Real Madrid have completed the signing of Mateo Kovacic from Inter Milan on a six year contract.
Madrid did not confirm the value of the deal but Kovacic, 21, is reported to have cost around €30 million. A statement on the Spanish club’s official website read:
“Real Madrid C. F. and Inter Milan have agreed to the transfer of Mateo Kovacic, he will remain at the club for the next six seasons. The player will be presented tomorrow, Wednesday 19 August at 1 p.m., in the presidential box at the Santiago Bernabeu, after undergoing a medical. Afterwards, Mateo Kovacic will step out onto the pitch at the Santiago Bernabeu for the first time wearing the Real Madrid shirt and talk to the media in the press room.”
Inter boss Roberto Mancini had previously confirmed that his side had accepted Real’s offer for Kovacic as they needed to balance the books. “Unfortunately there are financial fair play rules to respect and I don’t think any of us wanted this, but to respect UEFA’s parameters we had to do something,” Inter Mancini told Mediaset television.
“That does not mean we won’t build a side capable of being competitive. We’re all sad, from the president down to the players, but given these rules, you have to make sacrifices. I’m sorry if some people can’t understand that.”
The reported fee would mean a healthy profit for Inter on the €11m paid for the then 18-year-old when he arrived from Dinamo Zagreb in January 2013.
Breast Cancer Awareness Campaign is a cause I am committed to, I’ve seen people die of breast cancer and No, you have no idea of the excruciating pain they go through before their demise.
Aimed at sensitizing the public on the breast cancer endemic and how to prevent and take proper medication against it through soccer, the Kickoff Against Breast Cancer awareness initiative/ soccer tournament is scheduled to hold at the INDOOR SPORT HALL, Sport centre, University of Lagos.
Kick Off is going to be a competition between eight female hostels existing in the University of Lagos; Makama Hall, Fagunwa Hall, Madam Tinubu Hall, Queen Amina Hall, Kofo Hall, Honours Hall, Moremi Hall, and Medilag Hall.
The eight (8) teams consisting of fifteen (15) players will be coached by some of Nigerians best celebrities DJ and artistes, each hostels would compete for cash prizes, trophies amongst others. Every member of each team would be presented with a medal for appreciation for participating in KICK OFF.
Also there would be a breast cancer awareness seminar/talk at the end of every match also not forgetting the music and comedy performances.
The BREAST CANCER initiative seminar will include free BREAST CANCER screening test and giveaways.
New signing, Christian Benteke scored a controversial goal to give Liverpool maximum 3points in their second league game against newly-promoted side, Bournemouth. The £32 million summer signing from Aston Villa struck from close range after 26 minutes at Anfield but debate raged over whether Philippe Coutinho was offside.
This came after the Cherries had earlier had a Tommy Elphick goal harshly ruled ruled for a push in the area by referee Craig Pawson. Brendan Rodgers, watched by Liverpool owner John W Henry, fielded a side unchanged from the laboured opening victory at Stoke.
They started in much the same sluggish manner as the visitors made the early running. Max Gradel looked dangerous on the left, Andrew Surman and Eunan O’Kane provided drive and strikers Callum Wilson and Josh King were threatening. It was the 24th minute before Liverpool finally posed a serious threat with Benteke driving narrowly over from distance.
The questionable goal moments later as Jordan Henderson swung in a deep cross from the left.
Coutinho was offside and clearly played at the ball as it bounced past him on the way to Benteke, who turned home at the far post. The goal, Benteke’s 50th in English club football, sparked strong debate over the latest interpretation of the offside rule. Coutinho did not have to make contact to be flagged, as he would have done in previous seasons, but his action had to impact on an opponent.
There were no Bournemouth players near him as he moved for the ball, but goalkeeper
Artur Boruc may have anticipated a touch.
Liverpool did enough to hold on and Benteke almost snatched a second in the closing moments when a deflected shot struck the bar.
Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal has shrugged off criticism of Wayne Rooney’s form and said he cannot understand suggestions his captain should be moved from the main striking role.
Rooney spent much of last season in midfield, but Van Gaal has installed the 29-year-old as his first-choice centre- forward after the departures of Robin van Persie and Radamel Falcao.
However, the England captain has had only had two shots in as many fixtures for United this season in their 1-0 wins over Tottenham and Aston Villa — both of them off target — and recorded just one touch in the Villa penalty area on Friday.
However, Van Gaal, who feels he was pressured to pick Rooney as a central attacker, says he still has his backing. And while United have not bought a striker this summer he feels he has enough options in the position, with Adnan Januzaj, Javier Hernandez and James Wilson offering competition for places.
He said in a news conference: “All the media has advised me for one year that I have to put him [Rooney] in the striker’s position, so it is very amazing that after two matches you are doubting your own opinion. I cannot understand that. “I have always confidence in my players but we don’t have only Wayne Rooney in the striker’s position. We have Adnan Januzaj. He played in the USA [on United’s pre-season tour] in the striker’s position. I have given him that chance and he has shown he can do that. “We have Chicharito [Hernandez] and we have Wilson, so I don’t think we have a lack of strikers.”
Rooney was United’s 14-goal top scorer last season but has not struck in his last eight appearances for his club. Van Gaal was asked whether he should consider using Juan Mata, who has played as a right winger and set up Januzaj’s winner at Villa, as a No. 10 to improve the supply line.
“Maybe you can ask the board of Manchester United if you are the trainer-coach or the manager and then you can discuss it with your staff,” he replied. “I don’t discuss it with the media.”
1. When she gives you one bad side eye when you look at her to ask if you can eat out of your visitors’ food. (Meanwhile it’s the visitor who invited you o) and then twist your ears when the visitors leave and you eat the food.
2. When you ask her where you should drop an item and she replies, “drop it on my head.”
3. When you say “mummy, I’m Sorry” and she replies “Sorry for yourself”
4. When she brings food wrapped in a polythene bag from a party.
5. When you say: “mummy, I have malaria” and she replied: “why won’t you have malaria when you have been pressing phone since morning”
6. When you say: “I came 2nd in my class” and she replies: “so the person that came first has two heads, abi?”
7. When she locks the DSTV remote control in her room just to punish you.
8. When you’re watching TV with her and then she sleeps off and still doesn’t want you to change the channel.
9. When you tell her you are going to friends’ houses and she replies, “when last did they come here to play with you?”
10. When she asks you if the food is enough and you reply no and she says go and drink water
11. When she forces you to drink “agbo” and holds a cane on one side so you won’t vomit it.
12. When she takes a pot off the fire without a napkin
13. When she sends you on an errand and ask for her N5 balance and you say, “mummy but it’s N5 now” and then she replies “N5 no be money?”
14. When you say: my wedding will be baad and she replies: God forbid. Your wedding will not be bad in Jesus name
15. When she tells you: ‘I didn’t kill my mother, so you cannot come and kill me’
16. When she calls you from your room upstairs and then sends you back upstairs to bring her purse.
17. When you ask her to help you with your home work and she directs you to go and meet your brother. You then say, so you don’t even know it and she replies: “it is your father’s family members that are dullards”
18. When you ask her to refund the money you lent her and she tells you “all the food you’ve been eating at home nko?”
19. When she removes her gele and ties it on her waist before fighting whoever beats you unjustly.
20. When she finds out you didn’t finish your breakfast and she says, “so you want to waste this en, keep it, you will eat it in the afternoon or night. I work for my money.”
21. When as a child you tell her, mum that place is paining me and she deliberately scrubs the spot.
22. If she sends you on an errand and before you step out she calls you back and says, “the place I sent you isn’t far. If you like, walk round the town and come back by 6pm, you will come and meet me hia (here).
23. When she sends you to the market to get pieces of fish and you come back with 3 pieces for N300 and she says, “if na me na 10 I go buy for N300. Dem don rob you”.
