Top-four hopefuls Villarreal and Nigerian winger, Samuel Chukwueze will be bidding to make it successive victories in Spain’s top flight when they continue their campaign at home to Celta Vigo on Sunday afternoon.

The Yellow Submarine are fifth in the table, five points behind fourth-placed Real Sociedad, while Celta occupy 13th position, eight points clear of the relegation zone heading into the next set of fixtures.

Villarreal are very much in the argument for a top-four finish at this stage of the season, with Quique Setien’s side currently fifth in the table, five points behind fourth-placed Real Sociedad.

Barcelona, Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid appear to have cemented their spots in the Champions League positions, but Real Sociedad are far from comfortable in fourth, and Villarreal will be aiming to close the gap when they welcome Celta to Estadio de la Ceramica.

The Yellow Submarine were 4-2 winners over Espanyol on Thursday evening, with Etienne Capoue registering twice, and Dani Parejo and Nicolas Jackson also getting their names on the scoresheet.

Villarreal have finished seventh in their last two La Liga campaigns and have not claimed fourth since 2015-16, so it could be a very successful campaign for the club.

El Submarino Amarillo have been strong in front of their own fans this season, picking up 29 points from 15 matches, which is the fifth-best home record in the division, but Celta have claimed a respectable 16 points on their travels, and the Sky Blues certainly have the talent to make this a very difficult match.

Celta have only lost one of their last four La Liga games against Villarreal, meanwhile, and the points were shared when the two teams locked horns in Vigo towards the start of January.

Carlos Carvalhal’s side have no real relegation fears at this stage of the season, sitting 13th in the table, eight points clear of the bottom three, while they are just two points behind 10th-placed Girona.

A top-half finish should be the aim for Celta in the closing weeks of the campaign, which is something that they have achieved on only one occasion since 2016.

The Sky Blues will enter this match off the back of a 1-0 victory over Elche on Wednesday evening, with Joseph Aidoo coming up with a 90th-minute winner against the team at the bottom of the division.

The success was Celta’s first since the middle of March and eased any slight fears that they could be dragged closer to the relegation zone entering the latter stages of the campaign.

 French media claim Victor Osimhen is in advanced talks with PSG, but the striker’s entourage brands rumours as ‘fake news’ and insists it’s is ‘too early to speak about transfers.’

The Nigeria international is Serie A’s leading scorer this season and has attracted interest from some of the wealthiest clubs in Europe, including PSG, Manchester United and Bayern Munich.

Mundo Deportivo asked the player’s entourage whether their client was in advanced talks with PSG and the answer was clear: “It’s all fake news, it’s early to speak about transfers.”

The Italian Roberto Calenda is the agent of the Nigerian striker.

Osimhen has scored 26 goals in 32 appearances across all competitions this season and his contract at the Stadio Maradona expires in June 2025.

The Partenopei will offer him a new deal by the end of the season and according to Mundo Deportivo, the Serie A giants won’t listen to offers below €150m in the summer.

Napoli are on the verge of winning their first Serie A title in 33 years. They must beat Salernitana on Sunday, hoping Lazio won’t win against Inter at San Siro.

UFC middleweight fighter, Alex Pereira suffered a devastating knockout loss to champion Israel Adesanya at UFC 287 but still believes he is the better mixed martial artist.

After his knockout loss, the Braziian announced that he is moving to the light heavyweight division of the UFC but Pereira still thinks that he is better than Adesanya.

In a recent Instagram post, Pereira shared a video emphasizing why he is still the better fighter, despite Adesanya’s win At the UFC 287.

“We’re the best but I’m still the best. But the number speaks 3×1,” Pereira wrote, referring to his 3 wins over Adesanya compared to Adesanya’s 1 victory over him.

Nigerian-born fighter Adesanya, who had an impressive 11-win streak in kickboxing, faced Alex Pereira for the first time at Glory of Heroes 1 in Shenzhen, China, on April 2, 2016. Pereira emerged victorious via unanimous decision. Adesanya had the opportunity to redeem himself in a rematch at Glory of Heroes 7 in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on March 4, 2017.

However, ‘Poatan’ defeated Adesanya with a left hook knockout in the third round. The long-standing rivalry between Israel Adesanya and Alex Pereira was reignited in a professional MMA bout at UFC 281 on November 12, 2022, in New York. Unfortunately, Adesanya lost his middleweight title to Pereira in the fifth round via technical knockout.

