Author: David Great

Burnley boss Vincent Kompany is Tottenham’s number one target to replace Antonio Conte. (Sun) Kompany guided the Clarets to Premier League promotion in his first season in charge and is set to win the English Championship. Tottenham, West Ham and Crystal Palace are all keen on Dutch manager Arne Slot, who has turned Feyenoord into runaway Eredivisie leaders. (Times – subscription required) Manchester City lead Real Madrid in the race to sign Borussia Dortmund’s Jude Bellingham after Liverpool dropped out of contention to sign the 19-year-old England midfielder. (ESPN) West Ham and England’s Declan Rice, 24, Brighton’s 21-year-old Ecuador international Moises Caicedo, Inter Milan and Italy’s Nicolo Barella, 26, and Wolves and Portugal’s 24-year-old Matheus Nunes remain on Liverpool’s short-list for a new midfielder. (Florian Plettenberg) Barcelona will step…

AC Milan took a step towards their first Champions League semi-final appearance for 16 years as Ismael Bennacer’s goal earned them a 1-0 win over Napoli in the quarter-final first leg at the San Siro on Wednesday. On a rainy night, Serie A leaders Napoli’s first European clash with seven-times European champions Milan was also their first appearance in the quarter-finals of Europe’s most prestigious club competition. Napoli without their star striker Victor Osimhen failed to create much threat in the final third. Attempting to avenge their 4-0 home defeat by Milan in Serie A this month, Napoli began pressing…

European champions Real Madrid beat 10-man Chelsea 2-0 in their Champions League quarter-final, first leg courtesy of a tap-in by Karim Benzema and a powerful strike by substitute Marco Asensio in the Spanish capital on Wednesday. Benzema, the scourge of Chelsea at the same stage of the competition last season, converted from point blank range in the 21st minute when Kepa Arrizabalaga saved from Vinicius Junior but could only touch the ball in the direction of the Frenchman. Chelsea went close to scoring in the first half through Joao Felix and Raheem Sterling but they were thwarted by Madrid goalkeeper…

Senator Shehu Sani on Wednesday said that the supporters of the Labour Party, popularly referred to as Obidients are saving Nigeria from slipping into tyranny. Sani, who represented Kaduna Central Senatorial District between 2015-2019 acknowledged that removing the Obidients will however bring peace to the West African country. “If you remove the supporters of the Labour Party from Nigeria’s political space, we will all have the peace and tranquility we want and the tyranny we don’t want,” he said in a tweet. The Obidient movement which is largely made up of youths became vocal especially on social media several months…

Chelsea have held talks with the agent of Spain midfielder Gavi, 18, over a free transfer move from Barcelona this summer. (AS – in Spanish) Liverpool have made Chelsea’s Mason Mount, 24, a priority midfield target this summer after ending their interest in signing England team-mate Jude Bellingham, 19, from Borussia Dortmund. (Football.London) The bidding process to buy Manchester United is to enter a third round, with owners the Glazers holding out for offers of about £6bn. (Mail) Newcastle are among several Premier League clubs ready to make a move for 25-year-old English winger Harvey Barnes if Leicester are relegated. (Football Insider) Bayern Munich are considering a bid for Napoli’s 24-year-old Nigeria striker Victor Osimhen, who is open…

Inter Milan struck in the second half through Nicolo Barella and Romelu Lukaku for a 2-0 win at Benfica in their Champions League quarter-final, first leg on Tuesday which put them on course for a first last-four appearance since they won the trophy in 2010. Barella headed home firmly at the back post in the 51st minute, rising unchallenged to get on the end of a superb cross from centre back Alessandro Bastoni, who was storming up the left side and delivered a pin-point ball. Substitute Lukaku then converted an 82nd minute penalty after VAR referred a handball by Benfica…

Rodri struck a wonder goal and Erling Haaland set another scoring record as Manchester City beat Bayern Munich 3-0 on Tuesday to continue their quest for a first-ever Champions League title in their quarter-final first leg. Haaland, who scored City’s third goal of the night in the 76th minute, has 45 goals in all competitions, a single-season record for a Premier League player. Rodri put Pep Guardiola’s team ahead in the 27th minute, cutting the ball back to beat midfielder Jamal Musiala and curling a blistering long-range shot into the top left corner beyond the outstretched hand of Yann Sommer.…

By Bolaji Adekunle A Federal High Court sitting in Lagos on January 30 sentenced a businessman, Kenneth Amadi, to 18 months imprisonment over a fraud of N2.9 billion. The court found, among others, that Amadi, while an employee of Eunisell Ltd owned by a businessman Chika Ikenga, abused his position and diverted the proceeds of sale of Eunisell’s goods to a company operated by he and his wife. The case highlights the growing problem of trust deficit among highly-placed employees handling sensitive employer business, Bolaji Adekunle reports In the year 2000, seven years after Chika Ikenga set up Eunisell Limited…

Carlo Ancelotti, head coach of Real Madrid, backed Frank Lampard to succeed as manager of his former club Chelsea and ruled himself out of a return to the Premier League club ahead of the first leg of the two teams’ Champions League quarter-final on Wednesday. Ancelotti, who led Chelsea to a Premier League and FA Cup double in 2009-10, will face his former player Frank Lampard in a midweek clash at the Santiago Bernabeu, after the Englishman was named Chelsea’s interim manager. Chelsea have fallen to 11th in the Premier League after a string of poor results, and have also…

St. Francis Catholic Church, Owaluwa, Owo in Ondo State on Sunday reopened for service 10 months after a deadly attack. About 40 worshippers died in the June 5, 2022, deadly attack by gunmen. Worshippers who defied fears to attend Easter Sunday service expressed pleasure for the reopening of the church. Addressing the congregants, Bishop Jude Arogundade, the Catholic Bishop of Ondo Diocese, lamented the growing level of insecurity in the country. Arogundade appealed to the government to ensure that the attackers were brought to book to serve as deterrent to others. The bishop prayed for the congregants, especially the injured…