Nigeria have dealt Algeria's World Cup qualification hopes a huge blow by relegating them to 3-1 loss Akwa Ibom Stadium in Uyo. It was Victor Moses who donned the role of the destroyer-in-chief by grabbing 2 goals while John Obi Mikel also got on the scoresheet. Spurs midfielder Nabil Bentaleb scored for the Foxes.
Moses scored the first in the 25th minute after rifling in a thunderous shot after playing a one-two. His Chelsea teammate Mikel turned on the charm by tucking in the 2nd goal, 3 minutes before halftime. Though Nabil Bentaleb brought the Algerians back into the game with a brilliant strike past Akpeyi, there was no denying the Super Eagles. Victor Moses applied the finishing touches at the fag end of the game to seal a superb result for the Nigerians.
No doubt Cristiano Ronaldo might forfeit his nomination once he sees some of these facts! Lionel messi is definitely in a class of his own.
Barcelona were once again indebted to Leo Messi for his stunning display at Sevilla on Sunday evening.
Luis Enrique’s side won the match 2-1 with Leo Messi scoring
Barcelona’s equaliser with his 500th (!) goal for the Catalan giants.
Messi was outstanding throughout, and he also set up the winner for Luis Suarez with a terrific run and pass to the Uruguayan.
The Argentine enjoys playing against Sevilla and has a great record
against them and it will be fascinating to see how Messi gets on when he
plays for Argentina against Brazil this week.
There is plenty of confusion about the Ballon d’Or this year
following the France Football-FIFA split which will see two player of
the year awards.
France Football will award the Ballon d’Or whilst FIFA will award their player of the year in January.
For many, Cristiano Ronaldo is a shoo-in for both individual awards.
After all, Ronaldo has won the Champions League and European
Championships, with the latter critically important in his personal duel
with Messi.
Despite playing in three international finals in the past three
seasons, Messi is considered an international failure as he has not won
the Copa America or World Cup.
This is for sure not a fair reflection on Leo Messi’s talents but
whilst this debate is raging the Argentine is in terrific form for
Barcelona whilst Ronaldo is beginning to struggle for Real Madrid. The picture below is enough to confirms Messi’s incredible
2016 numbers. But it doesn’t stop there. The tweets that follow are
simply jaw dropping
Then this tweet from Gerard Pique definitely kills it.. translation below
Gerard Piqué: “If the Ballon D’Or was given to the best player in the world, Leo Messi would have won every time since 2009.”
Lawmaker in the House of Representatives on Wednesday called on law
enforcement agencies to track down promoters of a “questionable”
investment scheme popularly known as ‘MMM.’
The lower chanmber also mandated its committees on banking and currency and financial crimes to investigate the scheme.
The MMM scheme is a deposit money scheme that promises a 30 per cent interest on investment per month.
The scheme which is described as fraudulent by the Central Bank of Nigeria, gained popularity amid economic recession.
The CBN has described it as a Ponzi scheme because its operators use money from later investors to pay earlier investors.
Lawmakers at plenary today said members of a syndicate who conduct
seminars to train people on how to invest in the business should be
arrested.
The development followed a motion of urgent national importance
raised by Akinlade Fijabi from Oyo State, who described MMM as a ‘Rob
Peter to Pay Paul Scheme’.
Mr. Fijabi said the operators of MMM are exploiting the economic
situation of Nigerians that had left them desperate for income through
any means without considering the implications.
Another lawmaker from Ondo State, Bode Ayorinde, said lawmakers
should be concerned because they will likely be inundated with petitions
if the scheme goes burst.
“When the business goes burst, it is the same House that people will flood with petitions,” Mr. Ayorinde said.
Paris Saint-Germain edged closer to progression to the Champions League
last 16 with a controlling 3-0 win over Basel on Tuesday.
The French champions are four points adrift of Nice at the top of the
Ligue 1 table in Unai Emery’s first season in charge and they were
second best for long periods at the Parc des Princes.
Michael Lang and Seydou Doumbia were each thwarted by the woodwork in
the first half for Basel while Renato Steffen also wasted a gilt-edged
chance to open the scoring for the Swiss side.
