Lionel Messi has promised Barcelona fans the Champions League and he will have another chance as the Catalan club will be welcoming Victor Osimhen’s new club, Napoli to the Camp Nou Stadium.

There has been only one meeting in the Champions League between these two teams, and that was the first leg that ended in a draw. Both teams will have the chance to pick up a victory in the tie.

Barcelona will be without both Arturo Vidal and Sergio Busquets due to suspension.  Samuel Umtiti and Ousmane Dembele are also major doubts.  Napoli will be without injured Nikola Maksimovic while captain Lorenzo Insigne is a major doubt for this clash.

The job of Quique Setién could be in line as a loss for Barcelona will leave the Catalan giants “trophyless” and it may force the team to sack him. Napoli have not been playing well since the restart, though they picked up an impressive victory in their last match.

Cristiano Ronaldo and his Juventus teammate s will have another opportunity to turn their first-leg loss to a win as they will be welcoming Olympique Lyonnais to the Allianz Stadium.

There have been 5 meetings in the Champions League between these two teams. Juventus won 3 games while Lyon won just 1 match with the other one ending in a draw.

Juventus will be without Douglas Costa and Mattia De Sciglio due to injury.  Serie A player of the season, Paulo Dybala is also a doubt for this clash. Lyon, on the other hand, will be without Youssouf Kone due to injury, while Kenny Tete and Marcelo will both be assessed. Memphis Depay, who missed the first leg through injury, and his availability is a huge boost for the French side.

The French side surprisingly defeated the star-studded Old Lady 1-0 in the first leg and will want to get a positive result away in Italy. This game may decide Maurizio Sarri’s fate as Juventus manager. A loss may end his one year stay at the club.

image source: sportshub

The Etihad Stadium will host the battle between the most successful team in the Champions League and one of the least successful teams as Manchester City will be welcoming Real Madrid.

There have been 5 meetings in the Champions League between these two teams. Manchester City won 1 game while Real Madrid won 2 matches with the other 2 ending in a draw.

Benjamin Mendy is suspended for Manchester City while Sergio Aguero is sidelined with a knee issue. The Los Blancos, on the other hand, will be without captain Sergio Ramos due to suspension Neither Gareth Bale nor James Rodriguez is in the squad for Madrid.

Pep Guardiola’s side head into the game with an advantage following a 2-1 away win at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu, but they have not lost a knockout tie with Zidane in charge.  This will be a very close encounter.

image source: sportshub

The Naija Super Eagles is blessed with lots of goal scorers and many of them enjoyed goalscoring exploits for their clubs in the just concluded 2019/2020 season. Here we take a look at the top 10 Naija goal scorers across Europe.

8. 4 players share the number 8 position with 10 goals each. Kelechi Iheanacho of Leicester City with the best goal ratio scored 10 goals with 4 assists in 26 games. Olanrewaju Kayode also scored 10 goals for his Turkish club Gaziantep FK, providing 7 assists in 29 games. Paul Onuachu for Genk in 29 games with 2 assists. Chidera Ejuke for his Dutch club Heerenveen with 6 assists in 29 matches.

7. David Okereke – Club Brugge | The Naija U23 star scored a total of 11 goals and provided 2 assists in 35 appearances in for the Belgian club side.

6. Anthony Nwakaeme – Trabzonspor | the forgotten Nigerian striker had an impressive season in front of goal, helping his team to win the Turkish cup. He scored 14 goals provided 11 assists in 43 games

5. Umar Sadiq – Partizan | The 2016 Olympic star had the most prolific season of his career yet with 17 goals and 17 assists in 39 matches for the Serbian club

3. 2 players share the number 3 spot. The most expensive African signing Victor Osimhen scored 18 goals and provided 6 assists in 39 games for Lille, while Cyriel Dessers also scored 18 and 6 assists 29 for Heracles Almelo, winning the Dutch league top scorer award with 15 goals.

