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  • Ola Aina: Victory at Stamford Bridge was mind-blowing

    Ola Aina: Victory at Stamford Bridge was mind-blowing

    With a combined 235 minutes in three games in the new English Premier League (EPL) season, and having started in two, clocking a full 90 minutes, Nigerian player Ola Aina is not doing badly on his return to England.

    Interestingly, his team Nottingham Forest have been brilliant away to Premiership giants Arsenal (2-1) Man United (3-2), and Chelsea (0-1). And a home win to Sheffield United 2-1, they have raked up six points in three away and one home match is ranked as one of the most difficult opening games for any team in the EPL.

    Ola was brilliant against Chelsea and after the game, he was excited that they came away with a win against his former club.

    He noted that the signs are there that Forest will compete well this season with the way they played away to Arsenal and the victory against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

    “A shame we couldn’t get something out of the Emirates game, maybe we left it too late, but it shows that we can compete and we showed that in glimpses on Saturday against a top side. The win at Stamford Bridge confirmed that we are almost there and we need to consolidate, We continue to do that throughout the season we definitely can get results and hopefully do well in this campaign.”

    “I do work hard, try and give it 100% all the time and leave everything on the pitch. Have fun and just enjoy it.”

    Nottingham Forest stunned Chelsea at Stamford Bridge as Anthony Elanga came off the bench to score the game’s only goal.

    Forest rode on their mid-week Carabao Cup win to make it back-to-back after Elanga’s early second-half strike secured a 1-0 victory away from home.

    Read Also:Ola Aina: I love the Premier League challenge

    On the other hand, the Blues stuck with the same side that had outclassed Luton but gifted the visitors all three points.

    The visitors, who had already performed admirably in narrow defeats at Arsenal and Manchester United, finally got a result against a top-six club that their displays had deserved.

    Despite nine new signings, Mauricio Pochettino has made just two changes to his starting line-up in their four Premier League games this season.

    VERSATILE  

    Aina said he will play “wherever” on the pitch if it means he can be involved and help the team.

    Aina took up a position on the left side of the defence at the Emirates despite preferring to play on the right but insisted this wasn’t an issue adding: “I’m happy to play wherever, I just want to play and enjoy my football. If the gaffer wants to play me up top one day I wouldn’t mind, as long as I’m on the pitch playing, so I don’t mind where.”

    The versatile defender joins The Reds having spent nearly five years playing in the Serie A with Torino but said he’s happy to be back playing in the Premier League following previous spells with Chelsea and Fulham.

    “I’m very excited to be here and I’m enjoying the challenge already.

    “I felt like I wanted to be back on English soil again and Forest is a club which has an exciting project and exciting team.

    “The manager as well, what he wants from the team is something which I want to buy into. He told me it’s a family club, he told me we have a great bunch of players, and said I would enjoy it here.

    “It’s exciting to be back playing in the Premier League. It’s the best league in the world and I always want to challenge myself. I want to stay at this level for longer.

    “I know some of the boys well already, which is good for me, but I’m excited to play with the rest of my teammates and get to know everyone better.

    LIFE IN ITALY

    The Super Eagles player in another interview recalled his five-year sojourn in Italy, and how Cristiano Ronaldo has left a lasting impression on him.

    He said he experienced language and cultural differences as a footballer in Italy and experienced top-class football playing against five-time Ballon d’Or winner Ronaldo and other players.

    Aina joined Torino from Chelsea in 2018, a loan initially, before the transfer was made permanent.

    He spoke on The Beautiful Game Podcast.

    “It was the first time in a long while I thought I could actually cry because I was alone.

    “I stayed in the hotel for two weeks before I could finally ease off.

    “I’d go for a walk and get lost because I couldn’t find my way back. I couldn’t speak the language so I didn’t know how to relate with the people, but it got better.” He said 

    The Nigerian, who has thirty caps to his name mentioned the difference in the atmosphere in the football stadiums in Italy, are better than the ones in England and only probably Anfield stands a chance among the teams in England.

    “The atmosphere is wild, what you get in normal games, is what you get in England derbies.”