And Basel were eventually punished for their profligacy in the 40th
minute as Angel Di Maria fired in his first goal of the season.
Lucas Moura capitalised on a mistake from Marek Suchy, who later
became the third Basel player to hit the goal frame, to make it 2-0,
with Edinson Cavani applying gloss to the scoreline with a late penalty.
Despite the underwhelming nature of the performance, PSG can seal a
place in the knock-out rounds with victory in the reverse fixture in
Switzerland, providing Arsenal avoid defeat against Ludogorets.
Basel had PSG on the ropes early on as Lang’s header clattered the
woodwork before Steffen was denied by Alphonse Areola one-on-one and
Doumbia blazed the rebound over.
Adrien Rabiot’s low long-range drive had represented PSG’s best
effort of the first half until Di Maria went close to breaking the
deadlock in spectacular fashion on the half-hour, acrobatically
volleying wide after Lucas and Marco Verratti combined well.
But Basel continued to enjoy the better opportunities and were again
denied by the frame of the goal as Doumbia nodded Matias Delgado’s
superb cross against the far post.
PSG immediately countered and Rabiot forced Basel goalkeeper Tomas
Vaclik into action with a thunderous swerving effort from the edge of
the area.
However, Vaclik was helpless to stop PSG taking the lead five minutes
before half-time. Rabiot was again involved as Blaise Matuidi latched
onto his pass down the left flank, with Cavani laying the France
midfielder’s deflected cross back for Di Maria to lash home.
Di Maria almost turned provider shortly after the restart, Cavani
meeting his right-wing free-kick with a header that clipped the outside
of the post.
Cavani wasted another opportunity as he could only muster a tame
strike when through on goal down the right-hand side, but mattered
little when Lucas doubled the lead with a simple finish.
The Brazil winger coolly slotted in from close range after Suchy sliced Serge Aurier’s low right-wing cross into his path.
Suchy would have immediately atoned for his mistake had PSG’s goal
not continued to lead a charmed life, the centre-back striking the
left-hand post with a header from Delgado’s free-kick.
But there was to be no reward for Basel, with PSG finally able to
take their foot off the gas ahead of this weekend’s Classique with
Marseille, though Cavani added a finishing touch with a confident
penalty after being felled by Lang.
Bayern Munich ended their scrappy run of form to remain on course for a
place in the Champions League knock-out stages as they downed PSV 4-1 at
the Allianz Arena.
Thomas Muller found the net for just the second time this season on
13 minutes, before the in-form Joshua Kimmich made it seven goals in his
last eight appearances with a close-range header.
PSV halved the arrears through a Luciano Narsingh breakaway goal just
before the break, but Robert Lewandowski and Arjen Robben helped Bayern
extend their record-breaking run of consecutive Champions League home
wins to 14.
The victory was a first in four games for Carlo Ancelotti’s men who
really should have made the game safe before half-time, with Robben,
Muller, David Alaba and Lewandowski all going close
Ancelotti had blasted his side’s mentality after drawing with
Frankfurt at the weekend and although the German champions were superbly
fluent going forward, the Italian may well have been less impressed by
their defensive performance as Luuk de Jong and Narsingh proved a
constant threat throughout.
The result puts Bayern five points clear of PSV and Rostov in Group D after the first three rounds.
Bayern came flying out of the blocks, with Muller wasting a great
chance to give them the lead as early as the third minute, while Robben
and Alaba were off-target as the PSV defence creaked from the off.
Jeroen Zoet met Lewandowski’s curler with a smart parry, but the
goalkeeper was badly let down by his defence from the resulting corner,
as Robben was allowed to pick out a completely unmarked Muller who found the roof of the net from close range.
There was no let-up for the visitors as Bayern continued to launch wave after wave of attacks and soon doubled their advantage.
The irresistible Alaba again got away down the left and his deflected cross fell kindly forKimmich who was left with the simple task of nodding home from less than a yard out at the far post.
Kimmich almost grabbed his second of the night moments later, Zoet reacting smartly to keep out the midfielder’s angled strike.
