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Why I Didn’t Take Penalty Against Frankfurt – Osimhen

Super Eagles striker Victor Osimhen has opened up on why he didn’t take the penalty during his team’s win over Eintracht Frankfurt in the Champions League on Wednesday.
Recall that Osimhen was on a hattrick before the penalty was awarded to his team.
Osimhen scored two goals as Napoli defeated Frankfurt 3-0 to qualify for a first-ever Champions League quarter-final place 5-0 on aggregate.
He scored in two minutes into first-half stoppage time and netted his second goal in the 53rd minute, Complete Sports reports.
Piotr Zielinski scored Napoli’s third from the penalty spot in the 64th minute.
Osimhen would have taken the penalty to bag a hat-trick but instead handed the ball over to Zielinski.
In a video posted on BT Sport’s YouTube channel, Osimhen said he was not bothered about who scored as long as the club achieved success.
 
“The penalty Zieliniski asked me if he could take it, of course, I’m a team player it doesn’t matter who scores as long as the team achieves success. I know my goals will come with or without penalty,” Osimhen said.
According to Complete Sports, the player also expressed delight following Napoli’s historic quarter-final qualification, saying, “It feels good, it feels amazing, it feels good to make history with this win. We want to keep on going like this until the next round, we are ready for it,” he added.
Osimhen has scored four goals in five Champions League matches this term.
The 24-year-old is the first player to score for Napoli in both legs of a Champions League knockout tie.
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Lionel Messi To Overtake Ronaldo As Highest-Paid Footballer

Lionel Messi is set to overtake Cristiano Ronaldo as the highest-paid footballer in the history of football .
According to reports, Saudi Arabian club Al-Hilal are set to make an irresistible offer to Lionel Messi that will make him earn £19 million more than his career rival Cristiano Ronaldo.
Recall that after the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, Ronaldo who was without a club after United sacked him in November due to an explosive interview with Piers Morgan, signed a record-breaking deal with Al-Nassr.
The deal reportedly earns the 38-year-old Portuguese legend a whopping £175-million-a-year which is the highest pay for a footballer in the history of the game.
Since he signed the deal, the Portuguese star has scored 8 goals and provided 2 assists in 7 Saudi Pro League matches for Al-Nassr.
Aside from that, his presence in Saudi Arabia has attracted huge attention to the club, the league, and the country at large.
Hence, Al-Hilal, the arch-rivals of Al-Nassr in the Saudi Pro League, are seeking to reciprocate that by signing Lionel Messi who just won the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
The 35-year-old Argentine footballer has until this summer before his contract with Paris Saint Germain expires. The French side have been trying to extend Messi’s contract but the negotiations are said not to be going smoothly.
On Wednesday, Daily Mail reported that Jorge, Messi’s father and agent, was spotted in the Saudi capital Riyadh which could imply that the negotiations between Messi and the Saudi side are advancing.
Lionel Messi’s father and agent Jorge spotted in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday.
The offer on the table for Messi is worth a whopping £194-million-a-year which is unprecedented in the history of football. The Saudi side are pushing to seal the deal ahead of this summer.
If Messi signs the deal, the age-long rivalry between the Argentine attacker and Ronaldo would be ignited. If that happens, Saudi Arabia would be the new Mecca of club football.
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Burna Boy To Perform In Champions League Final

Superstar Nigerian singer, Burna Boy is scheduled to perform at the UEFA Champions League final in Istanbul.

This was disclosed in a tweet on Thursday on the official UEFA Champions League page.

https://twitter.com/ChampionsLeague/status/1636307569470853123?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1636307569470853123%7Ctwgr%5E67e74a97663c42e58701a48fb2dcd3ee0d363977%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tori.ng%2Fnews%2F230276%2Fburna-boy-to-perform-in-champions-league-final.html

The Grammy-award winner will co-headline with other music stars at the highly anticipated 2023 UEFA Champions League Final Kick-Off Show by Pepsi on June 10.

The global chart-topping ‘Last Last’ superstar will be bringing his signature soulful vibes of afrobeats to Istanbul’s Atatürk Olympic Stadium to the cheers of millions of fans tuning in from across the globe.