    The 6 ft tall full-back talked up playing against former Real Madrid player and the player with the most goals in the history of football, he heaped praises on Cristiano Ronaldo. Reminiscing on his time in Italy, Aina said;

    “Turin Derby, playing against Ronaldo, it was crazy. Off the back of winning the Champions League, he just came from Madrid and he was on my side, and the first thing I thought was, Oh yeah! I’m getting pictures in this game.

    “He didn’t get past me a lot. He did a step over once and I thought, Oh!, That’s sharp, but my teammate was close and it wasn’t too obvious, but playing against him was wild.”

    Complementing the athleticism of the thirty-eight-year-old, Aina said;

    “He’s a proper professional, and obviously, he was getting older and wasn’t as quick and tricky as he used to be but his movement was still top-notch.

    “It’s all in the mind, I learned from that, as he doesn’t move without a motive. When he does it, it’s for a purpose.

    “He calculates time and efficiency and sometimes I ask why he didn’t move for the ball, maybe he could have gotten it if he had moved, but I realized he doesn’t do maybe’s, he moves when he’s sure he’ll get it.

    “We thought we were going to win the game, we were a goal up, but out of nowhere, a header comes, and we’re all square, and it’s Cristiano, he’s clutch.”

    When asked whether Cristiano Ronaldo is the best player ever. Aina said:

    “Are we still putting Messi in there? I’m a Ronaldo fan but until the last World Cup. Ronaldo appeals more to me, because of the way he worked for it.”

    GROWING UP

    Born in Southwark, London, Aina came through the ranks at Chelsea, signing for the Blues as an under-11.

    The defender progressed through the age groups, making his youth team debut in the 2012/13 season, a year before an impressive Chelsea side won both the FA Youth Cup and Barclays U21 Premier League title.

    That impressive Chelsea side would keep on winning in years to come, retaining the FA Youth Cup in 2014/15 alongside UEFA Youth League silverware – a title they then retained in 2015/16.

    Having worked his way up the age groups, Aina was now knocking on the door of the Chelsea first-team and was handed his long-awaited professional debut by Antonio Conte in 2016.

    This came in Chelsea’s 3-2 EFL Cup victory over Bristol Rovers, with Aina replaced by John Terry on 77 minutes.

    Having been unable to break his way into the title-winning Chelsea team, Aina embarked on his first loan move away from Stamford Bridge in 2017.

    The full-back moved north to join Sky Bet Championship side Hull City, featuring 46 times for the Tigers in the 2017/18 season.

    Representing England from under-16 level to under-20 level, Aina pledged allegiance to Nigeria in March 2017, making his debut for the Super Eagles later that year against Zambia.

    The defender has since received 30 caps for his country.

    Aina was rewarded with a new three-year deal at Stamford Bridge following an impressive loan spell with Hull, and he would continue his development with another loan move the following season, this time to Torino.

    At the end of this loan spell, however, Aina’s departure would become permanent, with the Turin club securing his services at the end of his loan for good.

    Making 37 appearances across all competitions in his first season back at Torino, Aina returned to the Premier League and returned to London with a loan move to Fulham in 2020/21.

    In a season that was played behind closed doors due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Aina impressed despite Fulham’s relegation from the top flight, playing 31 times in the league.

    His goal against West Bromwich Albion in December was a spectacular strike, so much so, that it was shortlisted for the Premier League Goal of the Season award.

    Aina would spend another two seasons at Torino following his return to Italy, racking up 113 appearances for the club before his departure at the end of the 2022/23 season.

  • I am proud to play for Nigeria — Ola Aina

    SUPER Eagles’ defender Ola Aina is happy to star for Nigeria at the ongoing 2019 African Cup of Nations in Egypt.

    The Former England youth international has 10 caps for the three-time winners and 2013 champions and has played in the Eagles two games in Egypt, providing a brilliant back heel assist for Odion Ighalo in the first game against the Swallows of Burundi in Alexandria.

    Aina, 22, also talked about missing out of the World Cup in Russia last year and how proud his family is for choosing to play for Nigeria.

    Aina told BBC Sport: “It hasn’t been an easy journey after missing out on the World Cup, but I keep working hard and now feel extremely proud to play for Nigeria,” Aina told BBC Sport.

    “Obviously, my family is proud and happy for me. It’s not easy to bounce back from tough times but I took a positive outlook at life last summer.

    Read Also: Ola Aina continues treatment

    “That transition [switching from England] has to happen, you make decisions in life and live with it.

