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Cristiano Ronaldo might be 40 years old but last night, he reminded the world why he is still the greatest predator Football has ever seen as Portugal beat Spain on Penalties to win the UEFA Nations league. While this week has seen arguments about if Frank Ribery should have won the 2013 Ballon D'or or not (He should go and sit down somewhere abeg), Ronaldo quietly went about his business putting a stop to Spain's hope of winning the Nations League. Lamine Yamal had been hoping to make a statement with this trophy as he continues to lead the charge to win the Ballon D'or this year but in this match, he was nowhere to be found as Portuguese Nuno Mendes kept him out of the game (By the way I believe Nuno is the best Left back in football right now).

Spain took the lead in the 21st minute through Zubimendi but Mendes got Portugal back on track, then Oyarzabal(His fifth goal in 5 finals) scored to restore Spain's lead. The man for all occasion rose in the 61st minute to restore parity. Although he was subbed off in the 88th minute due to Injury, he kept urging his teammates on from the sidelines. And when Spanish Captain Alvaro Morata lost his penalty, Portugal took advantage to claim yet another international trophy.

Yamal was on the pitch till the 106th minute but I believe he should have been subbed off earlier because he was offering nothing down the right wing, Mendes had him on lock!

But as King Ronaldo said after the match, Yamal is still young and will go on to win lots of titles but for now, Oga na Master.

AC Milan are working on a deal to sign Luka Modric for one year but honestly? I think everyone involved get brain problem. Why do you want to sign Modric to still play high level football at 39? Why does Modric still want to play at 39? He should go back to Croatia, pick a club to play out and enjoy his final days.

As for Milan, they are about to sell Tijjani Reijnders to Manchester City for 70 million Euros, are they saying they can't spend half of that money on a youngster coming up? Modric can not give you 90 minutes 3 times in two weeks, his legs simply can't. And if Milan are serious about getting back to the top of Italian football, their transfer policies have to be better.

Then Again, Italian clubs are broke.

What did your club win this season? What are you expecting to win next season? Is your Club a serious one? Well, weekend wey go sweet, na from Wednesday we go know. Clubs have started taking steps to make sure they come out on top next season. Let's check out some of them.

Real Madrid started off by letting Coach Carlo Ancelotti after they ended the season without a major trophy. Xabi Alonso has been brought in from Bayer Leverkusen to replace him. They have also signed Trent Alexander-Arnold from Liverpool though they have paid 10 million for him to arrive early for the Club World Cup.

Liverpool have gone to get Frimpong as a replacement from Bayer Leverkusen and are looking to also sign Florian Wirtz from the same club. They spent 35 million euros on Frimpong and with another 130 million euros bid for Wirtz, only God knows just how much they are looking to spend to fortify their league winning squad.

Manchester City,Manchester City. How the mighty have fallen? Last season was Pep Guardiola's worst one as a coach, not only did City end the season trophyless, they struggled to make the Top 5. Qualified for Next season's Champions league on the Last day. However, they have got to work to fix their mistakes. AC Milan's Tijjani Reijnders is their Top midfield target while deals for Left back Ait-nouri (Wolverhampton) and Right back Livremento (Newcastle) are said to be in progress, let's see what they can do.

Conference League Winner Chelsea have quickly wrapped up deals for Ipswich striker Delap, paying his 30million pounds release clause. While they have have younsgters Estevao and Kendry Paez coming in from Brazil. Deals for another Striker is also still in the works while a center back is off utmost priority. Can they finally challenge for a title next season?

Which players would you love to see you clubs sign and just how soon can they get it done?

Arsenal Legend Henry Thierry has called out Arsenal Coach Mikel Arteta, saying that building without a trophy is useless. Henry was a guest on the Overlap stick podcast and questioned what exactly Arteta is doing with Arsenal. Comparing Arsenal to Manchester United, he said United have been in 5 finals in 5 years but Arsenal are yet to even make one after Arteta's massive rebuild. Henry wondered just how long Arsenal has to wait to win a trophy.

Arteta has won an FA cup with the Gunners but he has yet to win or make any final in the las 5 years despite spending over 700million pounds on transfers. This season, the gunners came second in the Premier league for the 3rd consecutive season while crashing out of the UCL at the semi final stage. Fans are beginning to question if Arteta is the right man to take them to the Promise land. Witha legend like Henry speaking out now, are there going to be any changes for Arsenal?

Do you think Henry is right or Arsenal fans should keep trusting Arteta's process?

Here are the current most popular selections to look out for this weekend on BetKing.

