UEFA Champions League
UCL Final Experience: Finidi, Eguavoen, Young John, others join Heineken ‘Cheers to All Fans’ campaign
Football fans in Lagos and its environs are set for a never-before-loaded UEFA Champions League final viewing experience as the Heineken Cheers to All Fans campaign peaks in style in Lagos; the Centre of Excellence this Saturday.
Aside from the all-star line-up of performers already confirmed to light up the Landmark Events Centre, the heart of the city in Ikeja will also be bubbling with activities at the Cubana Hut & Grill on Isaac John Street.
The electrifying trio of Young Jonn, DJ Consequence, and Chuey Chu will be holding the fans and loyal consumers of Heineken spell-bound with top-notch performances, hot mixes of music as well as bants and jokes on a night of explosive football action between history-chasing Manchester City and Inter Milan.
Apart from the unmatchable entertainers, fans will also be sharing the Champions League final night with accomplished football icons who have excelled and made names for themselves in the round leather game.
Four Nigerian football icons, Onome Ebi, Finidi George, Augustine Eguavoen and Julius Aghaowa will all grace the grand finale of the Heineken ‘Cheers to All Fans’ campaign.
Onome Ebi, the captain of the Nigerian women’s national team, the Super Falcons going to the World Cup finals next month in Australia and New Zealand.
Ebi’s leadership skills and resilience on the pitch have made her a role model for aspiring female footballers in Nigeria and beyond.
Her presence at the grand finale resonates with the inclusivity of women preached by Heineken and it will also undoubtedly inspire and empower young girls who dream of playing football at the highest level.
George, a former Nigerian international was a key member of the legendary Ajax team that won the UEFA Champions League in 1995.
His electrifying performances and memorable goals during that campaign etched his name in football history.
The presence of the Enyimba coach will undoubtedly be inspiring for the fans.
For Eguavoen, a former captain of the Nigerian national team, the Super Eagles, he represented the country in numerous international tournaments, including the FIFA World Cup.
Eguavoen’s experience and footballing insights will undoubtedly captivate the audience at the grand finale.
Completing the quartet is Aghahowa, another Nigerian football icon who enjoyed a successful career at both the national and international levels will also be joining the fans on Saturday for the unique viewing experience courtesy of Heineken.
The Heineken ‘Cheers to All Fans’ campaign is celebrating the unwavering passion and dedication of football supporters around the world and the pinnacle of this campaign is bringing together football legends and fans to celebrate the beautiful game.
The grand finale of the Heineken ‘Cheers to All Fans’ campaign will be a football-filled extravaganza for attendees as they will have the opportunity to watch the highly anticipated UCL final match while being surrounded by the iconic figures who have contributed to Nigerian football’s rich history.
UEFA Champions League
LaLiga to have five teams in 2025-26 Champions League

Spain’s LaLiga will be represented by at least five teams in the Champions League next season after Italy’s Lazio were eliminated from the Europa League on Thursday while Athletic Bilbao progressed to the semi-finals.
LaLiga earned the second of two European Performance Spots handed out by UEFA, which go to associations “with the best collective performance by their clubs” in UEFA competitions.
England’s Premier League was the first to secure an extra berth in Europe’s top competition, on top of the four granted to the top four teams in the domestic table.
Villarreal are fifth in the LaLiga standings, with 51 points from 30 matches.
They are three points ahead of sixth-placed Real Betis and eight in front of Celta Vigo and Mallorca, with all three clubs having played one more game than Villarreal.
-Reuters
UEFA Champions League
No complaints from Ancelotti, as Real humbled by Arsenal

