Category sport-news

Nigerian forward Victor Osimhen has scored his first Champions League hat-trick, bagging three goals as Galatasaray trounced Dutch outfit Ajax 3-0 on Wednesday night.

The Super Eagle opened the scoresheet in the 59th minute of the game with a header.

Osimhen converted from the spot in the 66th minute and completed the hat-trick 12 minutes later after another penalty.

Three straight wins in the #UCL ✅#AJAXGALA pic.twitter.com/0zzSgNQ5Fs

READ ALSO: [UCL] Flawless Arsenal Dispatch Slavia Prague, Extend Clean Sheet Streak To Eight Games

In the last matchday in the Champions League, the Nigerian scored a brace as Galatasaray, Turkish champions, beat Bodo/Glimt 3-1.

This duo #UCL pic.twitter.com/PSgqAcmkCb

With three goals on Wednesday, the 26-year-old has now scored 12 goals in his last eight matches for Galatasaray in Europe!

Victor Osimhen becomes the first Galatasaray player ever to score a brace in back-to-back Champions League matches #UCL pic.twitter.com/ViKu8pJkak

Nigerian forward Victor Osimhen has scored his first Champions League hat-trick, bagging three goals as Galatasaray trounced Dutch outfit Ajax 3-0 on Wednesday night.

The Super Eagle opened the scoresheet in the 59th minute of the game with a header.

Osimhen converted from the spot in the 66th minute and completed the hat-trick 12 minutes later after another penalty.

Three straight wins in the #UCL ✅#AJAXGALA pic.twitter.com/0zzSgNQ5Fs

READ ALSO: [UCL] Flawless Arsenal Dispatch Slavia Prague, Extend Clean Sheet Streak To Eight Games

In the last matchday in the Champions League, the Nigerian scored a brace as Galatasaray, Turkish champions, beat Bodo/Glimt 3-1.

This duo #UCL pic.twitter.com/PSgqAcmkCb

With three goals on Wednesday, the 26-year-old has now scored 12 goals in his last eight matches for Galatasaray in Europe!

Victor Osimhen becomes the first Galatasaray player ever to score a brace in back-to-back Champions League matches #UCL pic.twitter.com/ViKu8pJkak

Amanda Anisimova pulled off a stellar comeback on Wednesday to get the better of Iga Swiatek 6-7 (3/7), 6-4, 6-2 and book her spot in the last four of the WTA Finals in Riyadh.

Making her tournament debut this week, the fourth-seeded Anisimova secured the runner-up spot in the Serena Williams Group behind Elena Rybakina.

Rybakina completed round-robin play with a perfect 3-0 mark, thanks to a 6-4, 6-4 success against Russian alternate Ekaterina Alexandrova earlier in the day.

Anisimova improved her three-set record this season to an impressive 15-3 by posting her 10th top-10 win of the year.

“It’s so funny, my mom keeps telling me: ‘You know you’ve won like so many three-set matches this year? You’re so strong’. I was actually thinking about that. Against Iga today it was so, so tough, but honestly, I enjoyed it,” said Anisimova, who reached the finals at Wimbledon and the US Open this year.

“I’m so excited (to be in the semi-finals), this is surreal, especially for my first time playing here.”

Swiatek and Anisimova split their two previous meetings, with the former triumphing in the Wimbledon final and the latter avenging that loss in the US Open quarter-finals.

On Wednesday at King Saud University Indoor Arena, the Pole saved all four break points she faced before she clinched the tiebreak to bag the opening set in 65 minutes.

The quality was incredibly high throughout and little separated the pair until Anisimova finally converted a break point in game 10 of the second set to draw level and force a decider.

The American made the first move in the final set, breaking in the fourth game on a Swiatek double-fault. Another break sealed the deal for Anisimova over the six-time Grand Slam champion in two hours and 36 minutes.

This is the first time in Swiatek’s entire career that she has suffered two successive losses after winning the opening set.

The 24-year-old Pole was at a loss for words when trying to explain the reasons behind her defeat.

