No plan to join Real Madrid – Suarez

Suarez
| credits: File copy

Luis Suarez has played down speculation linking him with a January transfer to Real Madrid by insisting he is happy at Liverpool.

The Uruguay international was involved in a protracted saga regarding his future in the close-season as he agitated for a move to a club in the UEFA Champions League.

Liverpool’s Premier League rivals Arsenal had two bids rejected for the striker, while La Liga giants Real were also said to be interested in his services.

Rumours persist that Real will launch a move for Suarez in the next transfer window as manager Carlo Ancelotti seeks to boost his side’s firepower further following the world-record capture of Gareth Bale in September.

However, the 26-year-old – who has scored six goals in five Premier League appearances since returning from suspension – has indicated he is satisfied with life on Merseyside as Liverpool bid to return to the Champions League.

“I know nothing of any interest from Real Madrid, and I am happy with Liverpool,” Suarez told Uruguayan radio station Sport 890.

“In the team we are all really excited, and looking forward to a good season. We have been at the top so far and we are still aiming at the top.

“We believe in the team and we believe we can have a really good season – an exciting season.

“The Premier League is the best league there is – the stadiums, the atmosphere and the fans make football here so entertaining.”

Suarez’s public desire to leave Anfield led to Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers ordering him to train away from the rest of the first-team squad for a short period.

However, the former Ajax captain has revealed that the support of his team-mates and the Liverpool fans has had a major impact on helping him feeling settled at the club once again.

“When I was separated (from the squad), the players told me they didn’t like that and wanted me to be with the group,” he added.

“Today I feel very supported by my team-mates, and I appreciate their support.

“The support of the fans was also very important … I feel part of things at Liverpool. It is my home.”

NFF Pays Keshi Two Out Of Seven Months Salary - naijaswap

Super Eagles coach Stephen Keshi has received two months out of the seven months salary owed him by the Nigeria Football Federation.

Keshi had cried out about the outstanding payments and yesterday NFF spokesman Ademola Olajire confirmed that the coach has been part paid. The NFF is owing Keshi who won the 2013 African Cup of Nations and on the verge of leading Nigeria to the 2014 World Cup about N35m being seven months salary.

“We have made a quick effort to sort part of his arrears. We are working extremely hard to pay the coach the rest as soon as possible.”

Olajire added that the NFF had put in measures to “help minimise the risk of delays in the future”.

Nigeria Football Federation.

“The financial situation of the NFF caused the delay. It is not an excuse; it is a consequence of the financial reality,” he said.

Keshi did not confirm or deny receiving the pay yesterday. But in the heat of the crisis he had said:

“I don’t like discussing money issues and if there is any NFF member who said we can work for free, then I will want to speak with him face to face.

“If they say we can work for free and that they are not going to pay, so be it.

“I can’t have my family abroad and I will be in debt because I have not been paid for seven months and somebody is saying we should not complain.”

Munich Court Sets Date For Bayern President Tax Trial - naijaswap

Bayern Munich president Uli Hoeness will go on trial next March on tax evasion charges.

News concerning the case against the former West Germany striker, who played for Bayern in 1970s before moving into the boardroom, emerged in April when he reported himself to the authorities over an undeclared Swiss bank account.

Prosecutors filed the charges in July; months after the news broke out, after a lengthy inquiry.

Munich’s state court said judges have decided to send him to trial with proceedings set to begin on March 10, 2014.

The 61-year-old is expected to carry on with his role at the Bavarian giants while the trial continues.

Bayern Munich President Uli Hoenness.

“The board is of the unanimous opinion that Uli Hoeness shall remain in his position even with a trial being set,” Bayern said in a statement.

Hoennes helped Bayern to three European Cup titles- between 1970 and 1979- in his over 200 appearances for the European and German Champions.

He was also a World Cup and European Championship winner with West Germany before hanging his boot following a serious knee injury.

Emenike Now Fires On All Cylinders at Fener

Emmanuel Emenike grabbed one of Fenerbahce’s goals in weekend’s 3-2 win over Bursaspor.

Emenike guided home a superb header from an accurate corner-kick in the 83rd minute to increase his goal tally in the ongoing Turkish League season to four.
The 26-year-old has now scored on three consecutive match days following an early goal-barren start on his return to Istanbul.

Emmanuel Emenike Scored for Fenerbahce Again.

