Sports

Napoli fans vote Osimhen best striker ahead of Higuain, Cavani

Published

2 months ago

February 27, 2024

Fans of Italian Serie A side,
Napoli, have voted Nigerian striker, Victor Osimhen, as the best forward the club has had, ahead of clubs legends like Edinson Cavani and Gonzalo Higuain.

Shortly before the Champions League match between Napoli and Barcelona last week, the fans were tasked with picking the best of the three strikers who had y made great impacts in the team in their recent history.

After a poll, Cavani, Higuain, and Osimhen’s names popped up and although the poll had split opinions, the African Footballer of the Year came out on top.

The poll was conducted randomly as the fans were handed the quiz as they were making their way into the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium for the match.

When the results of the poll were collated at the end of the match where the Super Eagles forward scored the equaliser to tie the match at 1-1, the total number of votes was 38, split as follows:

MVictor Osimhen (18), Edinson Cavani (14) and Gonzalo Higuain (6), with the Nigeria international being the clear winner.

Cavani, who joined Napoli in 2010, quickly established himself as a dominant force in Serie A and during his time with the club, he helped Napoli clinch the Coppa Italia in 2012 and was the Serie A top scorer in the 2012-13 season with 29 league goals.

He scored 104 goals in 138 appearances and demonstrated his vital role in the team’s success, earning him the nickname “El Matador” for his clinical finishing and composure in front of goal.

Higuaín who starred for between 2013 to 2016, broke the Serie A goal scoring record in the 2015-16 season by scoring 36 league goals, setting a new Serie A record for most goals in a season.

On his part, Osimhen was sensational last season as he led Napoli to their first Serie A title in 33 years, scoring 26 goals to emerge the highest goal scorer, the first African player to achieve such feat in the Italian league.

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Sports

Al Ahly, Esperance to clash in CAF Champions League final

Published

4 hours ago

April 27, 2024

Akanimoh Etim

Two of Africa’s club giants, Egypt’s Al Ahly and Esperance of Tunisia, will do battle next month over two legs for the right to be crowned champions of the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League.

Title-holders Al Ahly and their long-standing rivals Esperance both booked their places in the final with dramatic semi-final victories over DR Congo”s TP Mazembe and Mamelodi Sundowns of South Africa respectively on Friday night.

While Al Ahly, winners of five of the last seven editions of the continent’s top draw tournament, with a record 11 in total, overcame TP Mazembe with a 3-0 aggregate victory in the semi-final second leg after a goalless first leg last Saturday, Esperance surprised Sundowns with a 1-0 victory in Pretoria to wrap up a 2-0 aggregate win.

The two-legged final will mark the third encounter between Ahly and Esperance in the Champions League final, with the Egyptians winning in 2012 and the Tunisians triumphing in 2018.

In 2023, the two clubs clashed in the semi-finals with Ahly emerging victorious home and away, securing a 4-0 aggregate triumph.

Esperance who are aiming for a fifth Champions League title, will host the first leg in Rades on May 18, with the return fixture scheduled in Cairo seven days later.

Sports

Former Zambian captain Rainford Kalaba discharged from hospital after near-fatal accident

Published

1 day ago

April 26, 2024

Akanimoh Etim

Former Zambian national team captain, Rainford Kalaba, has been discharged from hospital weeks after he was involved in a near-fatal accident where he sustained serious injuries.

The accident which involved a head-on collision between a Mercedes-Benz car in which Kalaba was in, and a truck, had initially sparked fears for his life and has since been in the Intensive Care Unit of the Zambian University Teaching Hospital (UTH).

The good news on the footballer’s progress was released by the UTH Public Relations Officer, Nzeba Chanda, who informed that the Chipolopolo legend has been discharged after showing positive signs of recovery.

“Mr. Rainford Kalaba has been discharged from the UTH-Adult where he was admitted after being involved in a road traffic accident two weeks ago,” Chanda said, adding that Kalaba will continue his recovery at his family home.

According to local media reports, the 37-year-old was a passenger in a Mercedes Benz when it collided with an oncoming truck in the south-eastern Zambian town of Kafue a week and five days ago.

In his active playing days, Kalaba spent the majority of his club career at TP Mazembe of the Democratic Republic of Congo, winning the CAF Champions League with the club in 2015 and the CAF Confederation Cup in 2016.

He also had a spell with clubsides in Portugal including FC Braga, and was a major part of the Zambian squad that won the Africa Cup of Nations in 2012 under Frenchman, Herve Renard.