However, Adesanya got his revenge when he faced Pereira again at UFC 287 on April 8, 2023. With a stunning knockout victory in the second round, ‘The Last Stylebender’ reclaimed his UFC middleweight championship title, marking a triumphant moment in his career.

Whether Pereira gets another shot at Adesanya or fades from title contention remains to be see but there is no questioning Pereira’s belief in himself as the superior fighter, despite the setback.

• Osimhen on brink of helping Napoli win first Serie A title in 33 years

 Nigerian striker Victor Osimhen is on the cusp of leading Serie A leaders, Napoli, to their first Scudetto title in 33 years if they are able to record a win in the Campanian derby against Salernitana on Sunday (today) and second-placed Lazio fails to win against Inter Milan at the San Siro.

If the results indeed goes Napoli’s way, it will be Osimhen’s first ever league title in Europe and he will be the second Nigerian to win the Serie A title, after Obafemi Martins lifted the Scudetto with Inter Milan during the 2005/2006 season.

Speaking ahead of the game, the Serie A topscorer is already relishing celebrating the Serie A title with Napoli fans.

“We are all happy and giving our best to make our dream come true,” Osimhen told TG5.

Victory on Sunday would move Luciano Spalletti’s side to 81 points and they will become the first team to win the title with six matches remaining unless Lazio earn their first win away to Inter in more than four years on the same day.

However, Spalletti has urged his players not to get ahead of themselves despite being tantalisingly close to ending the city’s 33-year wait for the Serie A title since Diego Maradona led the team to two championships in 1987 and 1990.

“I don’t like to celebrate in advance,” he said. “If we all do it together there will be twice as much joy.”

It would be unthinkable for Napoli to blow their 17-point lead at this stage but Spalletti’s caution is understandable given a tough April in which his team managed two wins in six games in all competitions.

Osimhen has enjoyed a magnificent season with Napoli and has been instrumental in their campaign as the 24-year-old has hit 26 goals in 32 appearances, emerging as one of Europe’s most sought after strikers.

World record holder Tobi Amusan is excited to compete among fellow record-holders Lamecha Girma and Mondo Duplantis at the Ostrava Golden Spike on 27 June, while Neeraj Chopra will feature in a strong javelin field at the 11th World Athletics Continental Tour Gold meeting of the season.

Amusan set her world 100m hurdles record of 12.12secs in the semifinals of the World Athletics Championships in Oregon and went on to win gold in a wind-assisted time of 12.06secs.

The Golden Spike record of 12.55secs set by Sharika Nelvis in 2015 could be under threat.

“I am excited to race in Ostrava,” said Amusan. “I’ve watched world-class athletes race on that track and I’m looking forward to experiencing an awesome atmosphere while executing a good race.”

Girma clocked 7:58.68 to break the Ethiopian 3000m steeplechase record when he raced in Ostrava last year and he will return to contest the Emil Zatopek Memorial 1500m in 2023. Since that steeplechase performance in Ostrava, Girma has won a second world silver medal in Oregon and he broke the world indoor 3000m record at the World Indoor Tour Gold meeting in Lievin in February, running 7:23.81.

The 1500m meeting record stands at 3:31.17, while the Ethiopian record is 3:29.91. Girma ran his PB of 3:33.77 in 2020.

“I am happy to return to the Ostrava Golden Spike meeting this year to try and run a very fast 1500m time,” he said. “Ostrava is a good track and event for me, and I look forward to seeing the fans again and using their energy to push myself beyond my limits and run a time to make everyone proud.”

At an event that stars Jan Zelezny as meeting director, the javelin will again be in the spotlight. India’s Olympic champion Chopra claimed world silver in Oregon and he will again face the two athletes who joined him on the podium there: Grenada’s two-time world gold medallist Anderson Peters and Czech Republic’s bronze medallist Jakub Vadlejch.

In the women’s competition, Japan’s world bronze medallist Haruka Kitaguchi will go up against Czech Republic’s world finalist Nikola Ogrodnikova.

Duplantis was announced for the meeting in February.

Nigeria’s sole representative on the continent, Rivers United face an uphill task of progressing in the CAF Confederation Cup as they go into their second leg quarter-final clash against Tanzania’s Young Africans on Sunday (today) with a two-goal deficit from the first leg, Sunday PUNCH reports.

