Ex Nigeria and FC Barcelona winger Emmanuel Amuneke says it will be almost impossible for any single Real Madrid player to stop Lionel Messi.
Growing up in Ajegunle, when football was the religion and Cristiano Ronaldo was a high priest, Real Madrid and the Santiago Bernabeu was the Cathedral in the eye of us football acolytes.
Arsenal was held to a 3-3 draw after falling two goals behind at Emirates Stadium on Friday evening in an English Premier League encounter of 2017.
Nigeria’s Alex Iwobi started upfront for Arsenal alongside Alexandre Lacazette, Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil while Dominic Solanke was named on the substitutes bench for the visitors.
The Reds dominantly started on the front foot in the encounter and their sustained pressure would pay off in the 26th minute mark with Mohamed Salah raided down the right flank before sending an incisive cross for Phillipe Coutinho to attack, the Brazilian guiding a header over Peter Cech.
Salah eventually doubled Liverpool’s advantage seven minutes after the restart, finishing off a sublime pass from strike partner, Roberto Firmino with a deflected effort which found the bottom corner.
Arsene Wenger’s men hit back almost immediately through Alexis Sanchez, the Chilean getting onto the end of a Hector Bellerin’s cross to head home from close range, thereby kick starting a magnificent five-minute turnaround.
Iwobi teed up Granit Xhaka who rattled in a powerful strike from 25 yards to draw the game level first before Ozil pounced to make it 3-2, combining with Lacazette to lift a sensational effort over Mignolet and in.
But Firmino spared his side’s blushes with a well taken equalizer with less than 20 minutes left to play, ensuring Jurgen Klopp’s side held onto fourth place on the standings going into the new year.
Alex Iwobi, who had a poor game, was replaced by Danny Welbeck with 12 minutes left of the game while Dominic Solanke could not make it off the bench for the entirety of the game.
Argentina central defender Emanuel Mammana has expressed fears ahead of their clash against the Super Eagles of Nigeria in the 2018 World Cup to be staged in Russia.
Le Abiceleste are paired in Group D in the World Cup draw that took place a forth night ago alongside the Super Eagles of Nigeria, the Fiery Ones of Croatia and Our Boys of Iceland.
Both Nigeria and Argentina have previously had meetings at the biggest global football event in the past, with the latter having all the triumphs.
However, at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta-Georgia in the United States of America, it was the Super Eagles that carried the day in a dramatic 3-2 win in the final.
Their most recent in an international friendly saw Nigeria again coming back from 2-0 down to earn a 4-2 win over Jorge Sampaoli’s troops, thus creating fear in the heart of Mammana.
The Fc Zenit St Petersburg defender has now said playing against Nigeria will be the most difficult in the group, and has thus expressed his weariness in the finesse of the Eagles.
The 21-year-old Mammana did not see action in Krasnodar, Russia on November 14 when Nigeria earned the comeback win as he was on the bench all through.
”All the groups are difficult, Argentina has three very complicated rivals, with Nigeria we played recently, Iceland had a very good European Championship and Croatia is a country that always fights,” Mammana told TyC Sports.
”We know that we have the best of the world on our team and that gives you peace of mind.
”We all want Argentina to be a champion and that Leo can win a World Cup, that is the only thing he lacks.”
Emanuel Mammana has been capped three times by Argentinian senior national team since his first appearance against Slovenia in 2014.
Nigeria and Argentina will lock horn with each other for the fifth time in the group stage of the World Cup at Krestovsky Stadium, Saint Petersburg on June 26.
Super Eagles Technical Adviser, Gernot Rohr has expressed his absolute excitement after hearing the news confirming the friendly contest.
Speaking with Reporters, Super Eagles Media officer, Oluwatoyin Ibitoye said the Franco-German tactician was excited on hearing the news.
The Eagles Media officer also revealed that the Coach had earlier targeted top international friendlies for the team ahead of the FIFA mundial.
“Coach Rohr believes that top friendlies will help the team improve a lot before the World Cup, so he was so excited when he was told that the England game has been concluded” Ibitoye stated.
The Super Eagles warm up game against England is slated for 2nd of June, 2018 to be played at the famous Wembley Stadium in London.
Meanwhile, Leicester City manager Claude Puel has warned that Nigeria forward Kelechi Iheanacho must keep improving to stake his place at the club.
The Nigerian, who was bought in the summer from Manchester City for £25m, has yet to live up to his price tag. He has scored just once since arriving from Manchester City.
Iheanacho’s national teammate Wilfred Ndidi is a regular at the former English premier league champions since joining them from Belgian side Genk for £17m in January.
The 21-year-old Iheanacho has made only five EPL appearances for the Foxes this season and has yet to score any goal in the league – Iheanacho has started the five matches from the bench.
The 2013 UAE U-17 World Cup Golden Ball winner was given his first start of the season against his former club in the League Cup quarter-final during the week.
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