Real Madrid’s record-breaking manager Carlo Ancelotti had no complaints after his side’s Champions League reign was ended in emphatic fashion by Arsenal in the quarter-finals on Wednesday.
Italian Ancelotti won a record-extending fifth Champions League trophy last season as Real beat Borussia Dortmund at Wembley, but his side went down 2-1 at home to Arsenal for a crushing 5-1 aggregate defeat.
“There are two sides to football, the happy part that has happened to us many times and the sad part we have to handle in the same way. It has happened to us fewer times than to other teams, but we have to manage it because it allows us to be better in the next games.”
When Real keeper Thibaut Courtois saved Bukayo Saka’s early penalty and minutes later Real were awarded a spot kick for a push by Declan Rice on Kylian Mbappe, it seemed that the great escape might still be a possibility.
But Real’s penalty was overturned after a lengthy VAR check, and in truth, they never looked remotely threatening as their bid for a 16th European Cup crown ended in feeble fashion.
“To change the dynamic, we needed something positive, like the penalty he whistled and then took off. We needed something to have more confidence, but we were not able to change the dynamic of the first leg,” Ancelotti said.
Despite the defeat, Ancelotti said Real’s season still has plenty of possibilities, not least trying to bridge a four-point gap to La Liga leaders Barcelona.
“Now we are in the fight for La Liga. We have a disadvantage, but we have the Barcelona game, we have the Copa del Rey final, the Club World Cup, and we have to manage this part, which is another part of football that we are not used to,” he said.
“It’s time to hold our heads high and learn from our mistakes. It’s sad today, but I have absolutely no worries about how my players will respond. We’ll fight on, we’ll learn from the experience, and we’ll try to be better for the next match.”
-Reuters
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UEFA Champions League
Arsenal cruise past lacklustre Real Madrid to reach semis

Arsenal snuffed out any chance of a famous Real Madrid comeback to reach the Champions League semi-finals after a 2-1 victory in the Bernabeu Stadium completed a 5-1 aggregate win on Wednesday.
Holders and 15-time winners Real never looked like clawing back a 3-0 deficit from last week’s quarter-final first leg, and when Bukayo Saka scored for the visitors in the 65th minute, their fate was effectively sealed.
Vinicius Junior seized on a rare defensive slip a couple of minutes later to rouse the home crowd, but it proved too little too late as Carlo Ancelotti’s side exited feebly.
Arsenal’s superiority over the two legs was underlined in stoppage time as Gabriel Martinelli burst through to score.
They will face Paris St Germain in their first Champions League semi-final since 2009.
“I think it’s such a special night for this club, it’s a historic night for this club,” said Arsenal’s Declan Rice, whose two sublime free kicks put his side in control last week.
“There was a lot of talk coming in about them coming back from the dead, they’ve done it so many times before. But we had so much belief and confidence from that first leg that we had enough to come here and win the game.”
A cacophony of noise greeted kickoff with the home fans fuelled by the hope of witnessing what would have been one of the greatest Champions League comebacks.
But Real’s knack of extricating themselves from difficult positions in a competition they won six times in the previous 11 seasons deserted them as they were comprehensively outplayed.
“Did we fall short of what we wanted in pure football terms? Perhaps,” Real captain Lucas Vazquez said. “They really are terrifically organised defensively.”
PENALTY MISS
Real needed a storming start, and Mbappe had the ball in the Arsenal net in the opening minutes but was offside when chesting in a Vinicius cross.
Arsenal were in no mood to simply sit and protect their lead, though, and Saka forced a great save from Courtois. They were handed the chance to kill off the tie when Raul Asencio needlessly hauled down Mikel Merino from a corner, and referee Francois Letexier eventually awarded a penalty after checking a pitch-side VAR monitor.
Saka opted for a Panenka-style chipped penalty, and Courtois clawed away the ball.
It looked like a potentially pivotal moment, and when Letexier pointed to the penalty spot at the other end after Kylian Mbappe tumbled under minimal contact from Rice, Arsenal’s night looked like taking a turn for the worse.
After five painstaking minutes, however, Letexier was again invited by VAR to view the monitor and to a chorus of whistles from the home fans, overturned his original decision.
That scare aside, Arsenal coped easily with Real Madrid’s famed frontline who were given little to work with.
Arsenal keeper David Raya was not required to make a save before halftime as Real’s predilection for hopeful crosses into the area proved easy pickings for the visiting defence.
Real’s Mbappe barely had a sniff of a chance as Arsenal showed great control and Saka made up for his first-half miss with a clinical finish after being sent clear by Merino.
William Saliba gifted Real a lifeline when he was caught in possession on the edge of his area, allowing Vinicius to score, but there was never any sense of panic in the visiting ranks.
Martinelli put the icing on the cake in added time, again from a Merino assist, to send Arsenal’s fans into raptures.
-Reuters
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