Sports
EPL: Chelsea hold Man City in eight-goal thriller
Cole Palmer returned to haunt Manchester City as the Chelsea forward’s last-gasp penalty rescued an incredible 4-4 draw against the Premier League leaders in one of the games of the season.
Palmer struck in the final seconds after Rodri’s 86th minute strike looked set to send City home from Stamford Bridge with all three points.
It was a sweet moment for Palmer after City boss Pep Guardiola opted to sell the rising star to Chelsea in a surprise £42 million ($51 million) deal in September.
Guardiola said Manchester-born Palmer, who joined City aged six, rejected his offer of more playing time this season in a bid to keep him.
The youngster made his old boss pay in the most dramatic fashion, having the final say in an astonishing encounter that provided countless plot twists.
City blew the lead three times and also had to come from behind themselves before finally being forced to settle for a draw that leaves them one point clear of second-placed Liverpool and third-placed Arsenal.
Erling Haaland’s controversial penalty had put City ahead before Thiago Silva equalised.
Raheem Sterling netted against his old club to give Chelsea the lead, only for Manuel Akanji to level at the end of a breathless first half.
Haaland bagged his 17th goal of the season after the break, before Chelsea’s Nicolas Jackson equalised.
Rodri appeared to have landed the knockout blow with four minutes left, but there was a sting in the tale thanks to Palmer’s penalty.
City lit the fuse on an explosive contest when they snatched the lead after 25 minutes.
Marc Cucurella pulled down Haaland as the City striker tried to reach Bernardo Silva’s cross inside the six-yard box.
It was a debatable decision as Haaland appeared to tug at Cucurella’s shirt before the Chelsea defender’s contract.
Blues boss Mauricio Pochettino was furious that play was not stopped prior to the cross for a potential foul by Jeremy Doku on Reece James and Moises Caicedo as the Chelsea players tried to head clear.
Haaland blocked out the bubbling Chelsea frustration as he calmly sent Sanchez the wrong way from the spot.
AFP
Liverpool winger, Mohamed Salah, on Saturday, surpassed Chelsea legend, Frank Lampard’s goal record in the Premier League.
The Egyptian international achieved the feat after scoring a brace in Liverpool’s away Premier League 2-0 win against Bournemouth.
The match was played at the Vitality Stadium as Salah netted a penalty in the first half and another goal in the second half.
Salah’s two goals means, the former Chelsea and AS Roma star has now surpassed Lampard as 6th all time goal scorer in Premier League history.
The 32-year-old now has 178 Premier League goals with a goal ahead of Lampard, who now sit in 7th position on the all-time Premier League goal scorers chat.
He is, however, behind the likes of Alan Shearer, Harry Kane, Wayne Rooney, Andrew Cole and Sergio Aguero in the goal chat.
Salah has scored 21 goals for the Reds so far this season.
He could leave Liverpool in the summer as he is yet to sign a new deal.
His contract with Arne Slot’s side will expire at the end of the season.
The Confederation of African Football, CAF, on Friday announced the full match schedule for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations.
Nine venues will be used across six cities for the continent’s flagship soccer event.
Hosts Morocco will will take on Comoros in the competition’s opening game at the newly-built 69,500-seater Complexe Sportif Prince Moulay Abdellah in Rabat on Sunday, December 21.
The country’s capital, Rabat, will have four match venues.
Other host cities are Casablanca, Agadir, Marrakech, Fes and Tangier, which will have one match each.
The four quarter-final fixtures will be played at the Sportif Prince Moulay Abdellah in Rabat, as well as in Tangier, Marrakech and Agadir.
The semi-finals will be in Rabat and Tangier, with the third-place play-off set for the Stade Mohammed V in Casablanca.
52 matches will be played during the biennial competition.
The Elephants of Cote d’Ivoire are the defending champions of the competition.
The draw for this season’s UEFA Champions League knockout phase play-off draw has been conducted on Friday.
Eight teams have progressed straight to the round of 16 following the completion of the league phase.
They are Liverpool, Barcelona, Arsenal, Inter Milan, Atletico Madrid, Bayer Leverkusen, Lille and Aston Villa.
They will all return to the competition in March, but others have more football to play before then.
The teams that finished between 9th and 24th, have a two-legged play-off to navigate in February.
FULL KNOCKOUT PHASE PLAY-OFF DRAW
Brest vs Paris-Saint Germain
Feyenoord vs AC Milan
Juventus vs PSV
Monaco vs Benfica
Man City vs Real Madrid
Celtic vs Bayern Munich
Sporting vs Borussia Dortmund
Club Brugge vs Atalanta
Court jails two for N22.1m fraud in Maiduguri
Interior Minister Tunji-Ojo orders investigation of alleged criminal activities at Delta correctional centre
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