IN UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
Manchester City’s Champions League campaign came to a tame conclusion at the Bernabeu as Kylian Mbappe’s brilliant hat-trick inspired holders Real Madrid to a comfortable victory to reach the last sixteen.
Pep Guardiola’s side were attempting to reverse a three-two deficit from the play-off first leg, but the contest was effectively over after four minutes when Mbappe’s precise lob from Raul Asencio’s pass increased their advantage.
The France forward’s third came just after the hour with a low shot as City subsided, barely laying a glove on Real all night as the team was outclassed.
City pulled a goal back when Nico Gonzalez turned in his first goal for the club after Omar Marmoush’s free-kick hit the bar, but it was no consolation on a desperate game for the reigning Premier League champions.
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Paris Saint-Germain has roared into the last sixteen of the Champions League with a thumping seven-nil victory over Brest.
Luis Enrique’s side will now face Liverpool or Barcelona with the draw due to take place on Friday, 21st February in Nyon Switzerland.
Already leading three-nil from the first leg of their knockout play-off, the hosts again exhibited their superiority over a fellow French side they have now defeated four times this season, scoring eighteen times in the process.
Bradley Barcola, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Vitinha, Goncalo Ramos , Desire Doue, Nuno Mendes and Senny Mayulu scored a goal each for PSG.
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Borussia Dortmund has clinched its spot in the Champions League last sixteen after a goalless draw against Sporting in the second leg of their knockout play-off tie.
The return leg was a formality after the German side posted a comprehensive three-nil victory in Lisbon with goals from Serhou Guirassy, Pascal Gross and Karim Adeyemi.
The hosts, who lost last season’s final to Real Madrid at Wembley, will face Aston Villa or Lille in the two-legged last-16 tie next month.
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PSV Eindhoven star Ryan Flamingo scored an extra-time winner as the team produced a superb performance against Juventus to overturn their first-leg deficit and book a spot in the last 16 of the Champions League.
PSV suffered a two-one defeat in the first leg of the tie in Turin, but fought with determination at home on Wednesday night to dump out the Italian giants in a frenetic encounter.
Ivan Perisic and Ismael Saibari netted either side of a stunning Timothy Weah strike to make it 3-3 on aggregate in normal time before Flamingo sealed victory.
PSV’s progression means the team will face either Arsenal or Inter Milan in the last 16.
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Liverpool has moved eight points clear at the top of the Premier League after being held to a gripping two-all draw at Aston Villa.
The Reds had not lost in the Premier League since being beaten one-nil by Nottingham Forest at Anfield in September, but was almost undone by sloppy defending and a lack of cutting edge.
Youri Tielemans and Ollie Watkins cancelled out Mohamed Salah’s 29th-minute opener, before Trent Alexander-Arnold levelled sixteen minutes after the break.
Having extended their lead over second-placed Arsenal, Arne Slot’s side go to Manchester City on Sunday in what could now be a defining week in the title race.
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Arsenal defender Takehiro Tomiyasu will miss the rest of the season after having surgery on his right knee.
The 26-year-old made only one appearance this season, as a substitute in a Premier League win over Southampton in October, because of the issue.
He initially sustained the injury in pre-season and had a surgical procedure in August, but required further surgery after problems with the knee persisted.
The Japan international has started his rehabilitation programme, which Arsenal said was expected to last until towards the end of this year.
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Arsenal has posted club record revenue of six hundred, sixteen point six million pounds but made an overall loss of seventeen point seven million pounds for the financial year ending 31st May 2024.
The Gunners returned to the Champions League in the 2023-24 campaign, reaching the quarter-finals, which contributed towards a seventy-one point one million pounds rise in broadcasting revenue and twenty-nine point one million pounds increase in matchday revenue.
Mikel Arteta’s side finished second in the Premier League, while Arsenal’s women placed third in the Women’s Super League and won the League Cup.
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A Manchester United supporters’ group says fans must not pay the price for the club’s financial mismanagement after the Red Devils announced revenues decreased by twelve percent in the last financial quarter.
The club announced on Wednesday that revenues had dropped to one hundred and ninety-eight point seven million pounds for the final three months of 2024, down from two hundred, twenty-five point eight million pounds for the same period twelve months previously.
Overall, the club made an operating profit of three point one million pounds, down from twenty-seven point five million pounds over the same period in 2023 after spending fourteen point five million pounds on the sackings of Erik ten Hag and his coaching staff, including the four point one million pounds cost of hiring and then dismissing former sporting director Dan Ashworth within five months.
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Former Chelsea boss Frank Lampard has advised the team’s management to sign matured players capable of helping the team succeed in the Premier League.
Lampard believes the transfer strategy needs to be adjusted before the average age of the squad drops any further, potentially resulting in even more disappointment.
