Sports
Europa League Final: ‘Leverkusen Can Be Beaten’
Atalanta midfielder Marten de Roon believes that the Italians can spring a surprise in the Europa League final to end Bayer Leverkusen’s unbeaten season today.
Leverkusen have stormed to a first ever Bundesliga title and are on course for a remarkable treble without tasting defeat in 51 games so far this season.
Atalanta have also had a memorable campaign as they have reached their first ever European final, qualified for next season’s Champions League and narrowly lost the Coppa Italia final to Juventus last week.
“They’ve had a perfect season until now. I don’t want to say they have any shortcomings but every team is beatable,” said De Roon, who will miss the match due to injury, yesterday.
“They seem invincible but maybe we can change things.”
Under the tutelage of Gian Piero Gasperini, Atalanta have risen from a provincial club in the shadows of nearby giants AC and Inter Milan into regulars in European competition.
However, they have so far failed to end a 61-year wait to win a trophy.
“All that matters is that we want to win the game. With or without me, it doesn’t matter, what matters is lifting the trophy,” added De Roon.
“We will do everything in our power to do that.”
Leverkusen boss Xabi Alonso has turned down the advances of former clubs Liverpool and Bayern Munich to commit to the German champions next season.
And Gasperini hailed the loyalty shown by the Spaniard to stay put with the club that offered him his first senior coaching role.
“What Xabi Alonso has done is wonderful because with the performances this season he had the opportunity to go to a number of big clubs.
“But he thought the club (Leverkusen) believed in me when I was not so well thought of.”
Atalanta have enjoyed two of their greatest ever European nights on the road to Dublin, knocking out Liverpool in the quarter-finals and Marseille in the last four.
Gasperini is hopeful those feats will fill his players with confidence to end Leverkusen’s incredible run.
“We are aware that we are facing a great team. We know that they are undefeated and we know that they have had an amazing season,” said the 66-year-old.
“Our journey, however, was also very good as we beat very strong teams to reach the final. We also have belief.”
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
