Category: Sport

In the quest for developing a grassroot football talent exhibition and nurturing in their respective states across Nigeria. Rivers and Benue State has entered a partnership with Spanish and European Football giants, Real Madrid for the establishment of an academy in the State.

The States Governor, Nyesom Wike and Samuel Ortom, along with other top officials met with the President of Real madrid Fc during a visit to the Spanish capital.

The meeting according to reports were held behind closed doors at the Santiago Bernabeu, grounds of the Spanish giants.

In the words of Governor Wike;

”This meeting is the height of our deliberation to get the Academy Started. We are happy that this has gone on satisfactorily. Rivers youths will reap the benefits of the Academy.”

Governor Wike underscored the impact that sports, especially football, could have on bettering the lot of people in the state.

Neymar has picked up a nasty-looking injury that left him needing to be taken off on a stretcher in Paris Saint-Germain’s game.

Neymar is known for play-acting sometimes, but this is clearly genuine after a strong challenge left him in real agony.

Paris Saint-Germain beat AS Saint-Étienne, 3-1, on Sunday to stretch their lead at the Ligue 1 summit to 14 points. But the French giants also lost superstar Neymar to a serious-looking ankle injury late on at Stade Geoffroy Guichard.

Captain Marquinhos scored twice either side of an Angel Di Maria strike with Lionel Messi bagging a hat trick of assists but the fightback win was overshadowed by Neymar’s injury with the score at 2-1. His left ankle appeared to collapse before he was stretchered off.

Saint-Étienne had taken the lead through Denis Bouanga after Neymar had an early effort ruled out via VAR with technology working in Les Verts’ favor to put them in front, but a harsh Timothee Kolodziejczak straight red card paved the way for Marquinhos to level on the stroke of halftime.

Etienne Green was in sensational form in goal for Sainté and denied Kylian Mbappe on more than one occasion as Claude Puel’s men threatened an upset, but PSG’s superior quality ultimately showed through against the 10 men with Di Maria and Marquinhos completing the scoring

“At 11 against 11, we created many chances, but the ball did not want to go in,” the Argentina international said after the final whistle. “I think we put in a great performance, and we finally managed to score through Marquinhos and I. We had the ball and that was the most important thing. We showed control and patience to win. We are happy with the result after the Manchester City game.”

While it was far from a fluent display from Pochettino’s men once more, Sergio Ramos made his debut in defense and received a crash course in what to expect from Ligue 1 now that he is back in action.

However, all eyes will now be on Neymar as Les Parisiens try to ascertain the extent of his latest injury and how long they can expect to be without him for in a scenario which is not too dissimilar from his first two seasons at Parc des Princes where winter injuries derailed both campaigns.

“Unfortunately, these sorts of setback are part of an athlete’s life,” said Neymar via Instagram. “You have to raise your head and move forward. I will come back better and stronger.”

In his post-match press conference, Pochettino revealed that the Brazilian is in pain after twisting his ankle and that exams will be done on Monday to learn more about the severity of the injury.

A 200 level Actuarian Science student of the University of Lagos (UNILAG), named Grace Utobuiro, has gone home with a whooping sum of N200,000 after emerging winner of the third edition of the 4 – Inch – High Heel Race competition, held at the NIS pitch of the National Stadium, Surulere, Lagos.

21- year old Grace defeated 14 other contestants to emerge winner at the one day 100 – meter dash event.

During the heats, she enjoyed easy runs, but was however given a strong challenge in the final by Favourite Eluwa and Zainab Ayinla who had to settle for the second and third positions respectively.

Utobuiro went home with N200,000 and gift items, while Eluwa and Ayinla received N150,000 and N100,000 respectively as well as gift items.

Speaking at the event, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of DMS Limited, Elder Dede Agwu Kalu, said he was impressed with the turnout and the high level of competitiveness exhibited by the participants, assuring of his continuous commitment to the competition and hoped to spread it to other states of the federation and other African countries.

He said the sport-tainment is about women being smart on heels when they wear them. He said: “It is absolutely necessary for ladies to wear high heel because it gives them a unique look and brings out the elegance in them.

A Chelsea supporter who posted anti-Semitic tweets aimed at Tottenham fans, including photos of Auschwitz and a man doing a Nazi salute, has been jailed.

Nathan Blagg, 21, was given an eight week sentence at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Friday.

He had already pleaded guilty to seven counts of sending offensive messages.

His sentence was increased by three weeks to reflect the racial hate crime element, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said.

Kalsoom Shah, from the CPS, said: “Nathan Blagg thought hiding behind a screen could shield him from the consequences of posting hateful and abusive content. That is absolutely not the case.”

The lifelong Chelsea supporter, from Retford, Nottinghamshire, sent the tweets between September 2020 and February this year.

During the court case last month, prosecutor David Roberts said the messages were alleged to be “racially aggravated… given the context of Tottenham Hotspur’s fans coming from a Jewish area”.

He posted a picture of the train tracks to Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz on Twitter, along with the message:”Spurs are on their way to Auschwitz.”

