Sports
UCL: Pogba, Messi Set For Supremacy Battle
Zlatan Ibrahimovic has predicted that the Champions League quarter-final tie between Manchester United and Barcelona tonight will be decided by either Paul Pogba or Lionel Messi.
The two clubs will meet at Old Trafford in the first leg of their last-eight clash, with the return fixture scheduled to take place next week.
Barcelona is favourites to progress to the semi-finals as they chase a treble come June, while the competition represents United’s last hope of silverware this term.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s men knocked Paris Saint-Germain out in the round of 16 after a stunning comeback at the Parc des Princes, while Barca thrashed Lyon at Camp Nou to progress.
Messi has spearheaded the Spanish champions’ trophy assault once again, scoring over 40 goals across all competitions this season.
Pogba, meanwhile, has been a fixture in the Red Devils’ starting line-up and, despite a recent loss of form, his overall record for the campaign so far reads 14 goals and 10 assists from 39 appearances.
Ibrahimovic, who spent two years on Barcelona’s books between 2009 and 2011, while also enjoying a two-year spell at United from 2016 to 2018, has highlighted the influence of the mercurial pair ahead of kick-off in Manchester.
“Two big teams, two big clubs playing against each other,” the Swedish striker told Barca’s official website. “Two clubs with great history and it will be exciting to see.
“Obviously, Messi makes the difference in each game he plays, it’s no secret.
“I think for United, you have Pogba making the difference there. It will be more of a battle between Messi and Pogba, even if it’s a collective sport.”
Solskjaer’s men head into the match off the back of three defeats in their last four outings, having most recently suffered a 2-1 loss in the Premier League at Wolves on April 2.
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