“I felt good mentally, physically, and tennis-wise also it was nice, looking at the conditions and everything; so, I don’t really get why I couldn’t go out of the group,” said a disappointed Swiatek.

“Maybe I won too much in the last years and this is karma. It’s really hard for me to say. It feels weird. It’s not like I’m expecting (to win), but from my experiences, if I put so much intensity and grit and I cared that much, it usually paid off. So we’ll see if I keep working if it’s going to pay off or not.”

READ ALSO: Lionel Messi Named In MLS Best XI Squad

 In-form Rybakina

In a rematch of the Ningbo final from three weeks ago, won by Rybakina, the Kazakh fired eight aces and saved five of six break points en route to a 73-minute victory.

The world number six extended her current winning streak to nine consecutive matches –- a run than began in Ningbo on October 16 and has continued through Tokyo, from which she withdrew at the semi-final stage, and now Riyadh.

“Ekaterina is always a tough opponent and has a big serve. I’m happy I was able to win in straight sets. Each win gives you confidence and I’m pretty happy that for now my last matches have been great,” said Rybakina, who was playing with taping on her shoulder.

Rybakina entered the match with Alexandrova having already secured her place in the semi-finals as the winner of the group.

Alexandrova was brought in as a replacement for American Madison Keys, who withdrew ahead of the match due to a viral illness.

The Australian Open champion suffered two defeats in round-robin play this week in Riyadh, to Swiatek and Anisimova, and had no chance of advancing to the knockout stage.

Thursday will see the conclusion of the Stefanie Graf Group, with Belarusian top seed Sabalenka taking on defending champion Gauff of the USA, and America’s Pegula scheduled to play Jasmine Paolini, although the Italian has also reported feeling unwell.

Amanda Anisimova pulled off a stellar comeback on Wednesday to get the better of Iga Swiatek 6-7 (3/7), 6-4, 6-2 and book her spot in the last four of the WTA Finals in Riyadh.

Making her tournament debut this week, the fourth-seeded Anisimova secured the runner-up spot in the Serena Williams Group behind Elena Rybakina.

Rybakina completed round-robin play with a perfect 3-0 mark, thanks to a 6-4, 6-4 success against Russian alternate Ekaterina Alexandrova earlier in the day.

Anisimova improved her three-set record this season to an impressive 15-3 by posting her 10th top-10 win of the year.

“It’s so funny, my mom keeps telling me: ‘You know you’ve won like so many three-set matches this year? You’re so strong’. I was actually thinking about that. Against Iga today it was so, so tough, but honestly, I enjoyed it,” said Anisimova, who reached the finals at Wimbledon and the US Open this year.

“I’m so excited (to be in the semi-finals), this is surreal, especially for my first time playing here.”

Swiatek and Anisimova split their two previous meetings, with the former triumphing in the Wimbledon final and the latter avenging that loss in the US Open quarter-finals.

On Wednesday at King Saud University Indoor Arena, the Pole saved all four break points she faced before she clinched the tiebreak to bag the opening set in 65 minutes.

The quality was incredibly high throughout and little separated the pair until Anisimova finally converted a break point in game 10 of the second set to draw level and force a decider.

The American made the first move in the final set, breaking in the fourth game on a Swiatek double-fault. Another break sealed the deal for Anisimova over the six-time Grand Slam champion in two hours and 36 minutes.

This is the first time in Swiatek’s entire career that she has suffered two successive losses after winning the opening set.

The 24-year-old Pole was at a loss for words when trying to explain the reasons behind her defeat.

“I felt good mentally, physically, and tennis-wise also it was nice, looking at the conditions and everything; so, I don’t really get why I couldn’t go out of the group,” said a disappointed Swiatek.

“Maybe I won too much in the last years and this is karma. It’s really hard for me to say. It feels weird. It’s not like I’m expecting (to win), but from my experiences, if I put so much intensity and grit and I cared that much, it usually paid off. So we’ll see if I keep working if it’s going to pay off or not.”