    “Playing in this tournament is ticking something off the international list, I really love playing with this team, and it’s a huge family with an amazing spirit.”

    Aina, who started his career with Chelsea but has had stints with Hull City and Torino on loan, is expected to start the Eagles final group B match against the Bareas of Madagascar at the Alexandria Stadium tomorrow.

  • Torino 3-1 Lazio: Ola Aina scoops MOM Award

    Super Eagles full-back, Ola Aina wrapped up his loan deal with Torino in style as he picked up the man of the match award in their 3-1 home win over Lazio, AOIFootball.com reports.

    Playing in what could potentially be his last game at the Stadio Olimpico, the on-loan Chelsea wing-back started his 22nd league game of the season as Torino hoped for a final day miracle to clinch a Europa League spot.

    Read Also: Nigerian Ola Aina Makes World Top Performer

    After a goalless first 45 minutes, the host took the lead six minutes into the second half when a powerful long throw from the Nigerian flew past everyone in the box before reaching the legs of forward Iago Falque who fired home for 1-0.

    Serbian midfielder Saša Lukic doubled Torino’s lead two minutes later before Ciro Immobile reduced the deficit six minutes after the hour mark to make it 2-1.

     

  • Ola Aina continues treatment

    More details have emerged over the inability of AS Torino of Italy defender, Ola Aina failure to honour an invitation to the Super Eagles, as officials at his Serie A club say he has to continue treatment of a recent abdominal complaint.

    Although Aina returned to action last weekend and played 90 minutes in his team’s league clash, before getting a red card, sports247.ng can report that Torino insist he needs to take more checks on the stomach injury.

    Torino also disclosed that Aina will undergo strict recovery therapy, even as he is expected to miss their league matches against Fiorentina, Sampdoria and Parma after the international break, due to his sending off against Bologna.

    Consequently, Aina failed to show up in the Super Eagles’ camp for the Seychelles game yesterday and Egypt tie on Tuesday, as the on loan Chelsea of England player withdrew from the national team’s squad to enable him receive further treatment.

    Torino further disclosed that they are in touch with Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) over the matter, and the nation’s soccer governing body approved the decision for Aina to remain in Italy.

  • Lampard eager to have Aina at Derby County

     

    Nigeria’s Ola Aina is set to play for Coach Frank Lampard after it was revealed that he is ready to join Derby County on Loan despite interest from West Brom.

    The 21 year Chelsea defender has played six competitive games for the Blues, and had equally garnered experience while on loan last season with Championship side Hull City.  One of his teammates at Chelsea Mason Mount is already on loan at the Derby.

    Lampard’s tenure at Derby got off to a winning start on Friday night as the Rams beat Reading 2-1 away.

    Jon Dadi Bodvarsson put Reading ahead before Mount equalised for Derby. Tom Lawrence then proceeded to score a dramatic winner for the Rams in the fourth minute of injury time at the end of the second half.

    Lampard is hoping that the coming of Aina will further fortify the team at the back while he continues to ginger his strikers to go for goals with a view to taking the team to the next level.

    The former England Under 20 ace pledged his international future to Nigeria in May 2017 and was subsequently called up to the national team same month.

    He was named in Coach Gernot Rohr’s 30-man provisional squad ahead of the World cup in Russia but did not make the final 23.  He is however among the players being penciled down for invitation ahead of the 2019 Nations Cup qualifiers.

    He made over 44 appearances for Hull city during his loan stay with the former Premier league side which had Nigerian international Sone Aluko in its squad between 2012 and 2016.

    Aluko who currently plays for Reading, saw 90 minutes action in Friday’s tie against Derby which Reading lost 2-1.

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Nigerian Ola Aina Makes World Top Performer

    Nigerian Ola Aina Makes World Top Performer

    Which of Africa’s players shone across the world this weekend?
    According to Today’s Sport (Oniline sport publisher) Nigeria’s Hull City player made the list of the top five players that stole the shine at the weekend.
    See others below

    JOSE JORDAN

    Cedric Bakambu was arguably Africa’s outstanding performer of the week when he struck a hat-trick in Villarreal’s 3-0 victory over Eibar.