His match winner against Kayseri Ericiyesspor on October 20 at the Kadir Has Sehir Stadi, came in the wake of a brace against Gaziantepspor on October 25.
The ex-Spartak Moscow and Karabukspor marksman, who also got a brace for Nigeria against Ethiopia in a 2014 Fifa World Cup qualifier in Addis Ababa on Ocober 13, has 18 international caps and has scored 10 times.

Arsenal Proved Cynics Wrong By Winning Liverpool- Wenger

Arsene Wenger says Arsenal has rightly hit back at its critics with Saturday’s 2-0 win over Liverpool.

Goals from Santi Carzola and Aaron Ramsey helped the Gunners increase their lead to five points after Chelsea surprisingly lost 2-0 at Newcastle in the early kick-off.
“It was important to respond to convince people that we can win these big games,” said Wenger.
“To win it in a convincing way is even more important.”
Wenger’s side had lost two of their previous home matches prior to Saturday’s win. They lost 2-1 to Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League and last week’s 2-0 loss to Chelsea in the League Cup.
But when the two top sides in the Premier League table clashed, Arsenal showed resilience and quality to maintain their fine start to the season.
Santi Carzola opened scoring with a fine first-half strike after his header struck the post and Aaron Ramsey scored his 10th goal of this campaign with a spectacular long-range effort on the hour.

Aaron Ramsey Scored His Tenth Goal of the Ongoing Season Against Liverpool.

The defeat puts Liverpool’s preparedness for a title challenge into perspective as Luis Suarez could only hit the post late on.
“Our defensive performance was outstanding,” Wenger added.

Serie A Update: AC Milan Loses at Home to Fiorentina, Napoli and Juventus Win

AC Milan suffered their fifth defeat of the Serie A season at the hands of visitors Fiorentina on Saturday.

Juan Vargas’ heavily deflected free-kick and Borja Valero’s cool finish helped Fiorentina move into fourth, before Sunday’s matches.
Milan, who were jeered off after the match, are now 10th with 12 points from their 11 games.

AC Milan Fans with a Banner Calling Out the Club for their (lack of) Summer Signings

Napoli won 2-1 at home against Catania to move within two points of leaders Roma.

Spanish forward Jose Callejon opened scoring for Rafael Benitez’s men with a stunning left-foot curler, before Slovakia midfielder Marek Hamsik doubled the lead with a well-taken first-time shot.
Paul Pogba scored the match winner for defending champions Juventus away at Parma. The Turin-based outfit are level with Napoli- both having won nine of their eleven matches.
Roma, who became the first Serie A side to win their opening 10 matches on Thursday, can restore their five point gap at the top of the standing when they travel to Torino on Sunday.

3 Richest Nigerian Football Players [photos,assets]

These people are professional footballers worth millions of naira and whose investments amount to billions of naira.

Check out the list of the top three richest footballers in Nigeria:
JOHN MIKEL OBI

According to various sources, Chelsea midfielder, John Mikel Obi, is currently the highest earning Nigerian footballer. He joined Chelsea in 2006 from Norwegian club Fc Lyn Oslo on a US$25 million. He is currently on US$120,000,(N20m), per week excluding bonuses, and income from participating at the UEFA Champions League.
The 25-year-old Jos born player owns mansions in Jos, Lagos and London worth about N800m. What is more, he owns shares in top companies and has recently launched a record label.
Chelsea star once said that it is very hard for him to find a wife. Why won’t it be with all that cash…
OBAFEMI MARTINS

He’s been everywhere. The on loan UD Levante of Spain forward has played for top clubs like Inter-Milan of Italy, Newcastle united of England , Birmingham City of England, Vfl Wolfsborg of Germany , Rubin Kazan of Russia and currently Seatle Sounders in the US.

Obafemi Martins is the fifth highest paid player in US Major League Soccer for the 2013 season, according to a players’ union release.
The 28-year-old striker has 2 mansions at VGC Lagos worth N500 million, a massive home in Como, Italy valued at N800 Million, and top hotels in Italy.
He has recently spent N400million on his charity foundation.
YAKUBU AIYEGBENI

Yak, as he is popularly called, is still widely considered the most successful Nigerian footballer to play in England.
His assets include a mansion on Manchester Road, London, a duplex in VGC, 2 massive buildings in Benin city and hotels in Auchi,Edo State.
The former Boro man owns a petrol station in Benin City which is run by his brother Momo Aiyegbeni. In his garage back home in Nigeria are a fleet of cars including a Range Rover and a BMW.

