IN UEFA EUROPA LEAGUES
AZ Alkmaar will face either Manchester United or Tottenham in the last 16 of the Europa League after seeing off Galatasaray in their knockout phase play-off.
The Dutch side had won the first leg four-one to ensure they were all but through, and drew two-all in Thursday’s second leg to progress six-three on aggregate.
Seiya Maikuma and Denso Kasius scored a goal each for AZ Alkmaar, while Galatasaray’s two goals were scored by Victor Osimhen and Roland Sallai.
The draw for the last 16 will take place on Friday.
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Roman star Paulo Dybala scored twice as the team fought back to beat Porto three-two in a thrilling encounter and seal their place in the last 16 of the Europa League.
The first leg between two of the competition’s favourites in the knockout round play-off had ended in a one-all draw, leaving Thursday’s second leg in the balance.
Niccolo Pisilli scored Roman’s third goal, while Porto’s two goals were scored by Samu Aghehowa and own goal from Devyne Rensch.
Roma will face either fellow Italians Lazio or Spain’s Athletic Bilbao in the last 16.
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Manchester City manager, Pep Guardiola says there will be a rebuild at the team following its exit in this season’s UEFA Champions League.
Guardiola admitted that City was not the team its use to be.
He stated that the team would try to be in the competition again next season.
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The Premier League is on course to gain an extra Champions League place for next season based on the performances of English sides in Europe.
Two leagues across Europe will each be rewarded with an additional spot in the 2025-26 Champions League as a reward for their coefficient ranking.
England leads the coefficient rankings table, putting the Premier League on track to offer a path into the Champions League for the club that finishes fifth in the table.
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Chelsea director Jonathan Goldstein has passed a vote of confident on manager Enzo Maresca despite the team’s poor run in the Premier League.
Maresca faced growing scrutiny from supporters after a poor run of form, with Chelsea winning just two of their last nine league games.
The Blues’ struggles left the team as outsiders in the race for a top-four finish, piling pressure on the head coach.
The Chelsea chief said Maresca has done a great job with the team.
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Liverpool boss Arne Slot has urged his players to be ready to suffer in order to pick the maximum points at the Etihad Stadium ahead of Sunday’s Premier League.
The Reds go to City on Sunday outright Premier League leaders and with the hosts reeling after Champions League defeat at Real Madrid.
The Dutch tactician stated that it would be an uphill task for the Reds to beat Manchester City at the Etihad.
Liverpool sit eight points clear of second-place Arsenal and seventeen from fourth-place City.
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IN NIGERIA
Remo Stars has extended its lead at the top of the Nigeria Premier Football League, NPFL, following a two-nil win over Kwara United.
The Sky Blue Stars top the standings with fifty-one points from twenty-five games.
Samuel Anakwe and Hadi Haruna scored a goal each for Remo Stars.
Enyimba went down to a two-one defeat against Katsina United at the Muhammadu Dikko Stadium.
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Abia Warriors Technical Adviser, Imama Amapakabo, has admitted he was a bit disappointed with his players despite their hard-fought one-nil Oriental Derby victory over title holders Rangers.
The Warriors held on firmly until the final whistle, securing maximum points to maintain their fourth position on the log.
Amapakabo stated that as a coach, he would go back, review the game, and make necessary adjustments, acknowledging that some things are beyond a coach’s control during a match.
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Former head coach of Golden Eaglets, Fatai Amoo, says he is optimistic Shooting Stars will win the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) title and also pick a continental ticket at the end of the season.
Amoo urged the team to double their efforts in order to achieve their biggest goal of the season.
3SC is currently sitting second on the league table with forty-one points, while Remo Stars is top on forty-eight points.
Turkish Women’s Super Lig outfit Trabzonspor have completed the signing of Falconets midfielder Chioma Olise.
Olise linked up with Trabzonspor from Nigeria Women’s Football League, NWFL, outfit Edo Queens.
The 19-year-old put pen to paper on a one-and-half year contract with the Black Sea Storm.
The youngster has been assigned jersey number sixteen by her new club.
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The Nigerian women’s rugby league team, known as the Green Falcons, will face Ghana and France in friendly games and also take part in the third edition of the women’s league as preparations for their historic appearance in the 2025 Rugby League World Series.
This follows their remarkable performance in the Middle East-Africa Women’s Rugby League World Cup Qualifiers against Kenya in September 2024.