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World Cup 2026 To Feature 48 Teams Instead of Usual 32 — FIFA

FIFA, the football governing body has expanded the 2026 men’s World Cup in North America to 12 groups of four teams.
This is a change from the original 8 groups of 4 teams.
FIFA announced this on Tuesday, March 14.
The next World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico will be the first to feature 48 teams, a sharp increase from the 32 sides at last year’s tournament in Qatar.
“The revised format mitigates the risk of collusion and ensures that all the teams play a minimum of three matches, while providing balanced rest time between competing teams,” FIFA said on its website.
It means that there will be 104 matches, a huge rise compared to the 64 games played in the 2022 tournament and an increase even on the original plan that the 2026 World Cup would feature 80 matches.
FIFA’s initial plan for 2026 was for 16 groups of three teams, from which the top two countries would advance to the last 32.
The new decided format means the top two in each group will go through to the knockout round along with the eight best third-placed sides.
As a result, the finalists, and the teams finishing third and fourth, will play a total of eight games instead of the current seven.
The decision comes after an entertaining group stage at Qatar 2022 convinced FIFA that a rethink to its original 2026 blueprint was needed.
Tuesday’s decision was announced following a FIFA Council meeting in the Rwandan capital Kigali, at which it confirmed the next men’s World Cup final will be played on Sunday, July 19, 2026.
FIFA said that the total number of days between when clubs must stop playing and release players for international duty, and the final, would be 56, identical to the previous three tournaments.
Nevertheless the World Cup itself may be played over a longer period, after Qatar 2022 was held over just 29 days.
Infantino could get another four year term as FIFA president as he stands unopposed for re-election at Thursday’s FIFA Congress
Expanding the World Cup had been a priority for Infantino following his election in 2016, when he took over from Sepp Blatter at the head of world football.
The number of venues for the 2026 finals will double, from eight stadiums in Qatar last year to 16.
Eleven venues will be in the USA, with three in Mexico and two in Canada.
FIFA also projected a huge increase in revenues in the four-year cycle leading up to 2026, up to $11 billion from $7.5 billion in the four years up to 2022.
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Sport News

Osimhen Is World’s Best Striker – Super Eagles Defender, Troost-Ekong Declares

Victor Osimhen has been declared as the world’s best striker.
Super Eagles assistant captain, William Troost-Ekong gave the rating following Osimhen’s impressive performance for Napoli this season.
The 24-year-old striker has been in top form this season and has scored an astonishing 19 goals in 22 league games.
Speaking to DAZN during the broadcast ‘Tutti Bravi dal Sofa’ on Sunday, former Napoli defender Faouzi Ghoulam believed the Nigerian forward was not yet at the level of Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema and Manchester City’s Erling Haaland.
“Today, the best striker is (Karim) Benzema, but then there’s (Erling) Haaland, who is scoring a lot of goals. He’s a phenomenon in the penalty area,” he said.
However, Troost-Ekong said Osimhen is the finest striker in the world.
“Osimhen is probably the best striker in the world right now. I am happy for him because he has overcome difficult moments,” he was quoted as saying by Sports Italia.
The 29-year-old, who joined Salernitana on loan from Watford, also talked about the future of the forward following links to Manchester United in the Premier League.
He added, “It’s a very important year for him, he can win the Scudetto, and then he’ll be able to think about the future.”
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Sport News

Prosecutors to go after Barcelona over payments to official of referees committee

Prosecutors have formally accused La Liga giant, Barcelona of corruption over alleged payments to a company that belonged to Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira, a former Vice President of Spain’s referees’ committee, for several years.

Prosecutors will now be pursuing a case against Barcelona after the official announcement on Friday, March 10.

This is coming weeks after it was reported that Barca paid Negreira and a company he owns 8.4m euros (£7.4m) between 2001 and 2018. While Barcelona had claimed they were only interested in referee scouting reports, their sporting integrity has also been called into question.

Former Presidents of the Spanish football club, Josep Maria Bartomeu and Sandro Rosell are also targeted in the case.

The public prosecutor’s office said in a statement;

“FC Barcelona obtained and maintained a strictly confidential verbal agreement with Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira so that, in his capacity as vice-president of the technical arbitral committee (CTA) and in exchange for money, the latter carries out actions tending to benefit FC Barcelona in decisions by the referees.”

Despite the club’s stance, revelations that Negreira offered to “help with VAR” suggests that there could be more for prosecutors to investigate. If found guilty, Barcelona could face sporting sanctions.