2 Simy Nwankwo – Crotone | The 2018 FIFA World Cup star had an impressive season in the Serie A, scoring 21 and providing 3 assists in 38 appearances, to help the team gain promotion to the top division.

1 Kyrian Nwabueze – KF Laci | The Naija striker born in America has been impressive in the Albanian league, scoring 25 goals and providing 5 assists in 33 games in all competitions.

Notable mentions: midfielder Joe Aribo and winger Moses Simon narrowly missed the top 10 as they both scored 9 goals each, despite not being strikers.

Naija Super Eagles striker Victor Osimhen became the most expensive African player of all time after moving from Lille to Napoli. My11 takes a look at his rise to stardom from his humble beginning as a street hawker in Lagos to a football star.

Osimhen is the last of 7 children, who became a street hawker, selling the sachet water, popularly known as “pure water” after his mom died and his father lost his job.  He would play football after his daily sales, this was where he caught the eyes of Naija’s U17 coaches and scouts and got selected for the 2017 U 17 World Cup in Chile.

Osimhen went on to score a record 10 goals to help Nigeria win the U-17 World Cup as the highest goal scorer and he won the second-best player award.  He was named CAF Youth Player of The Year for 2015. Two years later, he joined German club Wolfburg.

After an injury-plagued and unproductive spell with Wolfburg, he joined Charleroi where he scored 20 goals in 36 games on loan. He then moved to Lille for €12m in 2019, where he became one of the top strikers in France, scoring 18 goals with 6 assists in 36 games.

A year after signing Osimhen for €12m, Lille has sold him to one of the top teams in the Italian Serie A, Napoli for a reported fee of €80m plus add-ons, to make the Naija star the most expensive African signing.

Will Osimhen do well at Napoli?

Arsenal defeated 10-man Chelsea to win their record-extending 14th FA Cup, and some of Nigeria’s Politicians and Pastors also celebrated the North London club by taking to their social media handles to post congratulatory messages.

Chelsea scored the opener in the 5th minute after Christian Pulisic created a space for himself in the Arsenal defence before shooting past the keeper. Captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang equalized from a penalty, following a foul on him by the Blues captain Cesar Azpilicueta. The Gabonese scored the winner in the 67th minute to hand the Gunners the title that sends them to the Europa League.

Lead Pastor, Daystar Christian Centre, Sam Adeyemi tweeted, “Congratulations Arsenal, FA Cup Champions!”

Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar wrote, “Arsenal! #FACupFinal” accompanied with emojis of a medal and a cup.”

Naija Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola posted, “We fight with dignity, and win with pride. Yes, red is the colour of champions.”

Minister of State, Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo tweeted, “The other clubs need to calm down and respect Arsenal! We are FA Cup winners for a record 14th time!”

Many football fans bashed referee Anthony Taylor for poor officiating and wrong calls in the FA Cup final, sending off a Chelsea fan, the same way he did in the same fixture 3 years ago in 2017, while some believe the referee made the right calls.

Do you think the referee made the right calls in this game?

It’s a London derby in the FA Cup final as the Wembley Stadium will be hosting Arsenal – the most successful team in the competition – and city rival Chelsea – the 3rd ost successful team.

There have been 200 meetings between these two London clubs, Arsenal have won 76 games while Chelsea have won 65 matches. The remaining 59 games ended in a draw. In their last 8 clashes, the Blues won 3 games while the Gunners won only 2 matches.

There are no new injury concerns as both teams have the same number of players they ended the EPL season with. However, Chelsea will monitor the progress on N'Golo Kanté and he may be available for the Blues.

Arsenal have won the competition a record 13 times, and they have defeated Chelsea twice in the finals. Both teams have quality players going forward, and both teams are suspect defensively. Two players will want to prove themselves, David Luiz and Olivier Giroud, who will face off against the teams they won the FA Cup with.