Having completely dominated proceedings, however, Bayern switched off
just before the break, allowing PSV to score with their first shot of
the match.
Gaston Pereiro’s superb throughball found Narsingh racing
into the box and Manuel Neuer could not get enough of a hand to the
winger’s shot to prevent it from finding the net via the post.
There was no let up in the goalmouth action at the start of the
second half as Thiago sent Lewandowski clean through, only for the Pole
to drag his shot wide. At the other end, De Jong headed over and the
lively Pereiro drew a fine save from Neuer.
Seemingly stung by those near-misses, Bayern mounted an immediate response and duly made it 3-1 just before the hour mark.
Robben was the creator, cutting in from the right and rifling in a
fierce, left-footed shot which Zoet could only parry out to the lurking Lewandowski, who headed into an empty net from six yards.
Six minutes from time, Robben added some further gloss to the scoreline by heading a clever chip from Thiago over the advancing Zoet.
The in-form German netted a sensational second-half treble to help the
Gunners secure three easy points against the Bulgarians at the Emirates
Stadium
Mesut Ozil was devastating in front of goal with a second-half
hat-trick as Arsenal surged to an easy 6-0 win over Ludogorets in the
Champions League on Wednesday.
Having drawn with Paris Saint-Germain and beaten Basel, Arsene
Wenger’s men retained top spot in Group A as they easily put Ludogorets
to the sword, Ozil starring while Alexis Sanchez, Theo Walcott and Alex
Oxlade-Chamberlain also found the net.
Sanchez’s marvellous lob opened the scoring after 12 minutes, with
Walcott’s eighth goal of the season making it 2-0 shortly before
half-time.
Oxlade-Chamberlain struck in the 46th minute to kill off any
remaining Ludogorets hope, and it was plain sailing from that point
onwards.
Ozil added a fourth 10 minutes later, with two further efforts from
the German in the final 10 minutes of normal time completing the rout.
Arsenal will progress from Group A should they replicate the victory
in the reverse fixture in Bulgaria and PSG avoid defeat against
Ludogorets.
The hosts consistently found space in behind the visiting defence
early on and, after Oxlade-Chamberlain fired wide, he sent Sanchez away
for the opener.
The Chilean took Oxlade-Chamberlain’s pass down the left channel and
evaded one defender before delicately lifting a fine effort over
Vladislav Stoyanov and into the far corner.
Ludogorets did threaten, however, with David Ospina required to deny
Wanderson’s blast at the near post. Jonathan Cafu then rounded the
goalkeeper, but spurned the chance with a tame shot back across goal.
The outside of the post prevented Wanderson from levelling with a low
drive after Opsina had thwarted Virgil Misidjan’s initial effort.
Walcott found himself in the clear at the other end, only to see
Stoyanov make a smart stop, yet the England winger gave the hosts
breathing space three minutes before the break.
Ozil appeared to overhit his cross, but Walcott checked his run and curled home from around 25 yards.
Stoyanov was called upon again prior to the interval as he kept out Sanchez’s close-range header.
Within seconds of the restart, though, Arsenal extended their advantage to move out of sight.
Some magical close control from Sanchez created a crossing
opportunity for Kieran Gibbs, and when a low delivery fell kindly for
Oxlade-Chamberlain , the 23-year-old tucked a finish into the
bottom-right corner.
A fourth soon followed as Ozil slid home after latching on to a magnificent ball over the top from Santi Cazorla.
Stoyanov responded by getting down to repel Oxlade-Chamberlain’s
volley, but he was helpless as Ozil added his second and Arsenal’s
fifth.
Lucas Perez accelerated onto a pass in behind, with his cross finding Ozil unmarked at the back post for a simple finish.
And Ozil then added his third to round off the scoring as he met
Perez’s ball in from the edge of the area with a fierce volley that left
Stoyanov with no chance.
Claudio Bravo endured a nightmare return to Camp Nou as he was sent off
during Manchester City’s 4-0 Champions League defeat to Barcelona, with
marvellous Lionel Messi supplying a hat-trick.