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Wales and England will renew rivalries this year with a friendly at Wembley confirmed for October.
The home nations, who first faced each other one hundred and forty-six years ago, have arranged the fixture as part of preparation for key World Cup 2026 qualifiers.
The friendly on 9th October will be preparation for the Three Lions’ game in Latvia and Wales’ home tie with top seeds Belgium a few days later.
Thomas Tuchel begins life as England manager when they kick off their Group K World Cup qualifiers against Albania next month.
Craig Bellamy’s campaign to reach a major finals as Wales manager starts with a Group J home fixture against Kazakhstan in four weeks’ time.
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England women defender Millie Bright says there needs to be a reminder that female footballers own ourselves and are not items after urging fans to treat players with respect.
Bright, who captained England to the 2023 Women’s World Cup final, spoke about the issue on social media earlier this month after saying a fan had made an expletive-filled comment about her performance, having asked her for photos and autographs.
Bright’s latest comments come after British tennis player Emma Raducanu was targeted by a man who exhibited fixated behaviour during her match at the Dubai Tennis Championships.
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IN NIGERIA
The Super Eagles Technical Adviser, Eric Chelle, made a surprise visit to Mobolaji Johnson Arena, Onikan, on Wednesday, to watch Ikorodu City FC beat Plateau United.
The Super Eagles gaffer arrived with Lagos State Football Association (LSFA) officials, led by its Vice Chairman, Oladotun Coker.
The newly appointed Chelle has opted to remain in Nigeria and prioritise watching the local league. He fulfilled this promise with his appearance at the 2024/2025 NPFL Match Day 25 fixture.
During the first-half break, Chelle walked onto the pitch to acknowledge the supporters’ cheers. He was presented with Ikorodu City FC’s replica jersey by the club’s Chairman, Sanmi Doherty.
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Former champions Akwa United and Rivers United battled to a one-all draw in their Nigeria Premier Football League, NPFL, matchday 25 encounter in Uyo.
Rivers United’s only goal was scored by Ubong Friday, while Mare Abson scored Akwa United’s only goal.
Ijeoma Desouza scored the decisive goal three minutes before the break as Abia Warriors defeated Enugu Rangers one-nil at the Umuahia Township Stadium.
Sunshine Stars was held to a one-all draw by four-time champions Kano Pillars, while Niger Tornadoes rallied to beat Heartland FC two-one.
Bayelsa United and Nasarawa United played out a two-all draw at the Samson Siasia Stadium, Yenagoa.
El-kanemi Warriors and Bendel Insurance played out a goalless draw in Maiduguri.
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Lobi Stars Football Club of Makurdi drew 2-2 with hosts Shooting Stars Sports Club (3SC) on Wednesday in Ibadan to bolster their fight against relegation and raise hopes of survival.
Th Match Day 25 fixture in the 2024/2025 Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) saw the visitors forcing the second-placed 3SC to fight from behind to claim a point.
The Lekan Salami Stadium crowd had been expectant of a win for the hosts, who had lost their last two matches on the road and were up against a relegation-threatened side.
But Lobi Stars proved a difficult customer, only lacking a good offensive rhythm as they broke through the flanks to put the hosts on the back foot several times.
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Enyimba International FC defender, Odinaka Obichere, has fired a strong warning to their host, Katsina United FC, saying the People’s Elephants was in Kastina to win.
Obichere stated that Enyimba players were brimming with confidence and set for victory in the match day 25 encounter.
The match between Kastina United and Enyimba will take place at the Muhammadu Dikko Stadium, Katsina by 4pm on Thursday.
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Super Eagles star Ademola Lookman has expressed his displeasure following Atalanta manager, Gian Piero Gasperini’s criticism in the aftermath of the side’s defeat to Club Brugge.
Lookman who scored his side only goal of the game also missed a penalty.
After the match, Gasperini said Lookman was not supposed to take the penalty and claimed the 27-year-old had a frankly terrible record even in training.
Gasperini stated that teammates Mateo Retegui or Charles de Ketelaere should have taken the penalty.
Lookman said he was instructed by the designated penalty taker to take it.
Atalanta was defeated three-one by the Belgian Pro League team in the second leg of their UEFA Champions League play-off, exiting the competition with a five-two aggregate loss.
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Former Nigerian international Victor Ikpeba has disclosed that he has no sympathy for Manchester United after the team lost to Tottenham.
Ikpeba stated that the team had lots of goal scoring chances to win Tottenham.
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Former Turkish defender Erman Toroğlu has declared that Super Eagles striker Victor Osimhen is not as good as Mauro Icardi.
Toroğlu made this remark after the Nigerian international grabbed a brace in Galatasaray’s two-one win over Çaykur Rizespor in the Turkish League.
