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  2014 was a rough year –Messi

Lionel Messi

Lionel Messi says he feels back to his best after what he feels was a difficult 2014 plagued with off-field problems, Goal reports.

The Argentine was came under criticism towards the end of last season as his side lost out on the Liga title to Atletico Madrid and were eliminated from the Champions League at the quarter-final stage, while the player himself was beaten to the FIFA Ballon d’Or by Cristiano Ronaldo.

Off the field, he became the subject of a tax investigation, with a threat of possible jail time looming over him.

The 27-year-old, however, says he has recovered from a rough year and is happy with his personal life and his performances.

“I am happy. The truth is that I started the season in another way after what happened to me last year,” he told Barca’s official website. “I had a difficult year for what happened off the field, for my injuries and my performance. But this year I started differently and now I feel great.

“Last year I had an uneven season. I was out with injuries and missed many games. When I returned to the pitch, it never ended well. It was a year that I’ve tried to forget quickly to get back to my best version. Luckily now I feel fine.”

The Catalan side failed to pick up a major trophy last season and Messi feels that disappointment has motivated the players to return to picking up silverware this term.

“We came from a time when each year we were winning a title, and perhaps we did not value what we were winning,” he added.

“It was a bad year in which we won nothing, and now, when they get back some success, we will see how important they are and enjoy them more because we know they are very hard to achieve.”

The four-time Ballon d’Or winner is nearing his 400th Barcelona goal and he said he wants to keep adding to his tally once he reaches the milestone.

“It’s nice to score goals. Some are special, but it’s the same. By now every goal is a goal, but it is nice to know that I can keep adding to them and remain in the history of this great club.”

The attacker also praised team-mates Luis Suarez and Neymar, stating that they add a new dimension to the team’s front line.

“Barcelona have always had great forwards, not just now with Neymar and Luis. But it’s true that we are taking advantage of them because they are both great world stars. They give us another thing than goals, so in that sense, I’m calm.”

Echiejile targets Juve upset

Echiejile

Monaco can upset favourites Juventus in Tuesday’s UEFA Champions League quarterfinal first leg match in Turin, according to the French club’s defender Elderson Echiejile, AfricanFootball.com reports.

Monaco may not have won in Italy all these years, but Nigeria international Elderson they could rewrite history on Tuesday night in Turin.

“In the (Champions League) group stage, we set a new record by not conceding a goal in six matches. We could as well rewrite our history by winning in Italy,” he told his official website elderson3.com.

“We only need to stay focused in both legs and we could be in the semifinals.”

He added, “Juventus are on great form in Serie A as well as in Europe, but we can get results from them to go through.”

Monaco themselves have shrugged off a wretched start to the season and have now gone eight games unbeaten in the French Ligue 1 and are now third in the standings on 58 points from 32 matches, just three points behind leaders PSG.

But Juve were the more convincing qualifiers to the last-eight after they dumped Borussia Dortmund 5-1 on aggregate, while Monaco needed the away goals’ rule to progress after they were tied at 3-3 aggregate with Arsenal.

 

Man Fulfills His promise To Walk From Lagos To Abuja If Buhari Wins, Presently In Niger [See Photo]

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NOTE: This article is posted as written by the source , read full story below:
Suleiman Hashimu or ‘The traveller’ as I prefer to call him is an indigene of Katsina state, Funtua to be precise. He was born in Osun state but lives in Ibadan.
The traveler promised two years ago to walk from where ever he is to the capital of Nigeria, Abuja if General Muhammadu Buhari wins the election in 2015.
BBC Hausa, Voice of America and Aminiya (a Hausa mgazine) interviewed him.
He was in Lagos when Buhari was declared the President-elect of Nigeria. He left Lagos at about 5am the next day and arrived Ibadan around 6pm.

He went to get a police report to allow for the smoothness of his journey but couldn’t wait and so, the D.P.O. gave him his phone number. Despite several discouragement from friends and at the same time, inspiration from friends and loved ones; he continued from Ibadan to Oyo. Then from Oyo to Ogbomoso.; And from Ogbomoso to Ilorin with much hospitality at every stop.
At Ilorin, some people escorted him for some miles and he stopped at Oloru. Oloru, to border’n Sa’ada and then to Jebba. He received so much hospitality from Jebba and unlike other villages he met a lot of people who had heard of the traveller. About 20 people set off with him from Jebba and after some miles, about 18 went back but the remaining two where determined. They met with armed robbers close to Makwa and luckily, he already met one of them in Jebba and he even gave him 200 Naira for pure water. The robber told his colleagues that he was going to see Buhari and he gave him 2000 Naira and then slapped the two men with him.
He continued his journey from Mkwa to Kudu and then to Kutigi. He is currently in Kutigi and will continue his journey to Bida tomorrow by the grace of God.
I asked him about his encounter with the different people and he said it was remarkable. Actually he gets more determined to move on from the people. He was even treated like a King in a village in Niger.
They sang tribal songs he didn’t understand and travellers stop to provide him with food and company along the way. Most of them are familiar with him because they travel the same route daily. Sometimes up to 10 cars would stop to converse with him. News travelled with the public transports to different places on his route and people from several cities, towns and villages on his route would call to check up on him and inquire about his journey.
He doesn’t know for sure if Buhari knows of him but several of his support organizations do. He intends to reach Abuja by 27th of May and celebrate with the new president at his inauguration ceremony.

