The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Real Madrid

  • UEFA president ‘worried’ over use of VAR at World Cup

    UEFA President, Aleksander Ceferin has expressed concern over the decision to employ the video replay system ( VAR ) at the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

    He also said the technology still needed more testing before it can be considered for use in the Champions League.

    World football governing body, FIFA voted in March to deploy VAR at the June-July tournament in Russia.

    It was only two weeks after its use was approved by IFAB, the organisation responsible for rule changes in the sport.

    “I have some fear for the World Cup, where we will have referees who have never officiated with the VAR,” Ceferin told Italian paper Gazzetta dello Sport in an interview.

    “I hope there are no scandals or problems,”

    Ceferin has already said that VAR would not be used in the Champions League next season.

    “The Champions League is like a Ferrari or a Porsche: you cannot drive it right away, you need training, offline testing. And everyone has to understand how it works,” he said.

    “It’s too early for VAR. That doesn’t mean we will never have it as the process is inevitable… We’ll have it one day in the Champions League but there’s no rush.”

    VAR is already being used in Serie A, the Bundesliga and Portugal’s Primeira Liga this season, among others.

    Read Also: Klopp predicts fiery UEFA Champions League clash against Manchester City

    IFAB insists it has reduced refereeing mistakes but critics say there has been confusion in a number of matches.

    Goals have been annulled several minutes after being scored — with the teams waiting to restart — and penalties revoked with the ball on the spot.

    Another criticism is that the spectators are not kept informed of what is happening when a decision is reviewed.

    Ceferin said that VAR would not have made any difference in last week’s Champions League quarter-final between Real Madrid and Juventus, where a soft stoppage-time penalty led to the Spanish side advancing 4-3 on aggregate.

    “What would have changed with VAR? Nothing. There are those who have watched it 20 times, I’ve watched it 50, but for half the people it’s a penalty and for the other half, it isn’t.”

    NAN

  • UCL: Bayern Face Real Madrid, Liverpool Draw AS Roma

    Bayern Munich will play against Real Madrid in the Semi-Finals of the UEFA Champions League, as Liverpool will lock horns with AS Roma.

    Real Madrid reached the last four with a last-gasp 4-3 aggregate victory over Juventus. They had won 3-0 in Turin in a match where Cristiano Ronaldo scored a wonder goal, and lost 3-1 at the Santiago Bernabeau. Ronaldo again had the final word of the match, when he converted an injury-time penalty after Gianluigi Buffon was sent off for his furious reaction to referee Michael Oliver’s decision.

    Bayern Munich on their part only had to hold on to a goalless draw in the second leg against Sevilla, with a  2-1 first-leg away win enough to take them through.

    Liverpool, the last English side standing in the competition this season, face AS Roma after cruising past fellow Premier League rivals Manchester City with a 5-1 aggregate victory. The Reds won 3-0 at Anfield, and also secured a 2-1 victory at the Etihad Stadium.

    AS Roma on their part secured an incredible away-goals comeback victory over Barcelona to get through, beating the Spanish giants 3-0 in Roma having lost the first leg 4-1 at Camp Nou.

    Bayern Munich host Real Madrid on 24th April and Liverpool entertain AS Roma a day after. The reverse fixtures take will take place with AS Roma hosting Liverpool on 1st May, and Real Madrid host Liverpool on 2nd May, 2018.

    The draw further revealed that the winner between Bayern Munich and Real Madrid will play “host” in the final at the Olimpiyskiy Stadium, Kyiv on 26th May, 2018

  • Real Madrid Foundation SC begins with 300 kids

    ABOUT 300 kids registered yesterday for the maiden edition of the Real Madrid Foundation Soccer Clinic, which began at the Campos Mini Stadium, Lagos.

    Organisers of the event, SPR Luxury Limited stated that the number of participants would rise as more kids have continued to come to the venue for registration. One of the Project Managers, Yomi Bawa-Allah stated that it was pleasant to see that the kids showed interest in the clinic, noting that they were taking their first step towards success.

    Apart from learning football skills in line with Real Madrid’s philosophy, Bawa-Allah noted that the kids would also learn life skills which would help them excel in other fields in future, adding that the qualities of Real Madrid players would be instilled into the kids.

