Author: Olukayode Oke

Paris Saint-Germain defender, Presnel Kimpembe, has insisted that he was unaware of teammate Kylian Mbappe being made the club’s vice-captain. Mbappe wore the captain’s armband and led PSG to a 7-0 thrashing of US Pays de Cassel in the Coupe de France on Monday. The 24-year-old is now viewed as vice-captain to captain Marquinhos, who did not feature in the match. This led to reports suggesting that PSG held talks before removing Kimpembe from the vice-captaincy role and handing it over to Mbappe. However, Kimpembe has now dismissed those claims. The 27-year-old defender said (as quoted by Get French Football…

AC Milan missed the opportunity to close the gap on Serie A leaders Napoli after they were thumped 4-0 by a rampant Lazio at the Stadio Olimpico on Tuesday. Stefano Pioli’s men were condemned to a first defeat in seven league matches after goals from Sergej Milinkovic-Savic and Mattia Zaccagni gave the hosts a half-time advantage. Luis Alberto added a third from the spot after the interval before Felipe Anderson rounded off the scoring as the Rossoneri failed to win for the fifth game in a row in all competitions. The impressive result sees Maurizio Sarri’s Lazio leap from sixth…

Najaatu Muhammad has stated that All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu should not have emerged. She said Tinubu’s blunders during campaign rallies confirmed his poor health which would affect governance if he won. Hajiya Muhammad last week resigned as Director of Civil Society in the APC Presidential Campaign Council (PCC). In an interview with Thisday, the outspoken politician said Vice President Yemi Osinbajo would have been a better APC standard bearer. He’s a professor, he’s brilliant. For few weeks he was given to govern this country, he did a great job. But they said all sort of things against him.…

Everton owner Farhad Moshiri is willing to sell the club according to reports. The British-Iranian billionaire became Everton’s major shareholder in February 2016 but has not endeared himself to fans. It’s been suggested that Moshiri had recently sought outside investment. However, it seems Moshiri is now willing to cut ties with the club altogether, with report stating he is looking for offers of more than £500million. The report adds that Deloitte have been instructed to handle the potential sale of the club, although that is unconfirmed. It adds that about £700m has been spent on more than 50 players in the…

Newcastle’s Nick Pope ‘the best goalkeeper in the world’ says Bruno Guimaraes as Jamie O’Hara rates Premier League chances next year. The Magpies have one foot in the Carabao Cup final after beating Southampton 1-0 at St. Mary’s on Tuesday night as Joelinton scored the only goal of the game. It continues the club’s jaw-dropping form across all competitions, tasting defeat in just one match in 20 games – a shock FA Cup loss to Sheffield Wednesday earlier this month. And that is largely down to their fantastic defence with Nick Pope keeping a clean sheet in the last ten matches. They…

A Civil Society Organisation, Yiaga Africa, on Tuesday called on the Independent National Electoral Commission and the National Universities Commission to bar universities from scheduling examinations during the election period. According to data from INEC, over 26 million registered voters in the country’s voter register are students. Though the commission did not give a breakdown of the registered students according to the types of tertiary institutions, YIAGA noted that the intervention of INEC and the NUC will enable more students to exercise their rights to vote. “Dear @inecnigeria, can you engage the National Universities Commission to request universities to refrain…

Manchester United boss, Erik ten Hag will be without three key players when they face Nottingham Forest in tonight’s Carabao Cup semi-final first-leg tie at the City Ground. Ten Hag confirmed at his pre-match press conference on Tuesday that the likes of Diogo Dalot, Jadon Sancho, and Anthony Martial would not feature against Nottingham Forest. The Dutchman said, “The players who were not available for the Arsenal game – Dalot, Martial, Sancho, are also not available for tomorrow [Man United’s clash with Forest].” Man United head to the game after losing 3-2 against Arsenal in the Premier League in their…

The Polish Football Association have confirmed Cristiano Ronaldo’s former manager, Fernando Santos, as their new national team head coach. Santos was unveiled at a press conference on Tuesday, having left his role as Portugal’s coach after their shock quarter-final elimination against Morocco at the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Recall that the 68-year-old coached Ronaldo during his time as the coach of Portugal’s national team. Speaking after his unveiling, Santos said: “It is an honour for us because we are talking about a great country. “Poland is a great country with an extremely rich history and culture.”

The Monetary Policy Committee of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, has unanimously voted to increase the benchmark interest rate by 100 basis points to 17.5 per cent. The CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, disclosed this while reading the communiqué at the end of the two-day MPC meeting, the first of the year. The development means this is the fifth time the CBN would increase the interest rate despite calls by stakeholders against the increment. The CBN said previous increases were beginning to yield results with the slight drop in the inflation rate recorded in December 2022. However, the CBN stressed…

National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) Director-General, Kashifu Inuwa has declared Nigeria as the most viable Information Technology (IT) investment destination. The DG stated that the country ticks all the boxes in terms of size, population, youth demography, government support, and legal and regulatory framework. At the 2023 Digital Life Design (DLD) conference in Munich, Kashifu said in two decades, there would be a global shortage of 85 million IT professionals, advising the world not to overlook Nigeria. “The average age in Nigeria is 19. We have the demographic advantage to become the global IT talent factory”, the NITDA chief…

Stefanos Tsitsipas blasted into a fourth Australian Open semi-final on Tuesday and a showdown with Karen Khachanov as he zeroes in on a maiden Grand Slam title. The Greek third seed proved too powerful for unseeded Czech Jiri Lehecka on Rod Laver Arena, storming home 6-3, 7-6 (7/2), 6-4. He will face the Russian 18th seed Khachanov for a place in his first Melbourne Park final, having crashed in the semis three times previously, including in the past two years. Russia’s Khachanov booked his place when American Sebastian Korda retired hurt with a wrist injury while trailing 7-6 (7/5), 6-3, 3-0.…

Darren Bent has questioned where Antony’s end product his despite his ‘tricks and flicks’ at Manchester United. Antony signed for the Red Devils from Ajax in the summer, their second most expensive ever signing in a deal that could rise to £85million. The 22-year-old had a strong start to life at the club as he scored in his first three Premier League games. However, he has had little impact since then, and has left Bent far from impressed so far this season. Speaking to talkSPORT Drive, he said: “All tricks and flicks, no substance at the minute. “He’s doing all this…