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All for England: Spurs Battle Liverpool for UEFA CL Title
A season that has been characterised by sensational comebacks, goals, and drama will come down to an all-English battle on Saturday.
With the majestic Estadio Wanda Metropolitano as the setting, Liverpool FC will attempt to subdue Tottenham Hotspur and claim their 6th UEFA Champions League title.
This will be the first final in history to feature two sides that have failed to win their league titles for a while: 30 years for Liverpool and 58 for Spurs.
This is a statistic that will worry neither managers nor players at both clubs as they look to be fully focused on winning Europe’s biggest honour.
Liverpool’s journey to the final
Both finalists have faced more than their share of adversity in the UCL this season. Both teams, led by their very charismatic managers Jurgen Klopp and Mauricio Pochettino, have weathered the storms and are in the showpiece final purely on merit.
Liverpool were placed in possibly the most difficult group during the group stages. They faced PSG, Napoli and Crvena Zvezda and had to win all their home games to qualify in second place behind the French champions.
In the round of 16, they were paired with fellow 5-time winners, Bayern Munich. The first leg at Anfield had ended in a stodgy 0-0 draw. However, led by the irresistible Sadio Mane, they triumphed 3-1 at the Allianz Arena.
It was a straight-forward blowout in the quarter finals against FC Porto. Both games yielded victories for the Reds with 6 goals scored and 1 conceded.
The semi-final against FC Barcelona was one for the ages. The Reds had been the better team in the first leg at the Camp Nou, but lost 3-0 thanks to magic from Lionel Messi.
However, calling on their glorious history and backed by a vociferous Anfield crowd, the Reds overcame the odds to beat the Blaugrana 4-0, with doubles from Divock Origi and Georginio Wijnaldum.
Spurs and the road to Madrid
Nobody, not even the most ardent Spurs fans, could have predicted that the team would have the chance to compete for the UCL title.
Across Europe’s major five leagues, the Lilywhites were the only team who did not sign any players across the two transfer windows.
They were put in a very difficult group alongside FC Barcelona, Inter Milan and PSV Eindhoven, and started on a very bad note, with just 1 point in their first three matches. These included two losses to Inter Milan and FC Barcelona.
The team responded with verve and garnered 7 points in the last 3 games to finish second behind Barca. They thrashed Borussia Dortmund 4-0 over the two legs in the round of 16.
After a 1-0 win over Manchester City in the quarterfinal first leg, Spurs came very close to going out in the second leg before a last-minute VAR call rescued them in a 4-3 loss. This ensured they qualified for the finals on the away goals rule.
In the semi-finals, they were 3-0 down in the second half of the second leg, before a Lucas Moura hat-trick rescued the tie against Ajax AFC.
This was achieved despite the move to a brand-new stadium and lots of injuries to key players like Harry Kane.
What to expect in the final
Both teams have been on holiday following the end of the Premier League. Liverpool will have been disheartened by the fact that despite their best efforts, Manchester City were able to successfully defend their league title.
Klopp and his team will want to use the UCL title as a consolation, and to banish the memories of last year’s final which they lost to Real Madrid 3-1.
The Reds have a full squad to pick from, with Roberto Firmino confirmed fit amongst others.
The situation at Spurs is markedly different, with the quartet of Kane, Jan Vertonghen, Harry Winks and Davinson Sanchez back in training.
Both games between the two sides in the Premier League ended in 2-1 wins for Liverpool. They will go into the game as favourites.
However, Spurs have not come this far to just wilt at the end. Pochettino’s men have displayed grit and determination in the face of so many injuries and a lack of spending.
It is expected to be a feast of football, and may the best team win.
Nigeria on Wednesday made a high-level presentation to the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) in London, United Kingdom, as part of efforts to advance its bid to host the 2030 centenary edition of the Commonwealth Games.
The Nigerian delegation, led by Chairman of the National Sports Commission (NSC), Mallam Shehu Dikko, and Director General, Hon. Bukola Olopade, emphasised that the bid is an opportunity to foster a shared legacy that epitomises the Commonwealth spirit.
Nigeria presented an all-inclusive bid, with focus areas such as sports excellence, arts, international cultural exchange, tapping into a budding creative economy, building a new shared commonwealth legacy and shaping the future of the African youth.
The bid reflects the core values of Commonwealth Sport: More in Common, Equality, Humanity, and Destiny. The Abuja 2030 Games are designed to bring people together through the power of sport, reaching across gender, disability, culture, ethnicity, age, and background. They will celebrate what binds the Commonwealth together, fostering solidarity while opening pathways for more people to succeed in sport.
The bid also represents equality by offering Africa, for the first time in 100 years, the chance to host the Games. It reflects humanity by promising to transform lives and turn one million dreams into one million skills.
Also, it embodies destiny by positioning the Centennial Games in Nigeria as a defining moment that will shape the next century of the Commonwealth through youth, skills, and inclusive growth.
The delegation included the Bid Coordinator, Mallam Mainasara Ilo; the President of the Nigerian Olympic Committee, Engr. Habu Gumel, Minister of Arts and Culture, Hannatu Musawa, Presidential Spokesperson, Hon. Sunday Dare, former Olympian and 2-time Commonwealth gold medalist, Mary Onyali, and current world number one para-badminton player, Eniola Bolaji.
Nigeria’s Abuja 2030 bid is presented as an opportunity to shape the next century of the Commonwealth through humanity, equality, and shared destiny, ensuring that Africa’s youth are an important part of the future.