Eaglets get last chance for World Cup ticket

The reigning world champions at the under-17 level, the Golden Eaglets will today get their final opportunity to qualify to defend their trophy in Chile, when they clash with Zambia at in their final group A match at the African u-17 Championships in Niger. Eaglets top their pool with four points but can ill afford losing to their |Zambian foes, who with a victory will leapfrog the west Africans and qualify for the junior World Cup holding later in the year in south America.


Speaking ahead of the decider with the junior Chipolopolo at the Stade Municipal in Niamey, Eaglets coach , Emmanuel Amuneke said he was going to be the happiest man on earth should his wards put up a bumper performance to ensure qualification for the FIFA Under-17 World Cup in Chile. Siasia was one of the assistant coaches who piloted the Eaglets to win the last edition of the tournament in United Arab Emirates.

“Our expectations (against Zambia) is to win and secure our ticket for the World Cup in Chile. We have to psyche up ourselves and forget about the draw against Guinea and are optimistic of a better performance against Zambia. “What we are doing is to lift their spirit and not being hard on them due to the last game and I want to believe they would be ready  to play their usual normal game.

We are hopeful of a better performance against Zambia”, Siasia was quoted by the website of the Nigeria Football Federation.The reigning world champions at the under-17 level, the Golden Eaglets will today get their final opportunity to qualify to defend their trophy in Chile, when they clash with Zambia at in their final group A match at the African u-17 Championships in Niger.
Eaglets top their pool with four points but can ill afford losing to their |Zambian foes, who with a victory will leapfrog the west Africans and qualify for the junior World Cup holding later in the year in south America. Speaking ahead of the decider with the junior Chipolopolo at the Stade Municipal in Niamey, Eaglets coach , Emmanuel Amuneke said he was going to be the happiest man on earth should his wards put up a bumper performance to ensure qualification for the FIFA Under-17 World Cup in Chile.
Siasia was one of the assistant coaches who piloted the Eaglets to win the last edition of the tournament in United Arab Emirates. “Our expectations (against Zambia) is to win and secure our ticket for the World Cup in Chile. We have to psyche up ourselves and forget about the draw against Guinea and are optimistic of a better performance against Zambia. “What we are doing is to lift their spirit and not being hard on them due to the last game and I want to believe they would be ready to play their usual normal game. We are hopeful of a better performance against Zambia”, Siasia was quoted by the website of the Nigeria Football Federation.

Flying Eagles worry over Yahaya

The Flying Eagles are sweating on the fitness of star forward Musa Yahaya, who is nursing a knee injury he suffered in a warm-up match in Ghana. The former Golden Eaglet is expected to undergo a scan to determine the extent of the injury he suffered when he was tackled in the Flying Eagles second friendly against Ghana  on Wednesday.

The injury forced him out of the match in the 39th  minute.  Tottenham starlet, Yahaya, who scored in the Flying Eagles first match against the Black Satellites, did not join the rest of the squad at the gym at the FIFA Goal Project in Abuja  Friday  morning.


The other injury worry for the Nigeria U20 team is central defender Zaharadeen Bello.  Bello has been nursing a calf injury and as a result he did not feature in the second friendly against Ghana in Tema, which the Flying Eagles won 2-0. “We will review their cases and see what can be done promptly,” disclosed Flying Eagles doctor Ozi Salami.

Racial abuse: Chelsea apologises to black Frenchman

Chelsea “apologised unreservedly” on Friday to the black Frenchman racially abused by some of their fans on the Paris Metro.
The commuter, identified as Souleymane S, a French-Mauritanian, was repeatedly prevented from boarding a train by Chelsea supporters travelling to the Parc des Princes for the Champions League match against Paris St Germain on Tuesday.
“I’d like to make clear, on behalf of everyone at the club, our disgust at the incident. We were appalled by what we saw,” a club spokesman said before manager Jose Mourinho began his weekly press conference.
He added: “The club would also like to apologise unreservedly to Souleymane for the behaviour of a small number of individuals and their unforgivable action towards him.
“We’re writing to him to apologise and to invite him to come to a game as our guest.”
Three men could face life bans from football after being suspended from attending Stamford Bridge by Chelsea as part of the ongoing investigation into the incident.