In a groundbreaking series, Nigeria faced Kenya in a two-legged qualifier held at the NYS Headquarters in Nairobi where the Green Falcons secured a 22-14 victory in the first match, showcasing their offensive strength.
Despite an 8-0 loss in the second match, Nigeria advanced based on aggregate scores, with both teams tied at 22 points each. The tie-breaker came down to goal kicks, where Nigeria edged out
Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn is willing to give Tyson Fury an ultimatum regarding an all-British showdown with Anthony Joshua.
Last month, the ‘Gypsy King’ shocked the boxing world after announcing his retirement from the sport.
In a video uploaded to social media, he said, “Hi everybody, I’m going to make this short and sweet. I’d like to announce my retirement from boxing.
His announcement came just weeks after suffering his second defeat to Oleksandr Usyk.
The news served as a huge blow to Joshua – who had hoped to one day settle his rivalry with Fury.
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This year’s ITTF Africa Cup is set to showcase the continent’s rising stars as they prepare to challenge the established order when the tournament holds in Tunis from 25th to 27th February.
Nigeria’s Matthew Kuti and Tunisia’s Wassim Essid are eager to make their mark this year.
Both players demonstrated their potential at the 2024 African Championships in Ethiopia, with Kuti making his debut at the event.
Essid, a home favourite and a key player for the Tunisian national team, aims to disrupt the dominance of seasoned stars like Egypt’s Omar Assar and Nigeria’s Quadri Aruna.
OTHER LEAGUES
Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti believes that Kylian Mbappe can emulate Cristiano Ronaldo at Real Madrid.
Ancelotti’s praise for Mbappe came after he scored a hat-trick in a three-one win over Manchester City that took holders Madrid to the Champions League round of 16.
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Spain’s former football federation boss Luis Rubiales has been found guilty of sexual assault for kissing player Jenni Hermoso without her consent and ordered to pay a fine of eight thousand, nine hundred and forty-two pounds Spain’s High Court has ruled.
He was acquitted of coercion, for allegedly trying to pressure Hermoso into saying publicly that the kiss was consensual.
The ruling also banned Rubiales from going within a two hundred meters radius of Hermoso and from communicating with her for one year, the court said in a statement.
The incident triggered protests and calls for the resignation of Rubiales, who has said he will appeal against the verdict.
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A takeover of Rangers involving the San Francisco 49ers’ investment wing is expected to be completed between April and June, sources close to negotiations have said.
There is broad agreement between all parties, with current shareholders expected to sell all, or part, of their stake in the club in the coming months.
The prospective owners would acquire more than fifty percent of the Rangers shares while taking on the debt, much of it owed to former chairman John Bennett.
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Lawyers for Samuel Eto’o say a ruling that led to the president of the Cameroonian Football Federation being fined two hundred thousand dollars for an ethics breach has been quashed on appeal.
The Confederation of African Football (Caf) opened an investigation into Eto’o’s conduct in August 2023 after receiving written statements from several Cameroonian football stakeholders.
Eto’o’s lawyers now claim to have successfully argued that only Caf’s independent ethics committee has jurisdiction over such cases.
Caf has so far declined to comment on the appeal.
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Interim Scotland women head coach Michael McArdle says it is a chance for the team to try new things as he prepares to take charge of the national team for the first time in Friday’s Nations League opener away to Austria.
McArdle, who was the Scottish FA’s head of women’s elite football, has taken over until a permenent successor is found after Pedro Martinez Losa was relieved of his duties following the failure to reach the Euro 2025 finals.
Despite their play-off defeat by Finland in December, the Scots have been promoted back to the Nations League’s top flight, where the team will also face Germany and the Netherlands.
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OTHER SPORTS
In Basketball; Hong Kong basketball has netted a multimillion-dollar sponsorship deal – and the agreement is expected to add insurance provision, following a series of crises when players representing the city were left footing medical bills.
A partnership with Canadian financial services company Sun Life will bring a cash injection of more than US$1.29 million, intended to improve support for players and fund community activities to promote the sport in the city.
Sun Life said it was in talks to provide medical and accident insurance, in a potential boost for the city’s representative team.
In Boxing, Heavyweight Daniel Dubois’ world-title defence against Joseph Parker on Saturday is off after the champion fell ill two days before the fight.
The Briton was being medically evaluated in Saudi Arabia and missed Thursday’s news conference, before being withdrawn.
Dubois was scheduled to make a second defence of his IBF title.
New Zealand’s Parker will instead fight Congolese Martin Bakole who has been drafted in as late-replacement.