One of the two managers will be winning their first trophy as a manager, but Arsenal need this game more, as it will be their only hope of playing European football next season. It will be a close tie, but Arsenal may just find a way to nick this game because they know what is at stake.

Some Nigerians have excelled in the English Premier League in the past, while some have flopped. The just-concluded Premier League season is not the best for Nigerians as some had cameo appearances, while some did not even play at all, but here My11 selects the top 5 best Nigerians in the EPL for the 2019-2020 season.

5. Odion Ighalo – Manchester United

Many football fans will be surprised Ighalo’s name is number 5, as he has done well for the Red Devils, scoring some important goals. His exploits for United has been in the cup games, as he has not had a single goal or assist in the EPL, although you can argue that he has only had cameo appearances. Ighalo has played a total of 90 minutes in 11 league games.

4. Alex Iwobi – Everton

Iwobi’s sale was a surprise to many Arsenal fans as he is regarded as one of the most talented stars at the club. This is not his most productive season, with just 1 goal in 25 matches, but he became a key member of the squad under the 3 managers Everton had all through the season.

3. Kelechi Iheanacho – Leicester City  

Iheanacho had a poor start to the season, as he did not play a single minute in the first 13 games, but he earned the manager’s trust and became a hero in many games for the Foxes. He scored 5 goals and provided 4 assists in 20 league games.

2. Bukayo Saka – Arsenal

Saka may not have played for Nigeria, but the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) are trying to bring the Arsenal star, who has Nigerian parents to play for the Naija Super Eagles. He has had an outstanding season and has been nominated as player of the season for the club. He is a utility player that can play in more than 5 wings. In 26 games, he scored 1 goal and provided 5 assists.

1. Wilfred Ndidi – Leicester City

Ndidi is arguably the best defensive midfielder in the EPL and one of the best in the world and his numbers speak for themselves. The Naija “standing 4” set a new Premier League record for having the highest tackle for 3 straight years. His absence for Leicester due to injury cost the Foxes some games, to show how important Ndidi is to the club. Ndidi is the best Naija player across Europe for the 2019-2020 season.

image source: soccernet.ng

Wilfred Ndidi and Kelechi Iheanacho’s Leicester City teammate, Jamie Vardy, has set a new Premier League record, after finishing as the highest goal scorer for the 2019-2020 EPL season.

Vardy is enjoying one of his best individual seasons. In addition to winning the Golden Boot, he was named Leicester City Player of the Season and Leicester City Players' Player of the Season. He also won the EPL Player of the Month in October.

Leicester City failed to qualify for the UEFA Champions League, following a loss to Manchester United on the final day, but striker Jamie Vardy finished as the highest goal scorer, becoming the oldest player to win the accolade, at 33 years.

Former Ivory Coast and Chelsea striker, Didier Drogba holds the record as the oldest player to win the award, after scoring 29 in the 2009-2010 season at 32 years. Vardy has now surpassed that feat by scoring 23 goals at 33.

Below is the list of top 5 oldest players in the EPL:

5. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang – 22 goals in the 2018-2019 season at 29 years

4. Nicolas Anelka – 19 goals in the 2008-2009 season at 30 years.

3. Dimitar Berbatov – 20 goals in the 2010-2011 season at 30 years.

2. Didier Drogba – 29 goals in the 2009-2010 season at 32 years.

1. Jamie Vardy – 23 goals in the 2019-2020 season at 33 years.

image source: www.footballlive.ng

Manchester United defeated Leicester City at the King Power Stadium on the final day of the Premier League to end the Champions League ambition of Wilfred Ndidi and Kelechi Iheanacho.

The two Nigerians started the match and had some chances to score the opening goal for the Foxes but missed. It was the Red Devils that scored the opener in the 71st minute from the penalty spot. Jesse Lingard, with his only goal contribution this season scored the second goal in the 98th minute.

With that win, Manchester United finished 3rd on the log and have qualified for the Champions League. Leicester City however missed out and will be playing in the Europa League next season.