AY DAGE

Cristiano Ronaldo reacted angrily after he was grabbed by a pitch invader at the end of Juventus' 2-0 win at Bayer Leverkusen on Wednesday.   The Portuguese, 34, gave Juventus the lead in the 75th minute with his 128th Champions League goal, before Gonzalo Higuain added a second late on. After the final whistle, a fan ran on to the pitch and put his arm around Ronaldo as he tried to get a selfie. Ronaldo pushed the fan away before security staff intervened. The five-time Ballon d'Or winner, who held his neck after the incident, had hugged another fan who came on to the pitch during the match. Juventus had already qualified for the last 16 as group winners. It was Ronaldo's third goal in as many games and his ninth of the season. "I feel good - the annoyance I felt has passed and the team is in good shape," he said after the game. "Today we played a good second half. We are all growing and even I personally felt better today, more ...

Arsenal came back from two goals down to draw 2-2 at Standard Liege and progress to the last 32 of the Europa League as group winners.      The Gunners were all but through before kick-off, with the hosts needing to win 5-0 to prevent the visitors from going through to the knockout rounds - a result that looked even more unlikely after a first half Arsenal edged.       However, Samuel Bastien put the hosts ahead just after the restart when his shot deflected off Sokratis and beyond the wrong-footed Emiliano Martinez. The goal boosted the hosts but visibly knocked the fragile confidence of the Arsenal players, who became even more nervy when Standard Liege got a second as Selim Amallah's strike from inside the area flew into the far corner via a slight deflection off Konstantinos Mavropanos. It set things up for a tense final 20 minutes as the hosts pursued an unlikely result but Alexandre Lacazette settled the Gunners' nerves...

Vandals have tried to saw through the feet of a statue of Zlatan Ibrahimovic and placed a rope around its neck.   Police have put a fence up around the statue, outside Malmo's stadium in Sweden, in case it falls down. It is the latest act of vandalism directed at the statue since it was announced that Ibrahimovic had invested in a rival club last month. Former Sweden striker Ibrahimovic, 38, made his professional debut for Malmo 20 years ago. The former Ajax, Juventus, Inter Milan, Barcelona, AC Milan, Paris St-Germain and Manchester United player is looking for his next club having left LA Galaxy at the end of the MLS season. On 27 Novemberit was announced he had bought 25% of the shares in Hammarby, who finished third in this year's Swedish championship. That same day, the 3.5 metre high bronze structure, commissioned by the Swedish FA and unveiled on 9 October, was sprayed with paint, set on fire and a toilet seat put over its arm. Ibrahimovic's house...

15 injured, tension rises ahead of Edo APC rally There was tension in Benin, the Edo State capital on Thursday, over a rally that a faction of the All Progressives Congress loyal to its National Chairman, Mr Adams Oshiomhole, will hold today. The Oshiomhole faction will today (Friday) hold a rally for a former member of the Peoples Democratic Party, Mr Osagie Eze-Iyamu. Ahead of the rally, 15 people were injured during a clash between supporters of Oshiomhole and those of the state Governor, Godwin Obaseki. The APC in Edo State had, last month, been factionalised with one group  loyal to Oshiomhole and  the other backed by Obaseki. The Oshiomhole  faction led by Col David Imuse (retd.), said Friday’s  rally was being organised by the party to receive the PDP candidate in the 2016 governorship election, Ize Iyamu. But there was confusion over the rally on Thursday. Earlier on Wednesday,  there was a letter dated 11th December, which wa...

FG suspends Turkish Airlines operations into Nigeria The Federal Government has ordered Turkish Airlines to suspend its operations into Nigeria due to repeated cases of poor passenger treatment by the international carrier. It gave the directive through the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, directing the airline to suspend its operations until it was ready to operate with the right size of aircraft that could transport all passengers with their baggage at the same time.     It was gathered that the government’s directive came as a result of recent cases in which the airline failed to bring in passengers into Nigeria together with their checked-in baggage. In a letter to the airline by the acting Director-General, NCAA, Capt. Abdullahi Sidi, which was made available by the Federal Ministry of Aviation in Abuja on Thursday, the authority expressed displeasure at the incidents, which it said had been going on for over two weeks. Sidi said the inciden...

Buhari’s kinsmen attack Aisha over Villa crisis  Kinsmen of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), have faulted his wife, Aisha, over her Wednesday’s statement, which attacked the  Senior Special Assistant to the President, Garba Shehu. The kinsmen in Daura, in separate exclusive interviews with the Kastina State correspondent of The PUNCH,  on Wednesday evening, berated Mrs Buhari for making what they called a purely  private family affair, public. Mrs Buhari,  had in the statement on Wednesday morning,  said, “It was Garba Shehu,  who claimed that the government would not allow the office of the first lady to run.  He was later to confirm to one of my aides that he was instructed to say so by Mamman Daura and not the President. This antic attracted the anger of Nigerian women. He didn’t realise the fact that the first lady’s office is a tradition which has become an institution.” Commenting on the statement...

 The 100 seconds that saved Liverpool's Champions League hopes     For nearly an hour it was a tense and nervy affair and then in the space of 100 seconds Liverpool exhaled a huge sigh of relief. The Champions League holder had needed a draw against Red Bull Salzburg to guarantee its place in the last 16, but until second-half goals from Naby Keita and Mo Salah eventually secured a 2-0 win on Tuesday, there was a palpable sense that Liverpool was living just a bit too close to the edge for its liking. Nerves frayed as Salah missed chance after chance. They frayed even more as Salzburg frequently pierced a Liverpool defense that has struggled to keep clean sheets this season. Seven years after Chelsea had failed to reach the last 16 after winning the Champions League the previous season -- could Salzburg really pull off the one of the great European shocks and condemn Liverpool to a similar fate? This season, the Austrian team has prov...

Chelsea hold on to qualify for last 16  Chelsea survived a late scare to move into the Champions League knockout stages with victory over Lille at Stamford Bridge. Frank Lampard's side were in complete control for the most part and set up the victory they required with first-half goals from Tammy Abraham and Cesar Azpilicueta. Chelsea's nerves were frayed when former striker Loic Remy pulled one back for Lille late on but they were able to close out victory to reach the last 16 after finishing a tough group in second place behind Valencia but ahead of last season's semi-finalists Ajax. Abraham scored his 13th goal of the season after 19 minutes when he turned in Willian's cross from close range while Azpilicueta headed in from Emerson's corner 10 minutes before the break. Lille, with nothing but pride to play for and with a much-changed team, barely threatened until Remy's late strike but Chelsea saw out the win to complete the first phase o...

Premier League hits and misses: Liverpool pass latest test in Bournemouth victory              As Jurgen Klopp said in his post-match interview, Liverpool do not go into any game expecting to win but realistically, they were never going to lose at Bournemouth. The stats and form all pointed to another Liverpool victory and they ultimately glided to an easy three points. The game turned on Nathan Ake's injury and once Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain flicked home past Aaron Ramsdale, there was only going to be one outcome. Naby Keita and Mohamed Salah were outstanding and linked up with one another for two of the goals, with similarly impressive performances across the park.            Perhaps the biggest positive was their clean sheet, having not kept one in 13 games in all competitions heading into Saturday's match, with the returning Alisson making only one clear save. T...