The contest is the chief support to the undisputed light-heavyweight fight between champion Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol.
Also on the card, Briton Hamzah Sheeraz challenges Carlos Adames for the WBC middleweight title.
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In Tennis, World number two Iga Swiatek is out of the Dubai Tennis Championships after a shock 6-3, 6-3 quarter-final defeat by 17-year-old Mirra Andreeva.
The Russian teenager is the youngest-ever player to reach the last four of the tournament.
Andreeva set up a tie against Kazakhstan’s Elena Rybakina, who defeated the United States’ Sofia Kenin 6-2 ,7-6 later on Thursday.
Meanwhile, Czech Republic’s Karolina Muchova defeated Romania’s Sorana Cirstea 6-2, 7-5, and will face Clara Tauson in Friday’s semi-final, following the Dane’s 7-6, 6-4 win against Linda Noskova of Czech Republic.
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Also, Dubai Police say a man who exhibited fixated behaviour towards British tennis player Emma Raducanu was detained and given a restraining order.
A visibly upset Raducanu was seen hiding behind the umpire’s chair two games into a second-round defeat at the Dubai Tennis Championships.
Raducanu had spotted the man in the first few rows of the stand during her match against Karolina Muchova.
Dubai police said the man was detained before Raducanu decided not to press charges.
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In Cricket, Shubman Gill scored a superb unbeaten century after Mohammed Shami took 5-53 as India began their Champions Trophy campaign with a six-wicket win over Bangladesh.
Set a modest target of 229 to win, Gill batted through and finished on 101 from 129 balls as India cruised to victory with 3.3 overs to spare.
India made a brilliant start in Dubai as they reduced Bangladesh to 35-5 halfway through the ninth over.
Shami took two wickets and spinner Axar Patel had two in two balls before captain Rohit Sharma dropped a regulation catch at slip to deny him a hat-trick.
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In Cycling, Britain’s Tom Pidcock sprinted clear on stage two of the Vuelta a Andalucia to claim his fourth victory of the season.
After a sharp final climb Q36.5 rider Pidcock launched his sprint with one hundred and fifty metres to go, with his former Ineos Grenadiers team-mate Brandon Rivera finishing second.
Another ex-colleague, Pavel Sivakov, now riding for UAE Team Emirates-XRG, finished third to take the overall race lead 32 seconds ahead of Pidcock, who rises to third in the general classification in the five-stage event.
Pidcock, who was disappointed to finish eighth on stage one after racing “over-enthusiastically”, was much happier with his performance on Thursday.
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In Rugby, Scotland must be calm among the chaos of the Calcutta Cup if they are to secure a fifth successive win against England, according to head coach Gregor Townsend.
Townsend’s side are fourth in the Six Nations table after two rounds of fixtures, one point behind third-placed England, who they face on Saturday.
The Scots were beaten 32-18 by Ireland at Murrayfield last time out after their opening win against Italy, and must win to keep any realistic title hopes alive.
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TODAY’S FIXTURES
IN ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE
Leicester City vs Brentford
IN SPANISH LA LIGA
Celta Vigo vs Osasuna
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IN ITALIAN SERIES A
Lecce vs Udinese
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SOCCER ACTION CONTINUES THIS WEEKEND
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IN ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE
ON SATURDAY
Everton vs Manchester United
AFC Bournemouth vs Wolverhampton Wanderers
Arsenal vs West Ham United
Fulham vs Crystal Palace
Ipswich Town vs Tottenham Hotspur
Southampton vs Brighton
Aston Villa vs Chelsea
ON SUNDAY
Newcastle United vs Nottingham Forest
Manchester City vs Liverpool
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IN SPANISH LA LIGA
ON SATURDAY
Deportivo Alavés vs Espanyol
Rayo Vallecano vs Villarreal
Valencia v Atlético Madrid
Las Palmas vs Barcelona
ON SUNDAY
Athletic Club vs Real Valladolid
Real Madrid vs Girona
Getafe vs Real Betis
Real Sociedad vs Leganés
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IN ITALIAN SERIES A
ON SATURDAY
Parma vs Bologna
Venezia vs Lazio
Torino vs AC Milan
Inter Milan vs Genoa
ON SUNDAY
Como vs Napoli
Hellas Verona vs Fiorentina
Empoli vs Atalanta
Cagliari vs Juventus
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FOOD FOR THOUGHT.
He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life…..words from Muhammad Ali
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