READ ALSO: Lionel Messi Named In MLS Best XI Squad

 In-form Rybakina

In a rematch of the Ningbo final from three weeks ago, won by Rybakina, the Kazakh fired eight aces and saved five of six break points en route to a 73-minute victory.

The world number six extended her current winning streak to nine consecutive matches –- a run than began in Ningbo on October 16 and has continued through Tokyo, from which she withdrew at the semi-final stage, and now Riyadh.

“Ekaterina is always a tough opponent and has a big serve. I’m happy I was able to win in straight sets. Each win gives you confidence and I’m pretty happy that for now my last matches have been great,” said Rybakina, who was playing with taping on her shoulder.

Rybakina entered the match with Alexandrova having already secured her place in the semi-finals as the winner of the group.

Alexandrova was brought in as a replacement for American Madison Keys, who withdrew ahead of the match due to a viral illness.

The Australian Open champion suffered two defeats in round-robin play this week in Riyadh, to Swiatek and Anisimova, and had no chance of advancing to the knockout stage.

Thursday will see the conclusion of the Stefanie Graf Group, with Belarusian top seed Sabalenka taking on defending champion Gauff of the USA, and America’s Pegula scheduled to play Jasmine Paolini, although the Italian has also reported feeling unwell.

The league’s Best XI squad on Wednesday included six first-time honorees, including Lionel Messi, who has the highest goal total this season in MLS.

Messi, who won the 2022 World Cup with eight consecutive Ballon d’Or awards, led MLS with 19 assists and scored a league-high 29 goals for Inter Miami, making him only the second player to top goals and assists in the same season.

Denis Bouanga of Los Angeles FC and Anders Dreyer of San Diego FC both had forwards in the elite lineup.

Read more about [UCL] Flawless Arsenal Dispatch Slavia Prague, Extend Clean Sheet Streak To Eight Games.

Dayne St. Clair of Minnesota United, along with Alex Freeman of Orlando, Jakob Glesnes of Norway, and Kai Wagner of Germany, won the Best XI goalkeeper award.

Sebastian Berhalter of Vancouver, Evander of Brazil from Cincinnati, and Cristian Roldan of Seattle made the midfielders.

Canadian St. Clair won the MLS Goalkeeper of the Year award, while Dreyer won the MLS Newcomer of the Year and Blackmon won the MLS Defender of the Year.

St. Clair, &nbsp, Blackmon, Freeman, Roldan, Berhalter, and Dreyer all received their first Best XI nods.

After finishing the purchase of the infamous San Siro, which is scheduled to be demolished, Inter Milan and AC Milan made a step closer to creating their own stadium on Wednesday.

Little more than a month after the city gave consent for the acquisition of the land on which the stadium sits, the two Serie A clubs announced “the signing of the deed of sale with the Municipality of Milan.”

San Siro, known as football’s La Scala, is one of the most well-known stadiums in the world and has long served as the home of Inter and AC Milan, both of whom have ten times been European champions.

After more than 11 hours of debate and a knife-edge vote at Milan City Hall on September 30th, Inter and AC Milan were granted permission to purchase the land for 197 million euros ($231).

A public building protection order for San Siro’s second tier would have taken effect if the sale had not been completed by next Monday.

Football player David Beckham cites Knighthood as his “proudest moment.”

 Now the two clubs can move forward with a project worth about 1.2 billion euros that will radically alter an area of just over 28 hectares (70 acres) in a densely populated area on the western outskirts of Milan.

To the west of the current stadium, a modern 71, 500-capacity arena will be constructed, which will remain open to the public until the construction of the new stadium is finished.

The San Siro will almost entirely be replaced with new parkland, office, and entertainment facilities once the new ground is constructed, with Foster and Partners and MANICA directing the design of everything.

The clubs are anticipating having the new stadium ready for Euro 2032, which will be held jointly by Turkey and Italy.

By October of next year, the Italian football federation will be able to present new venues or those that need to be redeveloped to the European governing body UEFA, as long as construction is completed by March 2027.

The upcoming Milan-Cortina Winter Games’ ceremony will take place on February 6 at the current San Siro.