Sports
Sunderland 0-5 Nott’m Forest: Taiwo Awoniyi Assists, Ola Aina Sturdy In Resounding Tricky Trees Win
Super Eagles stars Taiwo Awoniyi and Ola Aina shone for Nottingham Forest in their ruthless 5-0 drubbing of Sunderland at the Stadium of Light on Friday.
The two Super Eagles stars continued their club’s fight against relegation in a tricky tie against the Black Cats, who held the home advantage.
Awoniyi started on the bench, as coach Vitor Pereira opted for a two-pronged frontline featuring Igor Jesus and Chris Wood. However, Aina retained his place in the starting XI, lining up at right-back.
The game was expected to be a real cracker, given Sunderland’s brilliant form in the Premier League this year. While Nottingham Forest have picked up the pace recently, they still have significant work to do to avoid relegation from the English top flight.
However, the match turned out to be a whitewash. By the 37th minute, the Black Cats were already four goals down, courtesy of strikes from Igor Jesus, Morgan Gibbs-White, and Chris Wood, alongside an own goal from Trai Hume.
Aina was superb in the first half. He remained rock-solid defensively and successfully kept the Sunderland attackers at bay.
In the second half, the home team picked up the pace slightly as Nottingham Forest shifted into game-management mode. In the 61st minute, Sunderland thought they had pulled one back after Daniel Ballard put the ball in the net, but the goal was ruled out for offside.
Awoniyi was introduced in the 88th minute, replacing Wood. The Super Eagles star looked very lively upon his introduction and provided the assist for Nottingham Forest’s fifth goal in the fifth minute of stoppage time. He played a clever pass to Elliot Anderson in the box, and the Englishman finished with aplomb to complete the 5-0 rout.
Aina did not record a goal or an assist, but he was excellent throughout the night. He finished with an impressive nine defensive contributions, 70 percent passing accuracy, and 56 touches.
Following Nottingham Forest’s 5-0 thrashing of Sunderland at the Stadium of Light on Friday, the Trickey Trees have almost confirmed their place in the Premier League next season.
They have been serious candidates for the drop. But with this win, they have now climbed to 16th on the table, eight points above the relegation zone, albeit they have played one more game than the teams below them asides from Burnley.
With four games left in the survival push, the Tricky Trees will need to win two of their games at most to be sure that they will play Premier League football next season.
Their two Super Eagles stars have proven to be key this season, with Aina often shining at the back, while Awoniyi regularly gets off the bench to close games. They will be hoping to continue that run soon.
Sports
UEFA Fines Bayern Munich Over Champions League Incident
Bayern Munich have escaped a supporter lockout but were hit with a sizeable fine from UEFA after photographers were injured when fans spilled over barriers during their Champions League quarter-final win over Real Madrid.
The incident happened earlier this month at the Allianz Arena as Bayern scored twice in the closing moments of the second leg to book a place in the semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League.
In the aftermath of the dramatic finish, supporters from the club’s ultras section climbed over pitch-side barriers while celebrating and ran across the perimeter area, trampling several photographers.
One photographer suffered concussion while another sustained a head laceration. Several others required medical attention following the chaos.
UEFA confirmed Bayern would pay a total fine of 89,625 euros. The sanction includes 40,000 euros for spectator disturbances, 30,000 euros for a fan banner critical of UEFA, 14,000 euros for blocked aisles and 5,625 euros for the throwing of objects.
The German champions had faced the prospect of a partial stadium closure for the second leg of their semi-final against Paris Saint-Germain, but the punishment stopped short of a supporter ban.
Sporting director Christoph Freund had expressed confidence the match would still be played in front of a full crowd before the ruling.
“We expect to be able to celebrate a football festival with a full stadium against Paris,” Freund said.
Sports
Moses Itauma Set For July 25 Return At O2 Arena
Unbeaten heavyweight prospect Moses Itauma will fight again on 25 July at London’s O2 Arena, with his opponent still to be confirmed following last month’s emphatic win over Jermaine Franklin.
Daily Voice News reports that Moses Itauma, 21, moved to 14 wins from 14 bouts, including 12 knockouts, with his March victory. Itauma became the first fighter to knockout Franklin, who had previously gone the distance with Anthony Joshua and Dillian Whyte. The performance prompted the WBO to name him mandatory challenger for its heavyweight title.