PSG (vs Reims) Saturday

AC Milan (vs Monza) Saturday

Celtic (vs Aberdeen) Saturday

Arsenal (vs Southampton) Sunday

Lazio (vs Lecce) Sunday

Club Brugge (vs Royal Antwerp) Sunday

Newcastle (vs Everton) Sunday

Real Madrid (vs Real Sociedad) Saturday

Villarreal (vs Sevilla) Sunday

Juventus (vs Venezia) Sunday

Join the Betking official Telegram channel for more - https:///BKNigeria

Lmao, I go dey wait.

Firebox123:
three games to boom 😁💥

If it boom I'll give you 5k

Luka Modric has announced his decision to leave Real Madrid at the end of the season. The Croatian Midfielder who had initially said he would like to play one more season with the Spanish giants released a statement thirty minutes on X (Formerly Twitter). After 13 years and 26 trophies, it is definitely time. Remember him as the last standing members of the great midfield that won 3 UEFA champions league trophies consecutively. He was also the first player to break the Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi hold on the Ballon D'or in 10 years, he was crowned the best player in the World for 2018.

Modric started his career with Dinamo Zagreb before moving to Tottenham Hotspurs in 2008, his stellar performances over the next 4 years earned him a move to the biggest club in the world after a transfer tussle with Chelsea. On the international front, he has earned 186 caps for the Croatian National team, scoring 27 goals while leading to the final of the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

Luka Modric, a true Legend.

Tonight might host the biggest Europa league final in History and it is funny when you discover that the two teams are in the worst forms of their lives. Tottenham Hotspur is in 17th position with Manchester United in 16th position, just one point separating them. The good part of the league season for them is that relegation has already been sorted with three other bad teams.

So Just how did two of England's top teams end up in the final of Europe's second tier, only God can answer that question. What matters right now is that the Europa trophy is the only way for both teams to salvage what is left of their dignity this season. Not only will the winner get a trophy, they qualify for next season's champions league automatically and also get to play in the next UEFA Super cup. So expect both of them to go all out. However I am betting on Tottenham to win even with Dejan Kulusevski out injured, Spurs just still hold the advantage and yet they have the highest odds to win. Currently at 3.30 Odds to win on BetKing.

Europa League - Tottenham to win

Conference League - Real Betis to win

Champions League - Inter Milan to win

Just have some faith and go for it.

About $1.3billion has been spent on a squad overhaul but why is nobody asking Chelsea for trophies and challenging for the Premier League title or the Champions League (They can't even qualify for this yet). Within the same time frame, Arsenal has spent about 700 and compete each season.. So why not Chelsea? Everyone always look to drag Arsenal (Including me) but the people that have spent almost times 2 are struggling to even make the top 4. Granted that most of the players they have bought are young and upcoming players but you simply can not spend that amount just to say it is for the future. You should be competing now!

Cole Palmer has been an amazing success story so far, probably top 3 players in the league over the last 20 months but what about the rest of their transfers? Enzo Fernadez and Caicedo look to have come of age this season and are gradually looking to be the 100 millions players Chelsea needs. Cucurella has also stepped but they still have a lot of problem in their backline from error prone Goalkeeper to the lack of proper center backs. Their main problem however is upfront. The lack of a proper Striker to put the ball in the net. Nicolas Jackson for all his flair and work rate as a player is simply not the box predator Chelsea requires. Palmer, Enzo and the army of wingers create enough for Jackson to be on 20 league goals this season but he is simply not it. He is more concerning with getting cards and arguing with Mikel Obi rather than Scoring.

This is why Chelsea needs to get Victor Osimhen, he is the Bull they need to dominate and break down defences. He is going to charge, shoot, jump and do just anything to get his goals. You might think him playing in the Turkish league is inferior but here is someone who has also been the highest goalscorer in the Italian Serie A, one of the toughest leagues in the world. 36 goals in 40 appearances for any striker is an insane count. Forget Isak, forget Sesko or even Gyokeres (He has scored more than Osimhen this season), Osimhen is tailor suited right for Chelsea. With a price tag of about 60million, Chelsea just have to go all out for him. Jackson can be the backup striker or be sent out on loan but Osimhen simply has to be the starting man.. the man to lead Chelsea's young squad to the next level.

Don't you agree?

Barcelona wrapped up the La Liga title in style with a 2-0 win over local rivals Espanyol, the league in France was wrapped up weeks ago with PSG as expected winning. Liverpool and Bayern Munich claimed the titles in England and Germany respectively. The only Top 5 league that is yet to be decided and might go down to the last day is the Italian Serie A with Inter Milan and Napoli going blow for blow. But who do you think has been the best player of the season, let's look at a few options.