Nazi salutes video
Another post featured a fake image of former health secretary Matt Hancock holding a microphone saying the same words.

Other tweets sent by Blagg included a photograph and a video of Nazi salutes being performed, while one message read: “Yids tomorrow, which means for the next 48 hours I can tweet as much anti-Semitism as I want without being told off.”

The following day, Blagg wrote: “Gas a Jew, Jew, Jew.”

Blagg was arrested in February after a West Brom fan reported his messages, which were investigated by Chelsea’s security team.

Maeve Thornton, defending, said Blagg had been suffering from “low moods” at the time because of the pandemic.

“He has got drawn into this in terms of a lack of awareness and understanding of the impact this was going to have,” she said, adding that “with hindsight, he now understands how wrong this is”.

Although there is no expectation for Antonio Conte to be handed a massive war chest to improve the Tottenham Hotspur squad, the club have invested significantly with their contract for the tactician.

The initial 18-month contract that Spurs have handed to Conte is worth around £20m.

The club shared in their official announcement that the deal includes the option to extend as they look to get their season back on track after a dismal end to Nuno Espirito Santo’s short reign.

Nuno kicked off his time at Spurs in great fashion, as victories in his first three top-flight matches for the north London outfit saw him named the Premier League Manager of the Month for August.

The former Wolves boss then couldn’t stop his side from losing five of their next seven Premier League fixtures, including defeats to rivals Arsenal, Chelsea and Man United, as well as Crystal Palace.

Daniel Levy decided that a change was necessary after the convincing defeat to a sloppy Man United side and they’ve now managed to appoint the man that they seemed destined to land this summer.

Airviews News reiterate that Conte rejected Spurs in June, citing his preference to take a break after a successful spell at Inter Milan that ended abruptly.

Conte clearly feels as though he’s had enough time to recharge as he’s now signed up for the mission to push Tottenham back towards Champions League contention after a poor run of form.

The 52-year-old might well be the perfect man to lead Spurs to their first trophy since the League Cup in February 2008, given his success with the likes of Juventus, Inter and of course Chelsea.

Conte hit the ground running when he took charge of Chelsea, winning the Premier League title in his first season in charge, before he was sacked after his second campaign with the Blues.

Considering the former midfielder’s work to reestablish Inter Milan as a force to be reckoned with in his two years at the San Siro, the Spurs project seems to be one that he’s got all the tools to succeed in.

The 3-0 loss at home to Manchester United proved to be the last straw for the Spurs board, who have already lined up the Portuguese coach’s successor

Nuno Espirito Santo has been sacked by Tottenham after only four months in charge, with Antonio Conte set to be drafted in as his replacement.

Nuno was appointed permanent successor to Jose Mourinho in June, with Spurs handing him an initial two-year contract.

That agreement has been terminated early in the wake of the 3-0 home defeat to Manchester United, which leaves the north London outfit ten points adrift of Premier League leaders Chelsea after ten games.

What has been said?

An announcement on Spurs’ website confirmed Nuno, along with coaching staff Ian Cathro, Rui Barbosa and Antonio Dias, have all been relieved of their duties.

Spurs managing director Fabio Paratici, who like Nuno only arrived at the club in the summer, said: “I know how much Nuno and his coaching staff wanted to succeed and I regret that we have had to take this decision.

“Nuno is a true gentleman and will always be welcome here. We should like to thank him and his coaching staff and wish them well for the future.”

Nuno’s record at Spurs

Nuno took charge of just 17 games across all competitions as Tottenham head coach, recording nine wins, one draw and seven losses.

Five of those defeats came in the Premier League, with Crystal Palace, Chelsea, Arsenal and West Ham getting the better of his side in addition to United.

Spurs had the second-worst totals in both shots and chances created in the Premier League under Nuno, who also has the unwanted record of the most defeats by three goals or more in the division so far this season.

Conte set for Premier League return

It was well documented that Tottenham considered a number of other candidates before appointing Nuno, including Gennaro Gattuso, Paulo Fonseca and former Inter boss Antonio Conte – who previously coached in England at Chelsea.

It has already been reported that Spurs have contacted Conte again, with Paratici eager to bring in his compatriot to steady the ship having previously worked with him at Juventus.

Airviews News can authoritatively confirm that Conte will succeed Nuno after holding positive talks with the north London club, with an official announcement expected ahead of their next Premier League fixture against Everton.

Paris Saint-Germain forward Lionel Messi has claimed that he is open to the idea of returning to Barcelona as a technical secretary after hanging up his boots.

The Argentine star expressed his intention to be part of the club’s senior management in the future and reiterated his affection for the Blaugrana just a few months after parting ways with the Catalans.

“Yes, I always said that I would like to come back to help the club in whatever way,” Messi told Sport.com

“I want to be useful and help so that the club is doing well. I would love to be a technical secretary, but I don’t know if it will be at Barcelona.

“I would like to return to the club to contribute what I can because I love [Barcelona] and I would love them to keep doing well, to continue growing and to continue to be among the best in the world.”