Focus now shifts to the division’s title picture. WBO champion Fabio Wardley is due to defend his belt against Daniel Dubois on 9 May, a bout that could shape Itauma’s next move.
“If Fabio wins then it’ll be sticky but if Dubois wins, then that fight makes sense,” Itauma said, according to Sky Sports.
Wardley and Dubois were ringside for Itauma’s win over Franklin, and the rising contender believes he made an impression.
“I don’t think they’re worried. I think they’re both like ‘Oh! This guy’s in my division,’” he said. “I think deep inside they probably both had the same reaction. I think Fabio managed to, I guess, hide it a bit better.”
Despite holding mandatory status, Itauma is unlikely to face the Wardley-Dubois winner immediately. The victor is expected to pursue a fight with unified champion Oleksandr Usyk. A strong showing in July against a higher-ranked opponent could still push Itauma closer to a world title shot.
Possible opponents for the O2 Arena card are expected to include established names capable of topping a major bill. British champion Richard Riakporhe has been mentioned as one potential option.
The cruiserweight holds a 20-1 record with 16 knockouts and has won his last three fights inside five rounds since his lone defeat at world level to Chris Billam-Smith.
Sports
Coventry City Owner Dismisses Concerns Over Frank Lampard’s Chelsea links
The owner of Coventry City has said he is not worried about speculation linking head coach Frank Lampard with a possible return to Chelsea, insisting the club remains focused on its long-term plans following promotion to the Premier League.
Coventry chairman Doug King said supporters should not be distracted by “what may or may not happen” amid growing reports that Chelsea could consider Lampard for a third spell in charge at Stamford Bridge following the departure of Liam Rosenior.
Lampard has enjoyed a highly successful spell at Coventry, guiding the club to the Championship title and securing promotion back to the top flight for the first time in more than two decades. The achievement capped an impressive first full season in charge after he was appointed in November 2024.
As reported by BBC Sport on Thursday, speaking about the speculation, King praised Lampard’s impact at the club but acknowledged that success inevitably attracts outside interest.
He’s done a fantastic job,” King said, highlighting the scale of Coventry’s achievement in winning the Championship without the financial advantages of parachute payments. “It’s a huge achievement nobody can take away from him.”
He added that managerial movement in football is now constant and often unpredictable, describing it as a “merry-go-round” where speculation follows success.
Despite the rumours, King said Lampard appeared settled at Coventry and emotionally invested in the club’s progress.
You can see how emotionally connected he is with the city,” he said. “I think he’s found a happy place at the moment.”
However, he also accepted that strong performance naturally brings attention from bigger clubs. “It doesn’t mean there’s not going to be interest in the summer,. “He’s shown his credentials as a high-quality head coach,” he said.
Coventry are now preparing for life in the Premier League and have begun planning their recruitment strategy. King stressed that the club would not simply rely on heavy spending to compete at the top level, insisting that smart recruitment and value for money would be central to their approach.
“People spend money very badly at times,” he said. “We will look for value. Don’t associate success just with how much money you spend.”
Coventry’s return to the Premier League marks the start of a new challenge for the club, which last played in the top flight in the 2000-01 season. King said the squad and staff are embracing the opportunity, while acknowledging the difficulty of the task ahead.
Asked about the prospects of avoiding relegation in their first top-flight season since 2000-01, King said: “It’s taken a long time to get there. Obviously, we have beaten two teams who will join us so we have only got to beat one more, if we can beat them again next year, right? If you put it like that.
I’m embracing it, the team’s embracing it, it’s exciting, it’s a challenge. We had a challenge to get out of the Championship and we’ve spectacularly achieved that and now the next one is to challenge ourselves to see what we can do in the top league.
King said simply throwing “zillions” at signing new players was not the way to approach the Premier League, adding: “People spend money very badly at times, I would say what we do is we look for value.
“A very expensive footballer might still be valuable, there are a lot of footballers who are very expensive but who are not valuable.
“We will do what we’ve got to do, but don’t associate staying in the league and being very successful just with how much money you throw out of the door, I think that would be a mistake.”
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