    The Congolese frontman is cultivating a reputation as something of a flat-track bully, but few Yellow Submarine fans will care as he takes his tally to five in six in the league so far this term after netting his first hat-trick for the club.

    The forward’s intelligent movement and pace makes him a lethal prospect in the Spanish top flight – when on song – and only Lionel Messi and Simone Zaza stand ahead of the former Sochaux man in the scoring charts heading into the international break.

    Dominique Badji: Last month, Colorado Rapids interim coach Steve Cooke insisted that the Senegal frontman could hit double figures on terms of goals this term and be one of the club’s top scorer for many years to come.

    It was easy to be sceptical, with the 24-year-old netting just eight goals in 46 Major League Soccer appearances during his first two campaigns.

    This year, however, he demonstrated another string to his bow when he contributed an assist for Alan Gordon’s 81st-minute winner with a fine low cross as Rapids beat Montreal Impact 2-1 at home.

    Sofyan Amrabat: When Feyenoord were smashed 4-0 at home by Manchester City in their Champions League group stage opener, there weren’t too many of the Dutch champions who emerged with much credit.

    Amrabat, featuring on the right flank, was one of a few exceptions, regardless of the fact that he was making his debut in the competition proper.

    A summer signing from FC Utrecht, the Morocco international featured across the midfield last term, but was called upon to play at right-back for the trip to AZ Alkmaar on Sunday.

    The 21-year-old delivered an outstanding display – belying the fact that was playing out of position – and contributed an assist in a magnificent 4-0 victory.

    Ola Aina has been consistently excellent for Hull City this season after signing from Chelsea on loan during the transfer window.

    The 20-year-old Nigerian defender had played just 25 minutes of league action for his parent club before this term, but has demonstrated both his improving defensive maturity and a willingness to press forward and contribute to the attack.

    He contributed an assist at the weekend as the Tigers demolished hapless Birmingham City 6-1 at home, ending their recent winless run in emphatic style.

    Kalidou Koulibaly: Only two clubs across Europe’s major leagues head into the international break with a 100 percent in domestic competition – Barcelona and Napoli.

    Maurizio Sarri’s side remain Europe’s great entertainers – they’ve netted 25 goals in their seven Serie A games so far – but their progress has been built on a magnificent defence.

    As well as delivering a commanding defensive display at home against Cagliari on Sunday, Senegal’s Koulibaly also netted the home side’s third in a 3-0 victory, and averaged a pass accuracy of 98.9 % — better than any of Napoli’s other starters.

    The centre-back also registered a team-high three tackles and three interceptions during an excellent all-round display, which reaffirmed his status as one of Serie A’s pre-eminent centre-backs today.

  • More Chelsea players join Ola Aina on loan

    More Chelsea players join Ola Aina on loan

     

    Just one more player on loan,  and Premier league defending Champions Chelsea have 22 players or complete double squad on loan across the globe.

    Nigeria born Ola Aina who started with Chelsea Youth team in 2007, joined the senior team eight years later where he made just two appearances including that of 3-0 victory over Leicester City in which he replaced compatriot Victor Moses in the 82nd minute.

    But early this month Chelsea announced they had loaned out Aina to Championship side Hull City.

    The former England U-16-20 ace is however not the only Blue on the road, in fact at the last count following Friday’s despatch of Tomas Kalas, Michael Hector and Jamal Blackman to Championship sides Fulham, Hull City and Sheffield United respectively, the number of Chelsea players on loan has hit 21 with just one player needed to form two complete squad of 22 players.

    Kalas will spend a second season loan at Fulham after signing a new four-year contract with Chelsea, while Hector will work under the Tigers’ Russian manager Leonid Slutsky, a friend of Roman Abramovich, at the KCOM Stadium.

    Blackman heads to Sheffield United, having impressed during his time with Wycombe last season.

    Chelsea’s loan business is not expected to stop with approximately 15 more players expected to be loaned out before the transfer window closes.

    Kalas’ Chelsea team-mate Lucas Piazon also signed up to a second season-long loan with Fulham earlier this month as they look to go one better and earn promotion back to the Premier League.

    The 24-year-old centre back, who has six caps for Czech Republic, was a key part of the Fulham side which finished sixth in the Championship last season only to be beaten in the play-off semi-finals by Reading.