    According to the Project Manager, the coaches – Daniel Rotella and Rodrigo Rubles – would take the kids through the rudiments of the game for the next 10 days. He assured that the event would get better with every edition, promising that more kids in different states of the federation would benefit from the programme.

    “This programmes is meant to equip the youth with the basic knowledge of football. They will also learn life skills that would make them become big stars in future. For so many of them here, this is a stepping stone to greater things,” Bawa-Allah added.

    Former Minister of State for Defence, Ambassador Musiliu Obanikoro who declared the programme open with a pep talk and the kick off, enjoined the participants to be focused and believe in their abilities. He stated that programmes like this would help them shape their careers in future.

    “I must commend SPR Luxury Limited for putting this event together. Since they started the plan for the event, I have been encouraging them and I am happy it has come to fruition. I am sure people will see the benefits of the clinic and come on board to support them,” Obanikoro added.

    The clinic ends on April 14.

  • Ronaldo thanks Juventus supporters for applauding his goal

    Cristiano Ronaldo thanked Juventus fans who applauded his stunning bicycle kick goal for Real Madrid against the Italian side on Tuesday.

    The Portugal forward also said he had been hoping for a long time to score in such spectacular fashion.

    “Obviously people are talking about my second goal….it was a spectacular goal, possibly the best of my career,” he said in a video posted on several Spanish websites after the Champions League tie in Turin.

    “I scored once for the national team with a bicycle kick, which hit the post and went in, but this was a bit better.

    “I had been looking to score a goal like that for a long time but it depends on the circumstances of the match.

    Read Also: Ronaldo stunning bicycle kick helps Real take charge v Juve

    Sometimes, it doesn’t work, but you always have to try. I tried and I scored,” said Ronaldo.

    The goal, second in Real’s 3-0 win in the quarter-final first leg, was scored when the Real Madrid forward met Dani Carvajal’s cross with an incredible overhead kick, and was applauded by the home fans.

    “This was one of the nicest moments. To be applauded by the Juventus stadium, where so many great footballers have played, it’s a top moment for me.

    “It’s something that stays in your heart…I want to thank all the Italians who were here in the stadium and applauded me,” Ronaldo said.

    NAN

  • No time to blink for Florentino Perez

     

    Real Madrid President Florentino Perez is neither interested in  monitoring  the team’s quarterfinal clash against Juventus from afar, nor ready to wait to be told how the war was fought in Turin.

    Perez boarded with the team Monday as they jetted out to Turin ahead of the first leg clash.

    Madrid take on the Turin in the first leg in what is a repeat of the 2017 Champions League final on Tuesday night.

    A host of Madrid players, who all wore matching navy Hugo Boss suits, posted pictures on Instagram of them departing Spain.

    Sergio Ramos looked relaxed with his headphones in as he made his way to the plane and alongside him was Perez.

    Isco, who scored a hat-trick against Argentina in Spain’s 6-1 victory last Tuesday, looked laid back also with his headphones in.

    Defender Raphael Varane posted a photo on the social media platform heading for the plane and behind him was Gareth Bale, while Toni Kroos also took to Instagram.

    The club’s official Twitter account also posted a picture of Varane and Karim Benzema on the plane with the caption: ‘We’re on our way to Turin!’

    It is a big nine days coming up for Zinedine Zidane’s side as after Tuesday’s match Madrid return to league action with a derby against Atletico Madrid on Sunday, before the return leg at the Santiago Bernabeu on April 11.

    But Madrid come into the Champions League tie in fine form after winning all of their games in March and Madrid also came out on top in the final last year against the Serie A side 4-1.

    Madrid had announced their 24-man squad for the last-eight match earlier in the day. Juventus comfortably topping the Seria A table go into Tuesday showdown equally in super form on the heels of a 3-1 defeat of AC Milan. Juve have won four of their last five matches pulling only a 0-0 draw against SPAL.

  • Golf loving Bale transforms garden into dream course

     

    Wales star Gareth Bale has finally finished transforming his back garden into homage to some of the most iconic holes in golf.