Mo Salah, Rapinha, Lamine Yamal, Ousmane Dembele, Pedri or maybe Mbappe? The season is closing up with just a few more games to go, who should be crowned as Ballon D'or winner. Do you think if PSG wins the Champions League, Dembele should get it? Or Salah is the best fit based on how he has carried Liverpool this season? Based on Eye test, would you just take Yamal over Raphinha? and over look Mbappe's 39 goals this season?

Who is your player of the season?

Early this season, I predicted Real Madrid to win the Champions league and La Liga, I was stupidly wrong. One thing I did not see coming was Barcelona or rather I did not think Hans Flick was going to do so well in his first season in charge or that Raphinha would become a demon and Lamine was going to become a wizard. All that and more have happened this season. Barcelona have played and blown everything in front of them away... Well, almost everything (Inter Milan knocked them out them of the Champions League)

They have faced Real Madrid four times this season and wiped the floor with them. Beating the biggest club in the world like babies is one thing but doing repeatedly is violation. Injuries have come but Barcelona have really dealt with it well this season with players stepping up and covering up for each other. They are about to end the season with the La Liga title after winning the Copa Del Rey and SuperCopa cup already. So their status as the best club in Spain this season is undisputed but no matter who win the Champions league, they are just the best team in the World right now. Their lost to Inter Milan is the semi Final was more an issue of bad luck to be honest.

Pedri has finally stepped up another level and is undoubtedly a world class Midfield engine now. While Yamal and Raphinha (33 goals in 49 Matches) might end up making the top 3 of the Ballon D'or, Pedri should also be noted as one of the best players in the world this season.

Arise and Clap, Barca Fans.... this season has been yours and yours alone.

Real Madrid have finally moved to announce their new coach ahead of Carlo Ancelotti's departure. Ancelotti is expected to leave after the last La Liga match of the season as he prepares to take over the Brazilian National Team. Madrid have been preparing for his departure for a while, initially he was to leave at the end of his current contract which was to end in 2026 but a trophyless season led to a change in plans.
Only one man had been in the initial plans to take over and that is Bayer Leverkusen's Xabi Alonso. However, Jurgen Klopp's name has also been thrown in the mix over the last couple of weeks but with Alonso officially stating that he is leaving after Leverkusen's last two games, everyone is waiting up on Madrid's statement.

Xabi Alonso is likely to be announced on the same day as incoming right back, Trent Alexander Arnold from Liverpool.

The UEFA Champions League.
Every clubs wants to win yet very few have. Every year, fans believe this is the season for their club yet only one group gets to celebrate. Over the years however, we have gotten so used to being able to predict certain events. We all know you'd have a Madrid, Bayern or Manchester City in the semi finals. We all know Arsenal can attempt and brag all they want but they are going out in the quarter finals.

This year? Everything changed... from the new format, which had all the clubs in a league format to Real Madrid and Manchester City struggling to qualify for the next round to Arsenal shocking the world by beating Madrid home and away. This year's tournament has been filled with various shockers, twists and turns. Yet the best part of it all has been the Semi-finals. We had PSG going up against Arsenal while Barcelona went against the best defense in the competition Inter Milan. Barcelona ended up putting 6 amazing goals past Inter but the shocker? They conceded 7 goals in return and are on their way home. Raphinha and Yamine Lamal stepped up their claim for this year's Ballon D'or with breathtaking performances over the 2 legs but in the end Inter's veterans pulled through.

The 2nd leg especially might be the best match of this season so far but then Arsenal travel to Paris tonight looking to overturn a 1-0 defeat from the first leg. Whatever happens, we are guaranteed to be in for an amazing night of football. What season of the Champions League do you think has been better than this?

Where are we to begin from? Should we ask where it all began to go wrong for Arsenal this season? I mean this was meant to be their season of seasons especially in the league. After playing second fiddle to Pep Guardiola's Manchester City, this was the season for Arsenal to step up and be big boys. Seems like it was all set up when Mancity ran out of steam and got into the worst form of Guardiola's career yet Arsenal could not take Advantage, instead it was Liverpool who stepped up and claimed the Premier league Title with 4 games to spare.

In the Champions League however Arsenal have really stepped up with the big boys, their quarter final dismantling of UCL gods Real Madrid made everyone sit up. Now though, Arsenal's season is about to fall apart at the Last minute. After losing 1-0 at home to PSG in the first leg of the Semi-finals, Arteta's men lost at home in the league to Bournemouth. Now they are being dragged into a top 5( 5 teams qualify for the UCL this year) fight that should not have happened in the first place. Arsenal is now only 3 points ahead of Mancity in 3rd position and 4 points ahead of Newcastle in 4th. With 3 matches to go, I think we are about to have the best Top 5 battle in years.

