IN ENGLAND

Monaco midfielder Takumi Minamino scored twice as his side continued their bright start to this season’s Champions League phase with a five-one victory over winless Red Star Belgrade.

Minamino beat the offside trap to put his side ahead after twenty minutes.

Breel Embolo, Wilfried Singo and Maghnes Akliouche scored a goal each for Monaco, while Red Star Belgrade’s only goal was scored by Cherif Ndiaye.

Red Star, who face Barcelona next, have lost all three of their league phase matches this season.

Manchester City boss, Pep Guardiola says he has never been so angry as when defender John Stones was injured in an England friendly before the club’s Champions League quarter-final against Real Madrid last season.

Stones was forced off with an abductor muscle problem after just ten minutes of England’s two-all draw against Belgium in March.

City captain Kyle Walker will miss Wednesday’s Champions League game against Sparta Prague having returned from England’s recent camp with a knee injury – which led Guardiola to outline his frustration at the Stones situation.

Five-time Premier League winner, Patrice Evra says the future at Manchester United is not bright, with his old club having been in chaos for more than a decade.

The Old Trafford side last won the league title in 2013, their last season under legendary manager Sir Alex Ferguson, and sit 12th in the table under current boss Erik ten Hag.

Evra left a year after Ferguson and the former France captain believes United are still counting the cost of losing such trophy-winning experience.

Former Barcelona manager, Xavi Hernandez has emerged as a potential target for Manchester United should the club opt to sack manager Erik ten Hag.

Contact has been made with the former Barcelona manager twice in the last few months, as the Old Trafford hierarchy face a decision following the club’s poor start to the season.

Four individuals, led by chief executive Omar Berrada, flew out to Barcelona last Thursday.

Xavi has been out of work since leaving the Spanish giants in the summer.

Nottingham Forest owner, Evangelos Marinakis has received a five-match stadium ban for spitting on the floor as match officials passed by in the tunnel.

An independent regulatory commission stated that Marinakis was found guilty of improper conduct for the incident following Forest’s one-nil Premier League defeat by Fulham at the City Ground on 28th September.

In publishing its written reasons behind the decision, the commission said there was no excuse for such an egregious display of disrespectful behaviour that could fuel disrespect towards match officials.

Newcastle winger, Anthony Gordon has signed a new long-term deal with the Premier League club.

The 23-year-old scored fifteen goals and created eleven assists in seventy-four appearances since joining the Magpies from Everton in January 2023 in a forty-five million pounds deal.

Following his England debut in March this year, Gordon was a member of the Three Lions squad that reached the Euro 2024 final.

He had been linked with a return to his hometown with Liverpool over the summer but the move never materialised.

Arsenal women forward, Alessia Russo has been named England women’s player of the year for 2023-24.

Russo started eleven England women games and scored six goals in a year in which the Lionesses secured a place at next summer’s Euros in Switzerland.

Fellow forward Lauren James finished second in the vote by fans, while defender Lucy Bronze came third.

IN NIGERIA

Confederation of African Football, CAF, president Patrice Motsepe, has cautioned African nations and clubs against the habit of subjecting visiting teams to inhuman treatment by failing to provide adequate transportation, accommodations, or training facilities.

Motesepe said this at the CAF’s 46th Ordinary General Assembly in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

The CAF boss warned that appropriate action would be taken against countries which go against CAF rules following the airport saga involving the Super Eagles in Libya.

Motsepe explained that he could not comment directly on the Nigeria and Libya situation due to the ongoing investigation by CAF’s Disciplinary Board.

Meanwhile, both nations are expected to receive the verdict from the continent’s football apex body, Disciplinary Committee, on Wednesday.

Super Falcons Head Coach, Justine Madugu is delighted that all twenty-five invited players are already in camp as the team prepares for its first training session at the Mobolaji Johnson Arena, Lagos ahead of the two international friendly matches against Algeria.

The nine-time African champions will take on the Algerian girls at the Mobolaji Johnson Arena on Saturday, 26th October, and again at the same venue on Tuesday, 29th October.

Both matches will kick off at 4.p.m.

Shooting Stars Head Coach, Gbenga Ogunbote, says his team are gradually getting into the needed shape for success in the 2024/2025 Nigeria Premier Football League, NPFL.

Ogunbote, while speaking with newsmen on their Match Day 8 fixture against Katsina United Football Club, said they were already overcoming anxiety and determination was setting in.

He said his team had not won a game for some time and the anxiety to score and take the lead had usually denied them some chances that were easy to utilise to score.

Sevilla has released an injury update on Super Eagles star Chidera Ejuke.

Ejuke copped the injury in Sevilla’s LaLiga clash against Barcelona at the Camp Nou on Sunday.

The pacy winger was replaced by Belgium international Albert Sambi Lokonga late in the first half.

Ejuke is expected to be sidelined for around three months.

Former Galatasaray forward, Kerem Aktürkoğlu has described Super Eagles striker Victor Osimhen’s stunning goal against Antalyaspor in the Turkish league as spectacular.

Returning from injury, the former Lille striker made an immediate impact with his acrobatic finish, which has already been tipped as a potential Puskás Award contender.

Aktürkoğlu stated that Osimhen’s goal is really good.