Toroğlu stated that Icardi was a better striker than Osimhen.
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Former Anderlecht boss Hein Vanhaezebrouck has described Nigerian international Tolu Arokodare who plays for KRC Genk as the most deadly striker in the Belgian League.
The Nigerian international has become a household name in Belgium, scoring week in and week out for Genk.
Vanhaezebrouck said no team in the Belgian league has a prolific striker like Arokodare.
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Elizabeth Oshoba and Adams Olaore lead the list of nominees for the 2024 Fight Gist Media Boxing Awards scheduled for March 2025.
Oshoba, who won the WBC Silver featherweight title in 2024, is nominated for Female Fighter of The Year alongside Blessing Dada, Celina Agwu, Aishat Oriyomi and Mary Aina Abbey.
Joy Nene, who won gold at the African Games, is also nominated in this category.
Olaore, who claimed gold at the 13th African Games in Accra and qualified for the 2024 Olympics, is up for Outstanding Amateur Boxer of The Year against Patricia Mbata, Blessing Orakwe, Ifeanyi Onyekwere and Joy Nene.
In the Male Fighter of The Year category, Taiwo ‘Esepo’ Agbaje leads the nominees that include Raheem ‘Baddo’ Animasahun, Idowu ‘ID Buster’ Rasheed, Tosin ‘Sojar Boy’ Osaigbovo, Austine ‘Magnificent Dancer’ Nnamdi and Rasheed ‘Fhally Boy’ Adeyemo.
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West African Boxing Union President Remi Aboderin has dismissed allegations of misconduct levelled against the body by the African Boxing Union, ABU while challenging the latter’s authority to suspend WABU’s activities.
The ABU, led by President Houcine Houichi, announced the disbandment of WABU at an executive meeting in Lagos, citing allegations of blackmail, manipulation, financial misappropriation and exploitation of boxers and promoters.
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Interim President of the Nigeria Boxing Federation (NBF), Azania Omo-Agege, says the federation will not support any move aimed at promoting transgender boxing in the country.
Omo-Agege said this on Wednesday in Abuja, while expressing concerns over the proposed visit of Boris Vandervorst, President, World Boxing Federation, where he is expected to promote transgender boxing.
According to Omo-Agege, Vandervorst has allegedly been in the forefront of championing Transgender boxing in the world.
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Over 500 junior tennis players will compete for Universal Tennis Rating points in the Tennis Players Parents Association, TPPA tournament which served off across 12 cities on Wednesday.
The tournament, which will be held in two legs, features boys and girls competing in the 12, 14 and 16 age categories, with only Lagos hosting the youth category during the regional qualifiers.
TPPA President Segun Aluko said the tournament was designed to help players earn UTR points, which could boost their chances of securing college scholarships.
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OTHER LEAGUES
Real Madrid star Jude Bellingham has been banned for two La Liga matches following his red card in Saturday’s draw with Osasuna.
The Real Madrid midfielder was dismissed in the 39th minute for foul and abusive language towards referee Jose Luis Munuera Montero.
The Spanish Football Federation disciplinary committee ruled on Wednesday that Bellingham should be punished for what it described as attitudes of contempt or lack of consideration towards referees.
It means England international Bellingham, will miss La Liga fixtures against Girona and Real Betis.
Real Madrid announced that the club would challenge the suspension.
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Celtic captain Callum McGregor has urged his team-mates to use experiences from this season’s Champions League campaign and a best-ever performance against Bayern Munich to bring further European success to the club.
Brendan Rodgers’ side matched the Bundesliga leaders blow for blow in their play-off, only to be left heartbroken by a late Alphonso Davies goal, drawing one-all on the night and losing three-two on aggregate.
Aftermath of the team’s exit from the competition, McGregor was looking to the next chapter of Celtic’s journey.
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Rangers’ chief executive Patrick Stewart, says the decision to keep manager Philippe Clement despite the disastrous Scottish Cup loss to Queen’s Park is about the long-term interests of the club, not to save money.
The Ibrox defeat by Championship opposition intensified pressure on Clement, with Rangers also trailing Celtic by thirteen points in the Premiership.
Rangers has reached the last 16 in the Europa League, another reason cited by Stewart for sticking with the Belgian.
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OTHER SPORTS
In Basketball; The last four games of AHSAA basketball regionals will be played on Thursday, finalizing the field for next week’s state finals tournament.
The Northeast Regional at Jacksonville State concludes action with Class 7A and Class 6A winners advancing. Hoover plays Albertville girls and Hoover boys play Huntsville in Class 7A while Fort Payne plays Mountain Brook in Class 6A girls and Oxford plays Gadsden City in boys action.