    In 2015 the Real Madrid ace, an avid golf fan, revealed he was embarking on a project that would see the 17th hole at Sawgrass, the ‘postage stamp’ 8th at Royal Troon and the fabled 12th at Augusta National recreated at his £4million home in the Vale of Glamorgan, south Wales.

    He enlisted the help of Southwest Greens, a company that specialise in the design and installation of state-of-the-art synthetic turf and lawns.

    UK-based architects James Edwards and Mark Ely drew up the holes and worked with Southwest Greens to provide the Welsh winger with the perfect practice facility.

    ‘I had a lovely bit of land here and it was something that I really wanted to do and I decided that I would love to make a dream come true and build a mini golf course in my house,’ Bale said.

    ‘I did my research online and I found Southwest Greens. I wanted a lot of low maintenance.

    ‘We came up with a big concept of what I wanted to do. We loved the idea of it and went from a plain piece of land to building what we have now.

    The par-three 17th TPC Sawgrass was one of the three holes painstakingly recreated in south Wales by top course designers.

    Bale is currently in Nanning, China, with Ryan Giggs’ Wales squad ahead of this week’s China Cup.

    The president of Southwest Greens, Kevin Holinaty, told WalesOnline exactly how the project came to fruition.

    ‘We worked with Gareth to decipher what his wishes were, being that he’s a keen golfer and like all of us that like to play the game, you have your favourite holes, you have your dream scenarios.

    ‘He came to us with that; James Edwards at EDI Golf Design was very much involved in that process. We came up with a design that we wanted to move forward with.

    Bale was keen to be involved from the beginning in all areas of the design, with meetings held in Madrid and Wales to fine tune the details. He asked the designers to fit the three holes on the site as sensitively as possible at their full length

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Spain’s prosecutor seeks five-year jail for Xavi Alonso on tax fraud

    Spain’s prosecutor said on Wednesday it was seeking a five-year jail sentence and a fine of 4 million euros (£3.5 million) for former soccer player Xavi Alonso over accusations of tax fraud.

    The prosecutor said in a statement Alonso is accused of defrauding the Spanish state some 2 million euros between 2010 and 2012.

    The prosecutor called for the same sentence to be applied to Alonso’s financial advisor Ivan Zaldua Azcuenaga and the administrator of consultancy shell company, Ignasi Maestre Casanova.

    Read Also: Alonso: Gerrard good enough for Spain team

    The Spanish government has been clamping down on footballers who are found guilty of either evading or avoiding tax.

    Barcelona’s Lionel Messi and Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo were recently prosecuted for similar offenses.

    NAN

  • Ronaldo’s son strikes a very familiar pose

    Ronaldo’s son strikes a very familiar pose

     

    It’s one of the most iconic photos of such a global superstar.Four years ago, Cristiano Ronaldo smashed home Real Madrid’s fourth in their Champions League rout of Atletico Madrid to claim the famous trophy at Estadio da Luz in Lisbon, Portugal.

    Upon doing so, he whipped his shirt off to reveal his considerable physique during his celebration.

    His son, then three, will have a limited recollection of that famous night in Ronaldo’s home country, but he has brought it all back to life with his own rendition of the famous celebration.

    Ronaldo on Thursday took a snap of his son in the gym, with Jnr striking an incredibly familiar pose.

    The Portuguese superstar wrote: ‘Jnr say daddy I’m gonna be like you!!! What do you think??’

    Ronaldo was rested for Tuesday’s clash as Real slumped to a shock defeat against Espanyol.

    On Saturday Ronaldo and Co welcome Getafe to the Bernabeu but the Portugese striker could be rested again ahead of the midweek Champions League second leg tie against PSG.

    Meanwhile Real Madrid chief Florentino Perez is out to make smooth run difficult for Ronaldo at the Bernabeu after speculations that he plans to offload as many as ten players including the duo of Gareth Bale and Karim Benzema who have blended well with Ronaldo and have helped in winning back to back Champions league in 2016 and 2017.

    Perez is said to want Bale gone because of his repetitive injuries, while Benzema has only netted three league goals all season.

    However, the president will have to reinvest in his squad to provide Ronaldo with other partners, and injured Paris Saint-Germain’s Neymar is thought to be his top target.

    Diario Gol add that goalkeeper Keylor Navas is another that is expected to be shipped out – David De Gea or Thibaut Courtois are touted as his successor.