To win the Champions League, Arsenal is currently at 8.00 Odds on BetKing.

The question is do we blame Arteta for all these mess or curse the god of Injuries. Martin Odegaard, Bukayo Saka have both spent long spells out injured this season while Gabriel Jesus and Kai Havertz were ruled out of the season months ago leaving Arsenal without an actual 9. But injuries are a part of the Game. Mancity lost the best player in the World Rodri very early in the season, Chelsea and Spurs have arguably had worse injury crisis than Arsenal. Only team that has been lucky on the injury front has been champions Liverpool. But it was not injuries that made Arteta not sign a suitable backup for Saka last summer or even this January window, no one asked him to pull out of the deal for Benjamin Sesko. While the 3 other teams left in the champions league all rested players over the weekend, Arteta went out with a full squad against Bournemouth. Jurrien Timber is now a doubt for the second leg against PSG on Wednesday while Captain Odegaard played 90minutes of a match he was not needed for.

Who do you blame if Arsenal lose their 2nd position and also crash out of the Champions league? Arteta or the ever present god of injuries?

Chelsea beat Champions Liverpool in an interesting match at Stamford Bridge. Liverpool who were crowned champions last week received their guard of honor as they walked onto the pitch and that was were all the respect ended. Chelsea scored within 3 minutes as Enzo Fernandez took charge. Liverpool defender scored an owned goal to make it two but Virgil Van Dijk scored a header to give Liverpool some hope of a comeback but all that was dashed as Quansah brought down Moses Caicedo in the box to give Chelsea a penalty. Cole Palmer stepped up to score his first goal since January and give Chelsea some fight in their race for top 4.

As it stands now, Chelsea are 5th, level on points with Newcastle in 4th and stay 3 points above Nottingham who play tomorrow. Remember, the top 5 teams are going to the UCL, which teams do you think are going to make the cut?

Arsenal Lost 1-0 at home to PSG but to be honest, it could have been more. PSG could left London with just one goal when they could have scored 3 or 4. Arsenal are a team able to play high tempo for 90 minutes but that doesn't mean they are a threat for 90 mins. PSG showed them how football can be played without rushing around for 90mins. PSG just needed occasional busts of attacks to show just how dangerous they are. Now while Thomas Partey might have been seriously missed for Arsenal, there is one person who was on the field but was absent...Captain Martin Odegaard.

Here are some Odegaard stats against PSG...he lost the ball 14 times, 0 shots on target, 0/3 crosses completed, 0 long passes. He was so bad that Mikel Arteta had no choice but to sub him off. On a night when Arsenal needed their captain to lead them, he simply went missing. This season, he has 5 goals and 7 assists in 39 matches. As the creative hub of this Arsenal team, these stats are simply piss poor. Compared the stats to a play like Bruno Fernandes playing in vastly inferior team. 15 goals and 11 assists in 47 games for Manchester United, those are numbers up for a creative hub.

If Arsenal want to turn things around in the second leg, they need their captain to step up. Saka simply can not do it all on his own. Odegaard must stand up and lead.

Aston Villa has confirmed that Manchester United loanee Marcus Rashford sustained an injury that may rule him out for the rest of the season. Rashford was not available as Villa lost 3-0 against Crystal Palace in the FA cup Semi-final on Saturday. It has been reported to be a hamstring injury that will keep him sidelined for several week. There is little assurance that he would be available for the final match of the season which is against Manchester United.

Rashford has scored 4 goals and provided 6 assists in 17 Matches since he joined Aston Villa in January. It is yet to be seen if Aston Villa is going to activate the option to buy him which is currently 40 Million pounds.

The Brazil Football Federation is reported to have agreed a deal with under fire Real Madrid Coach Carlo Ancelotti. He is to be announced as the new Head coach for the National team once the La Liga season ends. Ancelotti is one of the most decorated coaches in World and Real Madrid history. However, he is about to end this season trophyless with one of the most expensive squads in football. Embarrassing defeats home and away to Arsenal in the Champions league Semi-finals started the calls for his sack, the weekend defeat to Barcelona in the Copa Del Rey final only added more fuel to the fire.

Brazil have marked Ancelotti as their main target for over a year now and with Madrid letting him go at the end of the season, now is the perfect time to get him. Madrid have always set up Xabi Alonso as his replacement with Jurgen Klopp also looking like an option.
Do you think Ancelotti would be able to lead Brazil to a sixth World Cup next year?