24. When she storms your room to switch off your audio player because the volume is too loud.
25. When she prices an item in the market and you start feeling bad for the seller.
Nigerian Mum: How much be this meat?
Seller: N5000
Nigerian Mum: Wetin, this one wey go shrink and disappear for pot, N500 Oga.
Noye & Emmanuel have emerged winners of WED Expo’s My Big Nigerian Wedding Season 2 (Lagos) contest. Noye, a Doctor, and Emmanuel – an Engineer were childhood friends. Their interesting love story and journey from being childhood friends to the altar will warm your heart.
HOW WE MET BY THE BRIDE:
Our meeting unlike the typical meeting at an eatery or one of such places was to me divinely orchestrated. We met at a very tender age precisely when we were both in Primary school and that was the moment for me. We were classmates, attended same church, lived in same neighborhood and both families were very close. Little did he know that that I had developed that tingling sensation for him because he was this very neat, gentle, soft spoken (he still is), dark complexioned handsome little boy with impeccable mannerism.
Unlike me, he made his feelings known by all means even though his friends and mine made a mockery of him. He would always send his younger sister to make his intentions known with his sister affirming his feelings too imagine! On one of such occasions, he told my cousin to come tell me that “he was going to marry me” and he got whooped the next day in school for such utterance.
THE JOURNEY SO FAR BY THE GROOM:
The road to September 11th for us has not been a smooth one. We have had our ups and downs ranging from my inability to woo Noyenum earlier on to distance when her family left our neighborhood and relocated far away and we stopped seeing each other. I got someone who attended same Secondary school with her in my neighborhood to play the middle man for me which was a great plus for us, but again we lost contact after secondary school as we attended different higher institutions and we never contacted each other for a while. We ended up dating different people but as fate would have it, it didn’t diminish the love we had for each other.
She went abroad and I moved on with my life with other ladies but each time anyone mention the name Noyenum, my heart skips. Fortunately for us, Facebook came into limelight and the first contact I searched for was her. Immediately I saw her, I added her up and she accepted. The first question I asked was, “are u dating anyone? Her answer was “No” that she had broken up with her ex. I smiled inside of me and said, “thank God”. We got chatting on all social media platforms available to the extent that my colleagues at work called me “gist manufacturer” because we always had something to gist about and for long hours because of the time difference.
We had our periods of breakup and reconnection due to distance and finally in 2013, she came home on Holiday after about 5years absence and so I decided to go see her straight from work (as e dey hot)though she gave me attitude but I held on. There I told her I still loved her and wanted to spend the rest of my life with her.
Today, all that is history now, because come September 11th, she will be mine and mine forever. You know what, “I can’t wait”!!!
HOW HE PROPOSED BY THE BRIDE: That is one question everyone keeps asking me. The truth is that he had already proposed earlier on (wink) and so there was no formal proposal since we and both families already knew it was going to be and if he had still proposed, it wouldn’t have come with any surprise.
Real Madrid player, Sergio Ramos will not be leaving Madrid or signing a new deal with the club until 2020. The 29-year-old’s new deal with the Spanish giants will end in 5 years time.
The Spanish defender brought his wife, Pilar Rubio, and his family to a special event put together by the club.
“I want to stay at this club and enjoy it as long as I can. My heart and my head has always been with Real Madrid. My extension was never a money issue. I have never said I wanted to leave Real Madrid. Money has never been my motivation, my family is. I always wanted to retire here at Real Madrid. The truth is clear: I never wanted to leave Real Madrid.” He said.
Super Eagles’ Head Coach Sunday Oliseh has invited 18 overseas-based professionals for next month’s 2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Tanzania in Dar es Salaam. First –choice goalkeeper and skipper Vincent Enyeama headlines the list that also has defenders Godfrey Oboabona, Leon Balogun and Kenneth Omeruo, midfielders Rabiu Ibrahim, Lukman Haruna and Joel Obi, and forwards Ahmed Musa, Emmanuel Emenike and Anthony Ujah.