    Kalas signed for Chelsea from Sigma Olomouc in 2010 but has made just four appearances for the club – though one of those came as a starter as Chelsea famously halted Liverpool’s title bid at Anfield in 2014.

    He has spent time on loan at Chelsea’s Dutch feeder club Vitesse Arnhem as well as at German side Cologne and with Middlesbrough and Fulham in the Championship.

    Hector, 25, joined Chelsea from Reading in 2015 before being sent straight back to the Madejski Stadium for a season.

    The 12-cap Jamaica international gained valuable experience in the Bundesliga last year with Eintracht Frankfurt and follows fellow Blue Ola Aina in joining Hull on loan.

    As well as Wycombe, Blackman has had temporary spells at Middlesbrough and Swedish club Ostersunds, and is yet to make his Chelsea debut.

    CHELSEA PLAYERS OUT ON LOAN

    GOALKEEPERS

    Nathan Baxter (Woking)

    Bradley Collins (Forest Green Rovers)

    Jamal Blackman (Sheffield United)

    DEFENDERS

    Ola Aina (Hull City)

    Fankaty Dabo (Vitesse Arnhem)

    Todd Kane (Groningen)

    Jay Dasilva (Charlton Athletic)

    Kurt Zouma (Stoke City)

    Tomas Kalas (Fulham)

    Michael Hector (Hull)

    MIDFIELDERS

    Charlie Colkett (Vitesse Arnhem)

    Mason Mount (Vitesse)

    Ruben Loftus-Cheek (Crystal Palace)

    Kasey Palmer (Huddersfield Town)

    Danilo Pantic (Partizan Belgrade)

    Lucas Piazon (Fulham)

    Josimar Quintero (Rostov)

    Marco van Ginkel (PSV)

    FORWARDS

    Tammy Abraham (Swansea City)

    Izzy Brown (Brighton & Hove Albion)

    Ike Ugbo (Barnsley)

  • Ola Aina stars with Chelsea in Watford seven goal thriller

    Super Eagles defender Ola Aina on Monday played the last 15 minutes of Chelsea’s seven goal thriller against Watford which ended 4-3 in favour of the Premier League Champions at the Stamford Bridge.

    The new invitee into the national squad was the substitute for Kenedy at the 75 minutes in the last home game match for Chelsea.

    The defender who has already secured a Nigerian passport ahead of his possible debut next month brought calm to the Chelsea defence that conceded thrice before his introduction.

    There are expected that coach Gernot Rohr may shortlist the England youth international for the the AFCON 2019 Qualifiers match against South Africa.

    The left footed player came close to winning the game for Chelsea but his effort was saved by the Watford shot stopper before Cesc Fabregas popped up with the winning goal for Chelsea two minutes before full time.

    Meanwhile, John Terry was all eyes behold in the game where he moved from hero to zero in the space of 35 seconds. Terry made his 716th Chelsea appearance and likely his penultimate one at Stamford Bridge, scoring his 67th goal.

    The 36-year-old defender will leave Chelsea this summer after 22 years and will also be expected to play on Sunday when he will lift a fifth championship title and 15th major honour.

  • Rohr sees bright future in new Super Eagles

    Super Eagles’ coach Gernot Rohr has expressed satisfaction that the team was able to discover new talents in spite of the disappointment of not playing Monday’s friendly against Burkina Faso.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Eagles were to play two friendlies but ended up playing only one against Senegal on Thursday, which ended 1-1.

    Unfortunately, the scheduled second game against Burkina Faso at the same venue of The Hive in London was called off due to visa problems.

    “We planned two international friendlies but could only play one. However, we were still able to do some work,” Rohr said on the Super Eagles official Twitter handle on Tuesday.

    “We’ve been able to see some new players and young Nigerian talents here in the U.K, who could be part of our group in the future.”

    Among the new players who were in camp with the Eagles were Chelsea’s Ola Aina, Arsenal’s Chuba Akpom, Isaac Success of Watford, and Olanrewaju Kayode of Austria Wien.

    Others are the duo of Joel Bazee of Hannover 96 and Tyronne Ebuehi of ADO Den Haag.

    Rohr also revealed that he would return to Nigeria soon to scout for more players.

    “I will be back in Lagos next week to watch some Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) games and see some of our home stars in action as we continue to plan ahead.”