Bayer Leverkusen sporting director, Simon Rolfes is delighted to see Super Eagles forward Victor Boniface emerge from the accident unscathed.

Rolfes expressed relief at Boniface’s survival, as he remains a key player for Bayer Leverkusen.

The Lagos State Sports Commission, LSSC, says the various grassroots sports initiatives of the state government were already yielding positive results.

Its Director General, Lekan Fatodu, said this on the sidelines of the maiden edition of the LSSC Individual Boxing Club Championship in Mushin.

Fatodu said the various grassroots sports development initiatives were already attracting interests from enthusiasts and business organisations.

He assured that the discoveries at the competition would be properly mentored to achieve their potential in boxing.

Edo and Lagos states both secured vital wins on the first day of the Nigeria Cricket Federation, NCF, Women’s Championship in Abuja.

The highly anticipated tournament which started on Tuesday at the Moshood Abiola National Stadium, Abuja saw Edo beat Kaduna state by sixty-one runs in the first game of the day.

Kaduna won the toss and opted to field but could not do much to restrict the batting prowess of the Edo side.

Edo scored one hundred and fifteen runs for the loss of three wickets in their allotted twenty overs.

Nigeria Judo Federation, says it is set to host the maiden edition of the National Judo League.

Its President, Musa Oshodi said the league would be held at the Gymnasium, Package B, Moshood Abiola Stadium, Abuja, from 25th to 28th October.

He said the competition would attract participants from all over the country.

OTHER LEAGUES

Barcelona’s league fixture against Atletico Madrid in December could be staged in Miami – with La Liga officials hopeful that Fifa will approve the plan.

It would be the first time a La Liga match has been played in the United States.

Fifa, football’s world governing body, will make the final decision on the proposal.

The match is currently scheduled for 22nd December, before La Liga pauses for its winter break.

Both Atletico and Barcelona are scheduled to play in a four-team Spanish Super Cup in early January, which is being held in Saudi Arabia.

OTHER SPORTS

In Tennis, Dominic Thiem’s tennis career came to an end as he lost to Luciano Darderi in the first round of the Vienna Open.

Former world number three Thiem, who won the Vienna title in 2019, was beaten 7-6, 6-2 by Italian Darderi.

Austria’s former US Open champion announced last week that he would retire after his home tournament.

Still on Tennis, British teenager Mika Stojsavljevic is denied a first WTA win after an agonising 6-4, 6-7, 7-6 defeat by Japan’s Moyuka Uchijima in the first round of the Pan Pacific Open.

The 15-year-old, the reigning US Open girls’ champion, held a 3-2 lead against Uchijima in the first set before she was broken three times in a row to lose the opener.

Uchijima will face top seed Zheng Qinwen in the second round in Tokyo.

Elsewhere, British number one Katie Boulter is through to the last 16 after easing to a 6-1, 6-4 win against Australia’s Priscilla Hon.

The world number 33 will play Japan’s Kyoka Okamura next.

Still on Tennis, Former Manchester United striker Diego Forlan will make his professional tennis debut in an ATP doubles event in his native Uruguay next month.

The 45-year-old, who retired from football in 2019, will play alongside Argentine Federico Coria in the Uruguay Open in Montevideo.

Forlan, who was a promising tennis player in his teens, has been playing in ITF Masters events – most recently in the forty-five and over category.

But next month’s tournament is a recognised ATP event and sits on the second-tier Challenger Tour, requiring Forlan to get a wildcard.

Badminton and hockey are among the sports that have missed out on the 2026 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

A stripped-back programme of ten sports, announced on Tuesday, includes athletics and swimming as mandatory and the likes of track cycling, boxing and gymnastics.

The Games, last held in Glasgow in 2014 at a cost of over five hundred and forty million pounds, will take place across four venues between 23rd July and 2nd August 2026.

Glasgow stepped in to host after the Australian state of Victoria pulled out because of rising costs.

A total of three thousand athletes from up to seventy-four Commonwealth nations and territories are expected to compete at the 2026 Games.

In Cricket, Former Australia opener David Warner says he is available to come out of Test retirement to play in the upcoming series against India.

Steve Smith opened alongside Usman Khawaja in the four Tests Australia have played since Warner retired in January.

However, Smith will move back to number four for the series against India, starting in November, because all-rounder Cameron Green is out with a back injury, meaning Australia have to find another partner for Khawaja.

Still on Cricket, Captain Ben Stokes says he is fit enough to play a greater role with the ball after England picked three spinners on a pitch that has been raked for the deciding Test against Pakistan.

All-rounder Stokes bowled ten overs in England’s defeat in the second Test, his first game in more than two months following a hamstring injury.

Gus Atkinson and Stokes are the only pace bowlers in the England team for Thursday’s third Test in Rawalpindi.

TODAY’S FIXTURES

IN UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

Atalanta vs Celtic

Brest vs Bayer Leverkusen

Atlético Madrid vs Lille

Barcelona vs Bayern Munich

Benfica vs Feyenoord

Manchester City vs Sparta Prague

RB Leipzig vs Liverpool

Red Bull Salzburg vs Dinamo Zagreb

Young Boys vs Inter Milan

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

“If you believe in yourself and have dedication, pride, and never quit, you’ll be a winner….. Word from Johan Cruyff.