Cristiano Ronaldo Set for Juventus

Cristiano Ronaldo has "already signed" for Juventus according to the club's former CEO Luciano Moggi, who claimed he tried to bring the Real Madrid star to Italy when he was a teenager.

Serie A champions Juventus are reported to have made a bid of €100 million (£88m/$116m) for Ronaldo, who is Madrid's all-time leading goalscorer after nine seasons at Santiago Bernabeu.

Moggi, who headed up Juve's board from 1994 until 2006 when he was a central figure in the Italian football scandal that saw him given a life ban from football, was initially sceptical of the deal going through, but has since claimed the transfer was already at an advanced stage.

The 80-year-old told Italian TV network Tele7Gold : "In my opinion, he has already signed and passed the medical examination with Juventus in Munich.

"This is what I think after talking to important people."

Moggi recalled his attempts to make Ronaldo a Juventus player in 2002, when he was emerging from the Sporting CP youth ranks and becoming one of the Primeira Liga's hottest talents.

A proposed transfer involving Chilean striker Marcelo Salas moving in the opposite direction never transpired, according to Moggi, and Ronaldo joined Manchester United in 2003.

"I received an alert," said the former Juve chief. "I sent an observer to look at him, he was an 18-year-old boy, but he impressed me with his maturity and his choices.

"In the middle of the day I made the contract. Unfortunately, Marcelo Salas refused to sign for Sporting Lisbon because he wanted to return to River Plate.

"I offered five million more for an 18-year-old player, but it could not be done at that time."

The prospect of the Portugal star joining up with the Turin giants has been talked up by potential team-mate Blaise Matuidi , who said: "It would be great to have one of the best players in the world with Juventus in the same club that I am."

And the idea of the 33-year-old reuniting with former Madrid colleague Gonzalo Higuain has the latter's brother and agent excited, as he believes they would be "fantastic" together

 



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FIFA Rebukes Maradona

 The governing body responded to the criticism of officials, describing the Argentine's comments as "entirely inappropriate and completely unfounded".

 

Diego Maradona

FIFA issued a statement that "strongly rebukes" Diego Maradona's criticism of referee Mark Geiger following England's World Cup penalty shoot-out win over Colombia on Tuesday.

The Argentina icon – who has rarely been out of the headlines during Russia 2018 – believes Colombia were victims of a "monumental theft"  and laid into the performance of the officials.

FIFA responded and described the 57-year-old's comments as "entirely inappropriate and completely unfounded".

A statement read: "Following comments made by Diego Armando Maradona in relation to Tuesday's round of 16 game, Colombia v England, FIFA strongly rebukes the criticism of the performance of the match officials which it considers to have been positive in a tough and highly emotional match.

"Furthermore, it also considers the additional comments and insinuations made as being entirely inappropriate and completely unfounded.

"At a time when FIFA is doing everything within its power to ensure principles of fair play, integrity and respect are at the forefront of this World Cup and how the organisation is now run, FIFA is extremely sorry to read such declarations from a player who has written the history of our game."

Jose Pekerman's side received six bookings in a tempestuous match, but Maradona had said Colombia could feel robbed and questioned the decision of FIFA referees chief Pierluigi Collina to appoint American official Geiger.

Speaking to teleSUR , he said: "I saw a monumental theft on the pitch. I apologise to all the Colombian people, but the players are not to blame for this.

"Here is a gentleman [Collina] who is the one who decides to choose a referee by just Googling him. He cannot be put in to referee a match of this magnitude."

 



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World Cup Gist: CNN Nominates Ahmed Musa's Goal Among First Round's Best

Super Eagles forward, Ahmed Musa's first goal against Iceland has been nominated by CNN Sports as one of the best scored in the group stage of the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

 

Ahmed Musa

 

American Cable News Network (CNN) Sports has nominated Super Eagles Forward Ahmed Musa’s first goal against Iceland as one of the best scored in the group stage of the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

 

Similarly, the channel nominated Lionel Messi of Argentina’s goal in group stage goal against Nigeria among the best in the fiesta holding in Russia.

 

CNN Sports announced the nomination via its Twitter handle on Friday.

 

According to it, other two players whose goals were in the shortlisted are Portugal’s Ricardo Quaresma (versus Iran), Spain’s Nacho (versus Portugal).

 

It described the goal scored by Musa against Iceland in a 2-0 win as a delight to watch as he skillfully brought down a cross by Victor Moses before smashing the ball into the roof of the net from inside the box.

 

CNN said that fans were expected to cast votes in the poll for the best goal among the four nominated goals while voting would end on Saturday.

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World Cup Gist: How Mbappe Sent Messi Home

Argentina has finally been booted out of the World Cup after suffering a devastating defeat in the hands of France.

France celebrating after defeating Argentina

 

Two goals from Kylian Mbappe (64', 68'), one each from Antoine Griezmann (13' PK) Benjamin Pavard (57') was all France needed to progress to the next round as they dumped Argentina out of the World Cup. 

 

The game ended 4-3 in France's favour.

 

Argentina's three goals from Angel Di Maria (41'), Gabriel Mercado (48') and Sergio Aguero (90' +3) were not enough. France will now progress to meet winners between Portugal and Uruguay who will play this evening.

