Author: Chief Editor

Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is confident his side will hit the ground running when the Premier League resumes later his month. The English top-flight will be back in action in two weeks after several months of coronavirus-enforced inactivity. United are set to resume the season away to Tottenham Hotspur on June 19 — their first match since beating LASK 5-0 in the Europa League on March 12. That victory in Austria extended United’s unbeaten run to 11 matches and Solskjaer is in no doubt as to what his side must do to be ready as they continue their…

Mario Balotelli’s ill-fated stint at hometown club Brescia appears to be coming to an end, with local media reporting Saturday his contract will be terminated after repeated absences from training. A letter notifying Balotelli of his release was sent to the Italy international by the club’s lawyers on Friday, according to Sky Sport, Gazzetta dello Sport and the AGI news agency. Balotelli has reportedly missed a number of sessions since Serie A teams returned to training at the start of May. Players initially worked out individually before clearance was given for them to resume team training. The 29-year-old said this…

Lionel Messi returned to the Camp Nou on Saturday after missing two group training sessions with a slight leg injury, while Luis Suarez is set to be fit for the La Liga restart next week. Messi trained alone indoors on Wednesday and Friday, but worked on the sidelines of a group session at Barca’s home stadium, according to the Spanish press. La Liga leaders Barcelona play their first match since mid-March at Real Mallorca next Saturday. Suarez will be fit to play for the first time since undergoing knee surgery in January after reporting feeling no pain following training. Messi…

• Laments Over Delay In Accessing Funds The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) says the prize money for Super Falcons round of 16 appearances at France 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup would be used to pay the salary of the incoming foreign coach and the assistants. The NFF is on the verge of signing another foreign coach for the female national team as a replacement for Thomas Dennerby, a Swede, who resigned shortly after leading the team to France 2019 World Cup. The Super Falcons reached the Round of 16 for the first time since coach Ismaila Mabo’s feat in 1999,…

Chelsea have been handed the Women’s Super League title but Liverpool have been relegated after the season was decided on a points-per-game basis. Matches were suspended in March because of the coronavirus pandemic but the FA announced that the campaign would be cancelled in May with 45 games still left to play. Emma Hayes’ Chelsea were second, one point behind Manchester City with a game in hand, but leapfrogged their rivals to claim the trophy based ‘on sporting merit’. Liverpool were bottom of the table by a point when the season was suspended but had played a game more than…

While there are plenty of fans who will say that Cristiano Ronaldo will never top Lionel Messi, there is at least one area where the Portuguese soccer star has bettered his longtime rival. Forbes has declared the goal-addicted player the sport’s biggest earner and its very first billionaire. The Juventus forward comes in at no. 4 on the financial magazine’s latest Celebrity 100 list, having earned $105 million before taxes over the last year. That total, which includes salary and endorsements, boosts his total earnings over his 17-year career to over $1 billion. That make the 35-year-old, who has scored…

By DELE MOMODY Fellow citizens of the world, the above title is not original to me. It is the headline of a very profound and inspired article written on June 3, 2020, by one of the greatest novelists of the last century, Salman Rushdie, in the Washington Post. I know many of today’s readers may not know who Salman Rushdie is, so let me a give brief description of this prodigiously gifted writer and how significant he’s been in the past three decades. I first encountered the novels of Salman Rushdie around 1989 as a reporter at the Weekend Concord.…

Signing for Manchester United on the last day of January transfer window was a dream come true, but extending his loan deal till next year was the beginning of another dream for Odion Ighalo, which is taking the Old Trafford side to a higher level. How well the Nigerian can light up the Theater of Dreams in his second phase remains to be seen After weeks of uncertainty on whether he can achieve his dream of extending his loan deal at Old Trafford until January 31, 2021, former Super Eagles striker, Odion Ighalo has vowed to do whatever he can…

Officials of Ecobank, Wema Bank and Polaris on Friday denied that Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Hon. Mudashiru Obasa is operating multiple bank accounts with them. Some representatives of the banks spoke before the 9-man House Adhoc Committee on fact finding and investigation on the corruption allegations against Speaker Mudashiru Obasa being circulated on the social media on Friday. The bank officials stated that it was not possible for an individual to operate multiple accounts with one Bank Verification Number (BVN). The Committee is headed by Hon. Victor Akande (Ojo Constituency 1). Present during the meeting were…

The World Health Organization on Friday backed the use of fabric facemasks in places where the new coronavirus is widespread and physical distancing is difficult, in a change of advice. As the deadly virus continues to spread, the WHO issued updated guidance on who should wear a mask, when it should be worn and what it should be made of. The use of masks has been a hot topic ever since the pandemic first emerged in China in December. But the UN health agency stressed that facemasks alone “will not protect you from COVID-19” — and people suffering with the…