President Bola Tinubu on Wednesday conferred national honours of the Commander of the Order of the Niger posthumously on four late Ogoni leaders.
They are Albert Badey, Edward Kobani, Theophilus Orage, and Samuel Orage, popularly remembered as the Ogoni Four.
Tinubu announced the conferment when he received the report of the Ogoni Consultations Committee at the State House, Abuja, on Wednesday.
He urged the people of Ogoniland to embrace reconciliation and unity after decades of division.
“May their memories continue to inspire unity, courage and purpose among us.
“I urge the Ogoni people across classes, communities and generations to close ranks, put this dark chapter behind us and move forward as a united community with one voice,” Tinubu said.
Wednesday’s meeting comes 16 months after the President, in May 2024, promised to “pursue diligently and honourably” the Ogoni cleanup and increase the number of its indigenes benefitting from its empowerment programmes.
Tinubu also pledged his commitment to unlocking the human and natural resource potential of Ogoniland while ensuring the environmental and economic security of Nigerian communities.
At the meeting, the President assured stakeholders that his administration would support the journey of Ogoniland towards peace, environmental remediation, and economic revival, while also facilitating the return of oil exploration to the area.
He stated, “I am encouraged by the overwhelming consensus of the Ogoni communities to welcome the resumption of oil production.
“The government will deploy every resource to support your people in this march towards shared prosperity.”
Tinubu cited developments in 2022 when the Buhari administration transferred the operations of the Ogoni oil field to the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited and its joint venture partners.
He argued that his government would honour and build on Buhari’s decision.
In his closing remarks, Tinubu called on the people to seize the moment, saying, “Let us together turn pain into purpose, conflict into cooperation, and transform the wealth beneath Ogoni soil into a blessing for the people and for Nigeria.”
Consequently, he directed the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, to commence engagement between the Ogoni people, NNPCL, its partners, and all relevant stakeholders to finalise modalities for restarting operations.
“A dead asset is not valuable to the community, the country or the people.
“The longer we procrastinate, the worse it is for everyone,” the President said.
He also directed the Minister of Environment to integrate pollution remediation and environmental recovery into the broader framework of dialogue with the people.
The National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, who presented the report, said the consultations included all four Ogoni zones, with input from local communities, traditional leaders, and the diaspora.
Ribadu said, “In all aspects of our national life, Ogoni is one, thirty-something years of very unfortunate history rewrite the wrong now,
“To us was instruction, then we carry out this dialogue, community engagement, talking with the people and getting to understand how to move forward. It has succeeded like what you have seen today.
“He gave directives to all government agencies and institutions and also directly to our office that we must implement everything that have been agreed and we have taken it.”
Ribadu affirmed that his office, alongside all relevant agencies, is committed to restoring peace in Ogoniland.
“We will make sure that we follow his own directives and his instructions.
“We are going to make sure that peace is restored already, it is, and hopefully you will see the benefit of it not just in Ogoni land but the entire Niger Delta and by extension Nigeria,” he said.
Meanwhile, Chairman of the Dialogue Committee, Prof. Don Baridam, noted that the committee ensured all stakeholders were carried along in the process, noting that the report reflects the collective will of the Ogoni people.
Baridam said the report captured the people’s demands for structured participation in oil production, renewed environmental cleanup, and a framework for sustainable development.
Oil was first commercially discovered in Oloibiri, Ogoniland, in 1958. However, exploration stopped in 1993 following sustained protests against environmental degradation and injustice.
The Ogoni Four refers to four traditional chiefs from the Ogoni community in Rivers State who were murdered on May 21, 1994, in the village of Giokoo.
The killings took place against the backdrop of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People campaign, led by writer and activist Ken Saro-Wiwa, which had been mobilising the Ogoni against oil companies, particularly Shell, and the Nigerian state.
The subsequent struggles of Ogoni leaders to protect their environment from harmful oil exploration were met with severe repression, culminating in the hanging of Ken Saro-Wiwa and nine other leaders by the Abacha regime in 1995.
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Tinubu Holds Closed-door Meeting with Rivers Ex-administrator Ibas, EFCC Chair, Fin Minister
President Bola Tinubu, on Wednesday evening, summoned the immediate past Sole Administrator of Rivers State, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas (rtd.), to the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Ibas, who arrived at the State House at about 5:50 pm dressed in brown native attire, was accompanied to the meeting by the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, and Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ola Olukoyede.
Earlier, Edun had been sighted entering the villa briefly before leaving, only to return later carrying a file, underscoring the gravity of the engagement with the President.
Vice Admiral Ibas ceased to function as administrator of the oil-rich State on September 17, following the termination of the six-month emergency rule imposed in March.
President Tinubu had directed the reinstatement of the suspended governor, Siminalayi Fubara, his deputy, and members of the Rivers State House of Assembly from the previous Thursday.
During its first sitting after the end of emergency rule, the Rivers State House of Assembly, presided over by Speaker Martin Amaewhule, resolved to investigate the management of State funds under Ibas’ tenure.
Lawmakers specifically resolved “to explore the process of knowing what transpired during the emergency rule about spending from the consolidated revenue fund for the award of contracts and other expenditures.”
Ibas, however, has publicly rejected the decision to probe the State’s expenditure during his six months in office.
Official records show that Rivers State received at least N254.37 billion from the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) between March and August 2025, covering the period Ibas served as sole administrator.
Details of the closed-door meeting were yet to be made public as of press time.
