Sports
UCL: Bayern Must Target Mbappe, Coman Warns
Bayern Munich star Kingsley Coman believes his side will have to keep Kylian Mbappe under wraps if they hope to overcome Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League final.
The Bundesliga giants go into Sunday’s clash in scintillating form, having dispatched Barcelona 8-2 in the quarters before breezing past Lyon with a 3-0 victory on Wednesday.
But PSG is not lacking in confidence either, with Mbappe’s return ahead of schedule from injury boosting their hopes after reaching their first-ever Champions League final with wins over Atalanta and RB Leipzig in the past week.
The France striker and Neymar will be key to the Parisians’ hopes in Lisbon’s Estadio da Luz and his international team-mate warned that Bayern will have to be wary of his talents.
“I have played with him several times, so I will try to give any advice I can give,” Coman told reporters when quizzed on Mbappe, yesterday.
“There is also video and the instructions from the coaches. He is a player who creates, a little bit like Lionel Messi whom we already faced.
“He can make the difference in a match and we will try to keep him as quiet as possible.”
Bayern, of course has no shortage of stars in their own ranks, boasting in Robert Lewandowski the Champions League’s top scorer for 2019-20, with Serge Gnabry currently in third place in the standings behind Erling Haaland.
But it is in defence where the side’s latest gem has emerged: left-back Alphonso Davies, who at 19 has been in spectacular form throughout his first full season at the Allianz Arena.
“He wasn’t a left-back at the start, that’s why he took longer [to come to prominence],” Coman said of his team-mate.
“I think he’s the best in his position right now and I hope he will demonstrate it on Sunday.”
Coman missed out on France’s 2018 World Cup victory after being left out of Didier Deschamps’ final squad due to injury concerns.
But as he gears up to take on PSG, he insists that triumphing in the Champions League cannot be compared to success at international level.
“The two competitions are not linked. The disappointment of the World Cup has long passed. They are two completely different things,” he added.
“I would still like to win the World Cup, but today I am with my club. I want to win the Champions League and I hope we will lift the cup on Sunday.”
A well-known football pundit in the State, Chief Christopher Okonkwo has lauded the efforts and vision of the Super Eagles Coach Eric Chelle for going from one venue of the Nigeria Domestic Nigeria Professional Football League match to the other in monitoring Nigerian players, with a view to invite some exceptional good one discovered into the main stream of the Super Eagles team.
Okonkwo, who made the commendation in an interview at the Port Harcourt Club recently, described the positive move by Coach Chelle as a good step in the right direction, noting that the practice was how its been done in the past among any contracted coach assigned to tinker the Super Eagles team.
“Truly, it has been an old tradition in the country seeing any newly engaged Coach to lead the National team, visiting some our Nigeria League venues during the league matches to spot light some good talents that could be used to beef up some grey areas in the department of Eagles team”
He, however, frowned at the current situation where our coaches had continously been over depending on the use of foreign based players during invitation of players to the National camp, thereby, relegating the domestic home based league players to the background as if they have nothing much to offer to the team.
“I can vividly recall that the likes of great players in the mode of Finidi George, Taribo West, Kanu Nwankwo, Austin Okocha, Richard Owobokiri, Emmanuel Osuigwe among others started from Nigeria football league before they graduated to play in Europe through which they later invited to Super Eagles camp to represent Nigeria”
“Besides, I’m also of the view that going to secondary school football competitive games could equally serves as a a good platform to discover budding talents that could be nurtured to become great stars in near future”, Okonkwo frankly added.
Okonkwo, therefore, prayed that any football coach to be engaged by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to tinker the Super Eagles should be told not to confine himself in staying in big hotel alone but to be visiting some of our local league match venues, with a view to discover some good players that can be drafted into the Super Eagles team.
“Indeed, I stand to be challenged that there some young good players in the Nigeria Professional League. If spotted and exposed, could give the some of the invited foreign based players a stiff competitive fight in securing a postion in the team”, Okonkwo emphatically stated.
Ezechukwu, one of the youngest members of the Nigerian contingent at the championship in Ghana, said her ambition was to win the 100m title in style and cap it with a new personal record.
The fresh secondary school graduate explained that she is fully focused on contributing to Team Nigeria’s medal hopes and is determined to deliver strong performances across her events.
“My main objective in Ghana is to clinch the 100m title and the 4×100m,” Ezechukwu told Tidesports source.
“Nigeria can be assured of my very best and my commitment to the Team. I would love to set a new personal best in Ghana, but anything that comes, I will take it. The spirit in the team is high, and I think we are ready to go,” she said.
Ezechukwu, who was part of Nigeria’s women’s 4x100m relay squad at the World Relays in Botswana, said the experience gained from that competition has strengthened her mindset heading into the continental championships.
She admitted that she learned valuable lessons from her previous outing, including a difficult moment during the relay where an early error affected the team’s rhythm, but said she has used the experience to improve her discipline and composure.
“The secret is just being disciplined, training hard and trusting my coach and believing in God, and the result will show,” she added.
The teenager is part of a 41-member Nigerian team comprising 24 female and 17 male athletes competing at the championships, which begin today at the University of Ghana, Legon.
Nigeria are expected to compete across multiple track and field events as they aim for a strong finish against the continent’s elite athletes.
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