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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.
The Presidency has dismissed claims that Vice President Kashim Shettima’s recent comments were directed at the political situation in Rivers State or President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s constitutional decisions on the matter.
In a statement on Friday by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Communications (Office of the Vice President), Stanley Nkwocha, the Presidency described the reports as a “gross misrepresentation.”
The statement clarified that Vice President Shettima’s remarks at the public presentation of a book by former Attorney General of the Federation, Mohammed Bello Adoke (SAN), were misconstrued by some online platforms and individuals.
“These reports have distorted the Vice President’s comments in pursuit of a mischievous agenda,” it stated.
“They twisted his account of how the administration of former President Jonathan considered removing him as Borno Governor during the insurgency to falsely link it with current events in Rivers State.”
The Vice President, who spoke at the launch of OPL 245: The Inside Story of the $1.3 Billion Oil Block in Abuja on Thursday, was said to have referenced the past solely to commend Adoke’s professionalism while in office, and to reflect on Nigeria’s constitutional evolution regarding federal and state relations.
“For the avoidance of doubt, President Tinubu did not remove Governor Fubara from office. The constitutional measure implemented was a suspension, not an outright removal.
“This action was taken in response to the grave political crisis in Rivers State at the time, with the governor facing a looming impeachment and the State Assembly complex under demolition,” Nkwocha clarified.
The Presidency insisted that the action taken by President Tinubu in declaring a state of emergency and suspending the Governor was fully in line with Section 305 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), which authorises such measures when there is a breakdown of public order requiring extraordinary intervention.
According to the statement, the President’s proclamation invoking Section 305(2) was subsequently ratified by an overwhelming bipartisan majority in the National Assembly, confirming the legitimacy and constitutional propriety of the decision.
“The action of President Tinubu in suspending Mr. Fubara and others from exercising the functions of office averted the governor’s outright removal. To conflate suspension with removal is misleading,” the statement further noted.
Nkwocha also stressed that Vice President Shettima’s comments were delivered extemporaneously and intended to underline the importance of public accountability and historical documentation.
He referenced the Vice President’s mention of past public servants, including Adoke and former Speaker Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, to illustrate principled leadership.
“His remarks were not in any way a criticism of President Tinubu’s actions, which the Vice President and the entire administration fully support and stand by without reservation,” the spokesman stated.
The Vice President, the statement added, remains in “loyal concert” with President Tinubu and is committed to implementing all constitutional measures necessary to safeguard democracy and uphold order across the country.
Concluding, the Presidency called on media organisations and political actors to desist from misrepresenting public remarks for sensational or partisan purposes.
“We urge media organisations and political actors to desist from the destructive practice of wrenching statements from context in order to fabricate nonexistent conflicts,” Nkwocha said.
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Akpabio Relieves Natasha of Committee Chairmanship Position, Appoints Akwa Ibom Senator As Replacement
Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, has replaced suspended Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, as the Chairman, Senate Committee on Diaspora/Non-Governmental Organisations.
In her place, Akpabio named Senator Bassey Aniekun Etim (Akwa Ibom -East).
The Senate President, who made the announcement on the floor in Abuja on Thursday, did not give any reasons.
The committee position had remained vacant since March when the Senate suspended the Kogi-Central Senatorial District lawmaker for six months for flouting the Senate’s rule on the seating arrangement and seat allocation.
The suspended lawmaker, at a point, chaired the Senate Committee on Local Content before Akpabio reassigned her to the Committee on Diaspora/NGO, shortly before she ran into trouble with the Senate over her conduct on seat allocation.
The Supreme Court has affirmed the 2024 governorship election victory of Governor Monday Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress (APC), dismissing the appeal filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Asuerinme Ighodalo.
In a unanimous decision by a five-member panel led by Justice Mohammed Garba, the apex court ruled that the appeal lacked merit. It upheld the earlier judgments of the Court of Appeal and the Edo State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, which had both declared Okpebholo the validly elected governor.