There are a number of surprises, in line with Oliseh’s earlier pledge to make current form and first –level football key indices for selection. There are goalkeeper Carl Ikeme, midfielder Izunna Ernest Uzochukwu and forwards Emem Eduok, Sylvester Igboun and Moses Simon. All the 18 players, who will join up with the 23 home boys who arrived camp in Abuja on Monday, are expected in Abuja on Monday, 31 st August, 2015 at the latest.
THE FULL LIST
Goalkeepers: Vincent Enyeama (Lille OSC, France); Carl Ikeme (Wolverhampton Wanderers, England)
Defenders: Leon Balogun (FSV Mainz 05, Germany); Kingsley Madu (AS Trencin, Slovakia); Godfrey Oboabona (Caykur Rizespor, Turkey); William Troost Ekong (FK Haugesund, Norway); Kenneth Omeruo (Kasimpasa SK, Turkey)
Midfielders: Joel Obi (Torina FC, Italy); Izunna Ernest Uzochukwu (FC Amkar Perm, Russia); Obiora Nwankwo (Coimbra FC, Portugal); Lukman Haruna (Anzhi Machatsjkala, Russia); Rabiu Ibrahim (AS Trencin, Slovakia)
Forwards: Ahmed Musa (CSKA Moscow, Russia); Emem Eduok (Esperance ST, Tunisia); Emmanuel Emenike (Al Ain, UAE); Anthony Ujah (Werder Bremen, Germany); Sylvester Igboun (FC UFA, Russia); Moses Simon (KAA Gent, Belgium).
The Bundesliga returned last weekend and fans are already treated to fantastic football, great tecnique/style of play and most importantly – barrage of spectacular goals. The league may not exactly be brimming with quality or fierce title competition as opposed to other top leagues in Europe but fans are assured one thing each time they step into the stadium to watch a match – Entertainment.
Bus parking or pragmatic play seem like a taboo in the league and all teams regardless of how precarious the situation they are in may seem always come out to play unlike what applies in some other leagues where teams settle for a boring draw even before the blast of the whistle.
The first week of the Bundesliga produced 28goals – and that’s just from 9 matches! That brings us nicely to an average of 3 goals per game. Massive. Bayern Munich got things started with a 5nil whitewash of Hamburg courtesy of goals from Benatia, Muller, Lewandoski and Douglas Costa while other teams like Schalke 04, Borrusia Dortmund and FC Cologne followed suit with emphatic victories.
Whatever the league lacks in competition, it makes up for in entertainment and that is the whole essence of football. Fans deserve intriguing games that would keep them on their feet, not games that would rock them to sleep.
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The most beautiful cars ever made are all in one place today
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The beauty of the past
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Sed vitae elit nec nunc ultricies mattis. Nulla efficitur velit est, non varius quam gravida ac. Praesent ultrices est nec ligula pulvinar scelerisque. Mauris ex dolor, tincidunt ut ante sit amet, posuere porttitor dui. Vestibulum iaculis dui nec laoreet bibendum.
1970’s Lancia in all its glory. Photo by Nadine A. Gardner
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Timeless classic
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Retro car with “Farmer Boy” plate
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Smart investment
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Sed massa nulla, ultrices ac nisl eget, pretium tincidunt ante. Donec ultrices aliquam convallis. Cras luctus lectus nec diam interdum ultricies eu quis nunc. Pellentesque quis lacinia ex, id posuere quam.
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In vestibulum, odio et vestibulum pharetra, ex est viverra elit, ac imperdiet ipsum est porta arcu. Suspendisse augue turpis, rutrum sit amet sapien eget, semper ultricies elit. Donec interdum nibh condimentum ante blandit tempor. Vivamus fringilla placerat lectus in efficitur. Vivamus viverra, augue a placerat commodo, nisi ligula congue turpis, imperdiet tempor magna mauris eget metus. In euismod ac libero eu lacinia.
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