy believes LIV defectors Ian Poulter and Lee Westwood are too far removed from the current crop of European players to be considered as future Ryder Cup captains.
Poulter and Westwood resigned from the DP World Tour last year to avoid paying fines for switching to LIV.
Poulter said he retained hope he would be able to captain Europe in the future.
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In Cycling, Wout van Aert has agreed to stay with team Visma Lease a Bike for the rest of his career.
The Belgian, winner of nine Tour de France stages, joined Team Jumbo-Visma in 2019 and his previous contract was set to expire in 2026.
Van Aert has won several prestigious one-day classic road races including Milan-San Remo, Amstel Gold Race and Strade Bianche.
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TODAY’S FIXTURES
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IN UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
Feyenoord vs Bayer Leverkusen
Red Star Belgrade vs Benfica
Atalanta vs Arsenal
Atlético Madrid vs RB Leipzig
Brest vs Sturm Graz
Monaco vs Barcelona
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IN SPANISH LA LIGA
Leganés vs Athletic Club
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FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Money was never a big motivation for me, except as a way to keep score. The real excitement is playing the game….words from Donald Trump
securityandsafetymatters 