Barcelona coach Xavi, who won eight La Liga titles with them as a player between 1998 and 2015, has said he had no knowledge of the payments and never had the feeling his team had any advantage.

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Sport News

Europa League Highest Goal Scorers, Most Assists This Season

This week’s UEFA Europa League round of 16 second-leg fixtures have been concluded on Thursday night with players banging in goals.

Below are the leading top scorers and assists in the Europe second top-flight competition so far.

Manchester United striker Marcus Rashford is currently the joint-top scorer in the Europa League.

The England international scored a goal in Man United’s Europa League 4-1 win over Real Betis on Thursday night at Old Trafford.

Top scorers in the 2022/2023 Europa League so far:

5 goals – Marcus Rashford (Man United) and Victor Boniface (Union Saint-Gilloise)

4 goals – Vitinha (Braga), Wissam Ben Yedder (Monaco), Robin Knocke (Union Berlin), Santiago Gimenez (Feyenoord) and Ángel Di María (Juventus)

Most assists in 2022/2023 Europa League:

5 assists – Evander (Midtjylland)

4 assists – Anastasios Bakasetas (Trabzonspor)

3 assists – Ludovic Blas (Nantes), Bruno Fernandes (Man United), Cody Gakpo (PSV), Amine Gouiri (Rennes, Loïc Lapoussin (Union Saint-Gilloise), Juan Miranda (Real Betis), Lorenzo Pellegrini (Roma) and Diego Rossi (Fenerbahçe).

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Sport News

Osimhen Wins Serie A Player Of The Month Award For February

Super Eagles and Napoli striker, Victor Osimhen has won the Serie A Player of the Month Award for February.
The award was given to him by the Italian Footballers Association (AIC).
“Osimhen has been named Player of the Month…Congratulations, Victor!” Napoli Tweeted on Wednesday.
The 24-year-old Nigerian also won the Serie A Player and Goal of the Month award for January.
In February, Osimhen scored four goals in four league appearances for Serie A leaders Napoli.
The player of the month award is coming on the heels of the 2022 Best Foreign Athlete award he won. Makesense Media reports,
He recently bagged the Emerging Player of the Year Award at the 2022 Globe Awards and the 2021/2022 Serie A Young Player of the Year Award.
Osimhen is the top scorer in the Italian Serie A with 19 goals from 21 league appearances.
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Sport News

Wout Werghost scores his first goal at Old Trafford

It was quite an emotional moment for Dutch footballer and Manchester United star, Wout Weghorst after he scored his first goal at Old Trafford on Thursday, March 9.

Wout Weghorst struggled to hold back the tears as he ended his Manchester United goal drought against Real Betis in a Europa match on Thursday.

The Dutchman’s 82nd-minute effort made it 4-1 on the night to cap off an impressive comeback from Erik ten Hag’s side who suffered a 7-0 defeat to Liverpool last weekend.

It’s only Weghorst’s second goal for United and it came after his pre-match decision to touch the “This is Anfield” sign angered many Red Devils’ supporters.

Weghorst had claimed he was just attempting to “wind up” international team-mate Virgil van Dijk by stopping the Liverpool defender from getting his fingers on the famous sign.

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Sport News

Joao Felix corrects reporter on how to pronounce his name

Chelsea football star, Joao Felix has revealed how to pronounce his name properly.

The Portuguese star who moved to Stamford Bridge in January on loan from Atletico Madrid, gave the correction during a press conference.

Speaking ahead of Chelsea’s crucial meeting with Dortmund at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday night after a 1-0 defeat in the first leg, Felix was asked by a journalist how to correctly say his name.

Many English and Spanish fans incorrectly pronounce his name ‘Jow Fee-lix’ but the star revealed that it’s actually “Je-wow Feh-lix”.

“Everyone says ‘Fee-lix’, even in Spain, just in Portugal they say my correct name. I don’t know why, I don’t think it’s too hard,” Felix said.

When asked if the mispronunciation annoys him, Felix said: “Nah! I don’t care.”

Felix became the fourth most expensive footballer of all time when Atletico Madrid signed him from Benfica for £113m in 2019, but the youngster struggled for consistent form in the Spanish capital.

He had a rocky relationship with fiery Atletico manager Diego Simeone and so it was decided it would suit all parties if he went out on loan.

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