Sports
Europa League: Benfica, Chelsea Go For Continental Glory
Benfica and Chelsea go head-to-head for UEFA Europa League glory when the sides meet at the Amsterdam Arena today.
Rafael Benitez’s men go into the final as favourites and could become the first team to win Europe’s second-tier competition having lifted the UEFA Champions League the season before.
Benfica, meanwhile, will need to recover from their demoralising last-gasp defeat to title rivals Porto last Saturday if they are to stand any chance of victory.
Jorge Jesus’ men were minutes away from sealing a 1-1 draw at the Estadio do Drago which would have maintained their two-point lead at the top of the Portuguese standings with just one game remaining.
But 19-year-old striker Kelvin’s 91st-minute goal swung the momentum in the favour of Porto and left Jesus – who dropped to his knees in anguish as the strike hit the back of the net – needing to rally his troops urgently.
His team have lost just four fixtures all season, with three of those coming in European competition, as they bid to win the UEFA Europa League for the first time in their history.
Chelsea have also never won this tournament before, but were in a similar position ahead of their historic victory over Bayern Munich last May.
The London club have no domestic commitments to worry about for the remainder of the season, after they all but sealed their place in the top four with a 2-1 win over Aston Villa last time out.
And Benitez need not start Frank Lampard as his brace against Paul Lambert’s men ensured he surpassed Bobby Tambling as the club’s all-time leading goalscorer.
The Spaniard may not get the luxury of choice with centre-back John Terry, however, after he was stretchered off against Villa with an ankle injury.
“It is my ankle. I’m going to get it scanned. I don’t know if I’ll be fit for Wednesday at the moment,” the former England captain told the Daily Mirror.
Demba Ba will be unable to feature due to his participation in the competition with Newcastle earlier in the season, but Chelsea have an otherwise fully-fit squad to choose from.
Benfica also have no new injury worries, though the scars from their defeat to Porto may be more mental than physical.
The two teams last met in the quarter-finals of last season’s UEFA Champions League, with Chelsea winning 1-0 in Portugal and 2-1 at Stamford Bridge on their way to overall victory.
England captain Harry Kane netted a hat-trick to guide Bayern Munich to an impressive victory against Stuttgart.
Kane’s goals, plus one from Kingsley Coman, helped Bayern end a three-game winless run in all competitions.
They faced a tough task against a Stuttgart side who sat back and limited their chances, leading Vincent Kompany’s side to enter the break frustrated and with the deadlock unbroken.
Bayern eventually found a way past Stuttgart’s steely defence when Kane drilled a low effort into the bottom corner from around 30 yards out after Joshua Kimmich overturned possession.
Former Nigeria goalkeeper, Dosu Joseph, is full of thanks to God after he miraculously survived another life-threatening automobile accident recent at Kara, along the Lagos-Ibadan Express Way, where a heavy-duty truck ran into his SUV.
Narrating his ordeal, the 51-year-old, who guided Nigeria to gold in the Men’s Football Tournament of the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, broke the news in a statement on his social media handles on Friday.
“To God be the glory, another death escaped by Grace and Mercy of God. Me and my friend SM were at Enyo Filling Station after Ojodu Berger bus stop to get fuel on Wednesday, October 2, 2024, around 6 p.m. when this MACK truck fully loaded with iron, with registration number LND 470 XX, left the road and crushed my car beyond repairs. Thank God for life,” he stated.
This is the second time the soft-spoken club proprietor will cheat death by a whisker, having been involved in an accident in 1997 that ended his career at 23 and left his spinal cord in bad shape.
He helped Julius Berger win the Nigeria FA Cup in November 1997 shortly a memorable Olympic outing by keeping a clean sheet in the finals against Katsina United. The following year, he was involved in the auto along Ikorodu Road, Lagos, which not only cut his career short but also left him almost paralysed, ending his spell at Serie A club Reggiana.
The former Nigeria international, who also kept goal for Julius Berger FC, said the case has been reported to Isheri Police Station, Ogun State, where the driver is currently detained and the truck also seized.
According to him, the owner of the truck said he can’t fix the badly damaged SUV until after a year.
Ex – Super Eagles of Nigeria, Okwuchukwu Waobikeze has observed that sports development in Nigeria is going down.
According to him, grassroots sports is very important, without it, the administrators cannot get it right. So everybody should key into grassroots sports development, he said.
Waobikeze said this last Wednesday in an interview with sports journalists shortly after the Port Harcourt All Stars Independence football festival (OCTOBERFEST) at the Port Harcourt club, Rivers State.
He explained that for sports administrators to get it right, grassroots development is key. “They should be organising competition at the grassroots level to fish out the young ones for different sporting activities.
“Grassroots sports is very important so the administrators have to go back to the grassroots.
” Sports Development in Nigeria is going down we need to go back to the basics.
“Look at the just concluded Paris Olympics, Nigeria did not win any medal.
” Our football team did not even qualify for the Olympics. We are going down.
” If they should go back to the grassroots, they will get young ones in the games and talents will be developed.
” I started from school games, to youth games before playing for the national team. Now everybody wants to fly board to play professional football and a lot do not know the basics of the game.
” A lot of people did not know the little things about the game, they just want to play. It is not done so,” Waobikeze stated.
Kiadum Edookor