 

Is the GREAT MAN UNITED falling?:Manchester United ‘Really Struggling’ To Retain Title – Yaya Toure

Manchester United ‘Really Struggling’ To Retain Title – Yaya Toure

Manchester City midfielder Yaya Toure says arch-rivals Manchester United are ‘really struggling’ to retain their title.

The Red Devils swept to the Premier League crown in 2012/13, offering the perfect send-off to outgoing boss Sir Alex Ferguson.
A changing of the guard at Old Trafford has not run smoothly, though, with new manager David Moyes enduring a baptism of fire.
There have been signs in recent outings that the tide is turning, but a slow start has left the defending champions eight points off the pace.
Toure feels United will find it difficult to bridge that gap, with Liverpool considered to be a greater threat to the usual suspects in the battle for top flight supremacy.
He said in The Sun: “United will find it hard to defend the title since they have a new manager and are really struggling.

“Liverpool are a big threat at the moment because they have a strong squad and their strikers – Luis Suarez and Daniel Sturridge – are scoring goals at will.”
City ended their latest outing empty-handed, leaving them just two points better off than United and with goalkeeper Joe Hart coming in for renewed criticism.
The England man endured an afternoon to forget during a 2-1 defeat at Chelsea on Sunday, but Toure is convinced he remains the right man to provide City’s last line of defence.
He added: “Joe is a top keeper who gives his all to the team.”

Nigeria U17 coach hits back at Iran age-cheating claim

Nigeria U17 coach hits back at Iran age-cheating claim


Nigeria Under-17 coach Manu Garba has dismissed Iran's accusation of age-cheating in the 4-1 defeat by the Golden Eaglets at the Fifa Under-17 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates.

Three-time champions Nigeria were too hot for Iran at the Khalifa Bin Zayed Stadium in Al Ain racking up three goals in the first half en route to a 4-1 win against the Asian side in the Round of 16.

Afterwards Iranian coach Ali Doustimehr questioned the ages of some of the players representing the west African country.

But Garba told BBC Sport: "I personally feel it is just something that is borne out of frustration at losing to a tactically and technically better side.

"All the players we have here passed the MRI test and we even conducted another round one month before we came to the UAE.

"We would probably take it up with the Iranian coach at Fifa level for casting aspersion on the eligibility of our players."

Back in August, Nigeria dropped key players for the tournament after wrist scans showed them to be over the age limit.

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) was used to scan the wrist plate of players to accurately ascertain their true age, with only players between grade 1 and 5 of the scan eligible to participate.

Meanwhile, Nigeria and Ivory Coast are the only African teams to have progressed to the quarter-finals in the UAE.

While the Young Elephants narrowly edged past continental rivals Morocco 2-1, Nigeria highlighted their title credentials with that crushing victory over Iran, bringing their goals-for tally to 18 after four games.

Ivory Coast will face Argentina in the last eight on Saturday, while Nigeria are sweating on the fitness of leading scorer Kelechi Iheanacho for their tie against Uruguay on the same day.

Iheanacho has scored five goals in the competition and coach Manu Garba has assured the striker will be available for the Uruguay test.

"It is a minor injury and Iheanacho should be back for the next game," the coach said.

Nigeria have now reached at least the quarter-finals at nine of the ten U-17 World Cups they have participated in.

The only time the Golden Eaglets failed to do so was at Finland 2003, when they were packing for home after the group stage.

Balotelli is Going Nowhere Come January- AC Milan Coach

Mario Balotelli

AC Milan coach Massimiliano Allegri has denied reports that striker Mario Balotelli could leave the club in January.

The 23-year-old Italy striker, who left Manchester City for Milan in January, has been linked in the Italian media with a return to another Premier League outfit Chelsea.
But Allegri has played down the speculation saying: “He will not leave in January, absolutely not” Allegri said on Milan’s website.
Balotelli has scored three Serie A goals this season and his contract with the Rossoneri runs until June 2017.
He was banned for three games in September for using “intimidating and insulting” words to the referee after AC Milan’s 2-1 defeat by Napoli. The striker has since returned and is expected to lead his club’s attack in Wednesday’s game against Lazio.

Allegri believes the media has caused Balotelli enough distraction and should cease to prey on his private life, rather access him based on his performance on the pitch.
“I think Mario should be left in peace. It’s not difficult to manage him.”
“There’s far too much discussion of the man’s private life. I think that Balotelli should be judged for what he does on the pitch like all other players.”