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World Cup Gist: Meet the Last 16 Teams, Match Schedules Play Out

The ongoing world cup tournament happening in Russia has rounded up its group stage matched and now focuses on the round of 16.

Argentina knocked out Nigeria to reach the round of 16

 

The World Cup 2018 group stages were brought to a close on Thursday evening as Belgium beat England to top Group G. 

 

England were vocal about keeping their winning streak alive to preserve precious momentum but in the end a team featuring eight new faces from the one that beat Panama was edged by a second-string Belgium side. 

 

With a busy schedule, here is the guide on how to watch every second of the action. 

 

The full World Cup 2018 fixture schedule is included below, with timings, venues and TV channels included.

 

Round of 16

 

Saturday 30 June

 

France vs Argentina - Kazan, 3pm (Match 50)

 

Uruguay vs Portugal - Sochi, 7pm (Match 49)

 

Sunday 1 July

 

Spain vs Russia - Moscow (Luzhniki), 3pm (Match 51)

 

Croatia vs Denmark - Nizhny Novgorod, 7pm (Match 52)

 

Monday 2 July

 

Brazil vs Mexico - Samara, 3pm (Match 53)

 

Belgium vs Japan - Rostov-on-Don, 7pm (Match 54)

 

Tuesday 3 July

 

Sweden vs Switzerland - St Petersburg 3pm (Match 55)

 

Colombia vs England - Moscow (Spartak), 7pm (Match 56)

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Lagos Tanker Explosion: Survivors Narrate Horrific Tales

It was black Thursday in Lagos yesterday, when a fully-loaded 33,000-litre fuel tanker exploded on Otedola Bridge along Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, killing many people and razing about 67 vehicle.

 

Rescue workers at the scene of the Lagos tanker fire

 

Witnesses and survivors have recounted the horrific fire from an oil tanker that killed nine people and destroyed 54 cars when the tanker fell on Otedola Bridge along Lagos-Ibadan Expressway Thursday evening.

 

According to report by Vanguard, an eyewitness identified as Adewale Adesanya, who spoke to the publication, said he never envisaged that the truck would experience any brake failure. He said that immediately the vehicle experienced brake failure, it fell and spilled its contents.

 

“Due to the state of the road, I saw the content spilling towards my vehicle with fire accompanying it. So I quickly ran out of the vehicle and cross to the other side to avoid been caught in the inferno.”

 

Another survivor, Michael Simon, whose car was razed, said: “I am happy I didn’t die while trying to escape from the scene. I tried manoeuvring my vehicle to avoid been burnt but my efforts proved abortive.”

 

Another witness identified as Maria Oje, described her escape as the handiwork of God, adding that she saw some motorists’ who failed to run for safety.

 

“One of them who was on fire fell down, as he could not run any longer. Nobody could rescue them as everyone was also running for dear life.”

 

Nkechi Obiageli, who is another witness said: “I was in a commercial bus heading towards the Mowe area of Ogun State. The bus was beside the tanker.

 

“There was traffic and when it cleared a little, the bus driver manoeuvred his way to the front. We were about a few vehicles away from the tanker when we heard the sound of an explosion.

 

“The fuel from the tanker spilled on the expressway and all the vehicles at its back went up in flames. People ran for dear life. There was confusion everywhere.”

 

A bus driver, Sunday Esene, said his vehicle was burnt in the accident. “I had just dropped off my passengers at Berger bus stop and turned to buy fuel. I was on my way back when I saw the tanker.

"All of a sudden, it tumbled and hit the median. As soon as I realised that fuel was spilling out of the tanker, I abandoned my bus and jumped to the other side of the road. A few seconds later, the tanker exploded. I am sure over 50 vehicles got burnt with many lives lost.”

 

A motorist, Aderibigbe Oluwafemi, said he escaped death by a whisker as the tanker was in front of his vehicle.

 

“We were in traffic. When the traffic eased a little, I noticed that the tanker in my front did not move. The next thing I saw was that the tanker started moving backwards and it fell.

"Immediately it fell, I opened my door, removed my key, phone and jumped to the other side of the road. My car got burnt, but I am happy to be alive.”

 

It took the effort of the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), Lagos State Traffic Management Agency (LASTMA), Lagos State Fire Service, Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Lagos State Ambulance Service (LASAMBUS), State Environmental Health Monitoring Unit (SEHMU), Rapid Response Squad (RRS), the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), the police and other agencies to put out the fire and restore calm on the road.

 

General Manager, LASEMA, Adeshina Tiamiyu, said: “The accident happened around 5.25pm and involved a tanker loaded with petrol. The tanker fell and spilt its content, causing fire which burnt 54 vehicles. The vehicles, which were of different models, were trapped behind the truck.

 

“Some motorists, who turned to run away, crashed into other vehicles. Some jumped out and others fell into the gutter in the course of running away. We found dead bodies on the ground and in the gutter. Some of the people who died in the gutter had probably been caught by the fire and jumped into the gutter to put it out.

 

“Nine dead bodies have been recovered and four were injured. Two were seriously injured, while two sustained minor injuries. The injured have been taken to a hospital, while the bodies have been taken by SEHMU to the mainland hospital mortuary. We are currently making efforts to remove the burnt vehicles from the road.”

 

(NAN)

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