Author: Chief Editor

Argentine football legend Diego Maradona has asked the “Hand of God” to deliver the world from the coronavirus pandemic and allow normal life to resume. The World Cup winner referred to his hand-assisted goal in the 1986 World Cup after Argentine football chiefs voted to end the current season as well as suspend relegation, saving Maradona-managed bottom club Gimnasia from the drop. “Today this happened to us and many people say it is a new Hand of God,” said Maradona, alluding to his infamous goal against England. “But today I’m asking for that hand to end this pandemic so people…

Marouane Fellaini will lend his former club Standard Liege three million euros ($3.26 million) to help them through the coronavirus crisis, Belgian media reported on Thursday. The former Everton and Manchester United midfielder, who now plays for Shandong Luneng in China, followed in the footsteps of international teammate Axel Witsel, who has also invested in the Pro League club. According to one report, Borussia Dortmund’s Witsel recently acquired a 45-percent stake in Standard’s stadium, which is due to undergo extensive renovation works. Standard were refused a professional licence by the Belgian football federation earlier this month. Without it, the 10-time…

Former Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino says he wants to return to the Premier League club one day to finish the job he started. The Argentine left Spurs in November, six months after leading them to the Champions League final, and has been linked with Newcastle in recent days. Reports claim he is the main target of the Magpies’ prospective new Saudi Arabian owners should they complete a takeover, but Pochettino could not disguise his desire to return to north London at some stage in his career. The ex-Southampton boss, who spent more than five years at Spurs, told BT Sport:…

Torino wing-back, Ola Aina has revealed that he left Chelsea after Maurizio Sarri told him he would not play under him, reports goal.com. Aina joined Torino temporarily in August 2018 for his second loan spell out of Stamford Bridge, after the Italian manager advised him to leave the club. The 23-year-old shined during his debut campaign in Italy, playing 30 games with a goal to his name in the Serie A, and he was rewarded with a permanent contract the following year. He revealed there were offers from Championship clubs before leaving, however, Torino’s ambition to qualify for the Europa…

The postponement to 2021 of the Olympic Games in Tokyo because of the coronavirus pandemic will cost the International Olympic Committee (IOC) “several hundred million dollars”, its president Thomas Bach said on Wednesday. “We already know that we have to shoulder several hundred million US dollars of postponement costs,” the German wrote in a letter to the Olympic movement, warning that, while the IOC would honour its financial obligations to Tokyo, it would probably have to make cuts. “We also need to look into and review all the services that we provide for these postponed Games,” he said. “The IOC…

South African hairdresser Sandy feared for her life when a five-week coronavirus lockdown trapped her indoors with her abusive husband. “He has threatened to break my business and destroy me,” said the 42-year-old, who did not wish to use her real name. “It started the first day of lockdown and it just got worse.” Sandy’s was far from an isolated case. More than 120,000 victims rang the national helpline for abused women and children in the first three weeks after the lockdown started on March 27 — double the usual volume of calls. “The country battles another deadly epidemic of…

Liverpool are understood to have taken the lead in the big chase for Victor Osimhen as the Premier League club have opened talks with his agent. French media outfit,Le Sport 10, reported yesterday that Liverpool, who are just two wins away from a 19th Premier League conquest, have swung into action to sign the 21-year-old Lille striker by discussing a transfer this year. Osimhen has netted 18 goals in 38 matches for Lille in Ligue 1 this season. He has attracted interests from several Premier League clubs including Chelsea, Manchester United and most recently Leicester City. Speculations on the future…

European leagues have until 25th May to tell UEFA whether they want to complete or cancel their seasons. Football is suspended in all European countries apart from Belarus because of the coronavirus pandemic. The Premier League has this week stepped up its plans to resume the season in what has been labelled ‘Project Restart’. Arsenal, Tottenham, Brighton and West Ham have opened their training grounds to players for individual work. The Premier League league is hopeful of a potential 8 June restart and finishing at the end of July to fit in with Uefa’s European competition plans. This would require…

• ‘They should also learn to respect referees’ Former Super Eagles Star, Tijani Babangida believes that the present set of players will be as successful as their predecessors if they respect themselves and remain united. Babangida acknowledges that the current team have talented players, who can hold their own against any opposition if well managed, adding, however, that they need much more than talents to excel. He said the 1994 class were able to excel because the players had mutual respect for each other, noting that sharing ideas and cooperating to meet a common goal was the hallmark of the squad.…

A post mortem conducted on Alhaji Lateef Raheem, Chief Security Officer to Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, All Progressives Congress national leader, has shown that he died of COVID-19, according to a statement by his media office. Alhaji Raheem who died last week.was initially believed to have died of complications from diabetes and hypertension. A statement issued on Monday by Tinubu’s spokesman, Tunde Rahman, said following the death of Raheem, NCDC medics took the wise precaution of taking samples from his body for testing to actually determine the cause of death. It said the test results came out on Monday and the…