By Etienne Mainimo
The President of the Paris Saint Germain, PSG, Nasser Al-Khelaifi says his club will work extremely hard to win to win the UEFA Champions League.
After PSG lost 0-1 to Bayern Munich in the finals of USFA on Sunday August 23, Nasser Al-Khelaifi insisted that he is proud of his team and that his team will be back soon
“We will work to win next season. Tonight, we believe in it more than before. I promise we’re going to win the Champions League. We had a great season. We reached the finals, we won four trophies. We are sad, we are disappointed but there is a positive side,” Nasser Al-Khelaifi told RMC Sport.
According to the President, “it was very close. I am proud of my players. We had a great season, a great tournament here. We had everything we needed to win but that is football.”
“Players, honestly, everybody’s coming out with their heads held high. They have created something. We played against the great Bayern that is something. They are one of the best teams in the world we lost 0-1. You have to improve on little things. This our first and eleven for Bayern,” Nasser Al-Khelaifi said.
The President however stated that, “we will get back one day. We will work for it. It was not easy to reach the final but we are going to do everything we can to win this trophy.”

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Italian manager Maurizio Sarri has been relieved of his duty as the head of the technical bench of Juventus following the club’s early elimination from the UEFA Champions league. This is according to the club.

The Old Ladies were knocked out by Olympic Lyonnais at the round of 16 despite a 2-1 win on Friday August 7, 2020 that appeared insufficient for the night as the visitors sailed through on away goal formalities following a 1 nil victory in February.

Sarri’s dismissal hasn’t come as a surprise to many. With the simple reason. The match outcome against Lyon came as a huge sign of failure for the club whose main target this season was winning the Champions League, a fit they are still to achieve since 1996 when they last grabbed silver ware in the competition. Reasons amongst other that saw the club bringing in 5 times Balloon D’Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo to help facilitate the task.

Maurizio Sarri therefore served as the main victim and sacrifice despite helping the club win its 9^th consecutive Series A title a few weeks ago.

Sarri who has also managed Chelsea and Napoli had earlier explained his difficulty of having the players adapt to his system which he considers to be “Slow” especially after losing to Lyon in France.

The club have recorded series of unconvincing scores after the Coronavirus restart. They have gathered 7 wins in their last 15 matches. Managing to win the league with a point above runners-up, Inter Milan

A few names have come up as potential replacement. Amongst them, former Tottenham Hotspur manager Mauricio Pochettino who is still to join a club since his dismissal by the Spurs in 2019 and Zinedine Zidane.

DEWAH Fabrice TEH

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Cameroonian forward Karl Toko Ekambi and French outfit Olympique Lyonnais have qualified for the quarter finals of the UEFA Champions League after knocking out Cristiano Ronaldo’s Juventus on away goal basis.

Meeting at the Allianz Stadium on Friday August 7, 2020, Toko Ekambi and teammates put up resilient performances against the Old Ladies. Leading the attack alongside Memphis Depay, the 27 year old showed determination and remained a threat to Maurizio Sarri and boys who appeared vulnerable to the self-confidence put forward by the visitors.

At the 14^th minute, the team’s efforts paid off. Rudi Garcia’s boys won a penalty following foul on the team’s midfielder and subsequent man of the match, 22 year old Houssem Aouar brought down by Rodrigo Bentancur. A penalty transformed with a panaka chip-in by Memphis Depay to put the visitors a goal up on the night and 2 goals up on aggregate.

With the Old Ladies in need of 3 goals to turn-around the situation, efforts by Portuguese football magician, Cristiano Ronaldo proved insufficient as his two goals scored at the 45^th minute from the penalty spot and a 60^th minute rocket strike failed to hit needed the mark.

The 2-1 defeat to Juventus saw Ekambi and Lyon go through to the quarter finals on away goal basis following a 1 nil win against the Italian Series A champions in February.

It was Lyon’s first quarter final qualification since the 2009/2010 season where their fairy tale run saw them reaching the semifinal of the competition after knocking out Real Madrid and Bordeaux at the round of 16 and quarter finals respectively before being eliminated by German outfit Bayern Munchen at the semis.

Ironically, it is the first time Cristiano Ronaldo will be missing the quarter final of the UEFA Champions League since the 2009/2010 season and Juventus debut absence from the last 8 since the 2015/2016 season under manager Massimiliano Allegri

The team will clash with Manchester City at the Estadio Jose Alvalade on Tuesday August 15, 2020 at the quarter finals in Lisbon, Portugal. Manchester City knocked out Real Madrid to reach the final 8.

DEWAH Fabrice TEH

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