    Isco has struggled to impress when given the chance and he will be also be one of the first heading out.

    The futures of Raphael Varane and Mateo Kovacic are up in the air and could be moved on to make room for new signings.

  • Ronaldo: No need to worry I am still handsome

    Ronaldo: No need to worry I am still handsome

     

    Fine boy’ Cristiano Ronaldo says he is still impressed with what he sees on the mirror despite the facial injury he got last week.

    The Real Madrid star  who is not only concerned about playing but also marketing himself  said he is still handsome’ after sustaining a facial injury during their comprehensive victory over Deportivo La Coruna.

    Ronaldo is still wearing the battle scars after the clash with an opposition defender left a cut on the side of his face pouring with blood.

    The image-conscious Portugal international was seen checking his blood-drenched face on the mobile phone of a club doctor as he left the pitch injured last Sunday which later required him to have three stitches above the eye.

    ‘Players often hit me in games because they have to stop me but this time I wasn’t so lucky,’ Ronaldo said in an interview with Chinese social network Dongqiudi.

    ‘Now I feel better, I am still happy, I am still handsome and my vision is as clear as before so there’s no problem.’

    Ronaldo is in the midst of his worst domestic run of form since joining Real from Manchester United in 2009 for a then world-record fee of £80million, with only six league goals to his name, although he is top scorer in the Champions League.

    Real are also enduring a dramatic fall from grace after sweeping to the Champions League and La Liga titles last season, with Zinedine Zidane’s men currently 19 points adrift of league leaders Barcelona.

    Madrid were also dumped out of the Copa del Rey by Leganes on Wednesday which has sparked rumours Ronaldo could be open to leaving Spain amid interest from Paris Saint-Germain.

    Ronaldo, however, believes they can still salvage their season by winning the Champions League, with a mouth-watering last 16 tie with Ligue 1 leaders and potential suitors PSG awaiting them next month.

    ‘As this is Real Madrid, the fans, coaches and players are very, very disappointed with our current position but it’s still early,’ he added.

    ‘Perhaps at the end of the season we’ll win the Champions League and then people will say “What an incredible season”.’

    The five-times Ballon d’Or winner also said he wished to remain at Real for many years, despite reports in the Spanish media claiming he is in dispute with club president Florentino Perez over the unfulfilled promise of a new contract.

    ‘Of course I love living here, I’ve lived here since 2009 and I love the climate and the people,’ he said.

    ‘Spain is a great country and of course I want to stay here, I love this club.’

     

     

  • Ronaldo, Madrid nominated for Laureus awards

    Ronaldo, Madrid nominated for Laureus awards

     

    Cristiano Ronaldo has been nominated for the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year award and Real Madrid are in contention for the Team of the Year gong.

    Ronaldo claimed the Ballon d’Or for a fifth time last month and is among the six nominees for the prestigious Laureus award, which he has never won.

    Madrid could also be recognised for a stellar 2017 at a ceremony in Monaco on February 27 after winning the UEFA Champions League, LaLiga and FIFA Club World Cup.

    Prolific forward Ronaldo faces competition from Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Lewis Hamilton, Mo Farah and Chris Froome.

    Federer, also nominated for the Comeback of the Year category, was crowned Australian Open and Wimbledon champion, while Nadal won a 10th French Open title and the US Open.

    Hamilton claimed a fourth Formula One title, while Froome became only the third man to win the Tour de France and Vuelta a Espana in the same year.

    Farah took gold in the 10,000 metres and 5,000m silver at the IAAF World Championships on home soil in his final year as a track athlete.

    The great Serena Williams is among the nominees for World Sportswoman of the Year after winning the Australian Open while pregnant.

    Garbine Muguruza is also in the running following her maiden Wimbledon triumph, while athletes Allyson Felix and Caster Semenya are among the contenders following a ballot by the world’s sports media.

    American duo Katie Ledecky and Mikaela Shiffrin also made the list, reward for their remarkable swimming and skiing exploits respectively.

    The France Davis Cup team, Golden State Warriors, New England Patriots, Mercedes and New Zealand’s America’s Cup winners are the other contenders for the Team of the Year award.