The current Nigeria Professional Football League champions slumped to a 2-0 defeat at home last week, leaving them with a mountain to climb at the 60,000 capacity Benjamin Mkapa Stadium, in the Tanzania capital of Dar es Salam.

Although the first leg defeat was blamed on injuries which rocked the squad, the Pride of Rivers arrived Tanzania on Friday and some of the affected players, including left-back Ebube Duru and Joseph Onoja made the trip.

The team has had training sessions at the venue and coach Stanley Eguma remains optimistic about their chances of overturning the result.

“We lost at home but we have another 90 minutes to play here in Tanzania. We made some mistakes in the first leg and we are looking forward to an improved game on Sunday,” Eguma said during the pre-match interview.

“The team is positive, we cannot predict, but we will work hard. The game isn’t over, there is still 90 minutes to play and we are ready. Hopefully our plans will work out,” he said.

The winner of this fixture will face the winner of the quarter-final game between Pyramids of Egypt and Marumo Gallants of South Africa in the semi-final.

Brume won the women’s Long Jump event at the star-studded Meet and she did that in style with a world-leading distance of 6.77m.

Nigerian long jump sensation, sEe Brume, got off to a very bright start in her first outdoor competition on Saturday at the prestigious Botswana Golden Grand Prix.

Brume won the women’s Long Jump event at the star-studded Meet and she did that in style with a world-leading distance of 6.77m.

The reigning African and Commonwealth champion saved her best jump for the last with her final round jump, defeating Burkina Faso’s Marthe Koala, who had led until that moment with 6.69m in the third round.

Brume had jumped into an early lead with her opening round distance of 6.65m but after failing to build on that momentum with subsequent failed attempts, she was overtaken after
Koala registered a leap of 6.69m.

However, Brume in her characteristic way of delivering when it mattered most leapt to a distance of 6.77m in her final jump to the delight of the crowd at the National Stadium, Gaborone.

Saturday’s winning mark took Brume to the top of the world list ahead of India’s Shaili Singh’s 6.76m.

Before her outing in Botswana, Brume has been testing the waters and improving her speed.

She made an appearance at the Texas Relays where she was part of a 4x100m relay team and also raced in the 400m event at the Cameron Burrell Alumni Invitational also in Texas.

Having hit the group running with a winning jump in Botswana, the long jump multiple medallist will be hoping to stay in good shape as she targets another rewarding season that would end at the World Championships in Budapest.

Brume has been improving with every of edition of the World Championship; winning the bronze medal in Doha and stepping up to silver at the subsequent edition in Oregon.

Many will be waiting to see if Brume can go another notch higher in Budapest by winning the gold this time.

Nigeria aim to become the continent’s most successful team in the lowest age cadre of continental competition if they go all the way to clinch the U17 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), Algeria 2023.

But, head coach Nduka Ugbade has urged caution from his boys.

Nigeria is one of only five countries to have won the title two times, and victory in Algeria will hoist them to three titles, making them the most successful. Ugbade knows the task ahead is not an easy one.

“It is going to be very difficult, with all due respect to all the teams which have qualified. But, we are not coming here to participate. Everyone knows Nigeria is a footballing nation and we are coming here to compete,” the tactician said.

He adds; “We are confident in our preparation and what we have done before the tournament, but we have to do everything humanly possible to win it because every team is tough and if you are not careful, you will find yourself out of the competition.”

Nigeria are drawn in a tough Group B that also includes Zambia, South Africa and Morocco, one that Ugbade regards as the tournament’s group of death.

He says making it out of this group will require heart, hard work and sacrifice, and notes he will not be surprised if a team from the group gets to the final.

“This is a very difficult group. I believe that one team from this group will get to the final, but that is just me thinking. Football is not calculated that way. There are many good teams in the tournament, and even Somalia who are making their debut can surprise,” he noted.

The former Nigerian international believes the unique characteristics in his team will sail them through.

“We are a relentless team, a team that pursues every opponent till the end of the 90 minutes. We are unique in nature in the way we play,” the coach notes.

The first target for the Golden Eagles will be qualification for the World Cup for the 13th time, a tournament they have won five times before. That will require them to get to the semi-finals.

The other target, will be to clinch the title. “We are taking a match at a time and not rushing ahead of ourselves,” the 53-year old added.