First round pairings of the 56 teams pit Northwest Regional winners against South winners and Northeast champions against Central winners.
In Tennis, British number one Jack Draper has stormed into the quarter-finals of the Qatar Open with a dominant victory over Christopher O’Connell.
Draper did not face a single break point and needed just fifty-nine minutes to wrap up a 6-2, 6-1 win against the Australian.
The world number 16 is playing his first tournament since retiring injured from his fourth-round meeting with Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz at January’s Australian Open.
Elsewhere in Doha, Alex de Minaur claimed his 200th tour-level hard-court win with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Botic van de Zandschulp to set up a quarter-final against fifth seed Andrey Rublev, who beat Nuno Borges 6-3, 6-4.
World number six Daniil Medvedev defeated Zizou Bergs 6-2, 6-1 and will face Felix Auger-Aliassime, after the Canadian was handed a walkover as Serbia’s Hamad Medjedovic withdrew because of injury.
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Still on Tennis, Elena Rybakina has saved six match points before closing out a dramatic victory against Paula Badosa to reach the quarter-finals of the Dubai Tennis Championships, while world number one Aryna Sabalenka fell to a surprise defeat.
Kazakhstan’s Rybakina fought back from 6-3 down in a second-set tie-break, while Badosa also spurned two match points on Rybakina’s serve at 6-5 in the decider.
The world number seven held firm before securing a 4-6, 7-6, 7-6 win with her first match point after a gruelling two hours and 49 minutes.
The 2022 Wimbledon champion will face Sophia Kenin after the American ended Jasmine Paolini’s title defence with a 6-4 6-0 victory.
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Also, Emma Raducanu says she will be OK after a difficult experience where she was targeted by a man who exhibited fixated behaviour at the Dubai Tennis Championships.
An emotional Raducanu was seen hiding behind the umpire’s chair two games into the second-round defeat by Karolina Muchova.
The Women’s Tennis Association said the 22-year-old had been approached by a man who exhibited fixated behaviour on Monday and the same individual was identified in the first few rows during Emma’s match on Tuesday.
Raducanu alerted the chair umpire to the situation and was comforted by 14th seed Muchova as the individual was removed from court three.
Raducanu returned to the court after the incident to applause from the crowd and continued playing, but fell to a 7-6, 6-4 defeat.
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In Cricket, Centuries from Tom Latham and Will Young set New Zealand on their way to a convincing 60-run win over hosts Pakistan in the opening game of the Champions Trophy.
The Black Caps were put in to bat in Karachi and, despite losing three early wickets, kept their composure in a superbly-paced innings to post three hundred and twenty to five.
Opener Young, only playing because of an injury to Rachin Ravindra, set the tone on his way to a one hundred and seven-ball century, and put on one hundred and eighteen with Latham for the fourth wicket.
Pakistan’s chase only really kicked into gear once the game was lost.
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In Rugby, Warren Gatland says he left his role as Wales head coach after being weighed down by criticism including from his former players.
Gatland left his role last week following a 22-15 Six Nations defeat in Italy, a result which extended Wales’ record losing streak to 14 Tests and saw them drop to an all-time low of 12th in rugby’s world rankings.
Gatland was contracted with Wales until the 2027 World Cup, but left his post by mutual consent three days after defeat to Italy, which followed a humbling in France on the opening weekend of the Six Nations.
Welsh Rugby Union chief executive Abi Tierney said both parties had agreed an immediate change was in the best interests of the Wales squad, with Cardiff head coach Matt Sherratt quickly installed as Gatland’s temporary replacement for the remainder of the Six Nations.
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In Golf, Tiger Woods has described a yardage mix-up that left TGL team-mates Kevin Kisner and Tom Kim in fits of laughter as one of the most embarrassing moments in my golfing career.
The 49-year-old, playing for the Jupiter Links team in the partially virtual indoor tournament, left himself 199 yards to the hole on the 13th after his tee shot.
However, a mix-up between Woods and his caddie meant the 15-time major winner chose a wedge to hit his next shot 99 yards – leaving him 100 yards short.
Woods heard his caddie say “99”, but caddies often drop the first number when they deem the yardage to be obvious.
The mix-up came as Jupiter Links were resoundingly beaten 10-3 by New York Golf Club.
It was Woods’ first appearance since he announced the death of his mother, Kultida, on 4th February.
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TODAY’S FIXTURES
IN UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE- KNOCKOUT ROUND PLAY-OFFS
Galatasaray vs AZ
Roma vs Porto
Ajax vs Union Saint-Gilloise
Anderlecht vs Fenerbahçe
Real Sociedad vs Midtjylland
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FOOD FOR THOUGHT.
Persistence can change failure into extraordinary achievement….words from Matt Biondi.
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