Sports

Cristiano Ronaldo, Teammates Arrive Lagos on Pre-Season Tour

Published

11 months ago

August 6, 2025

Eric

Cristiano Ronaldo and his team, Al Nassr, have arrived in Lagos as they continue their preseason training.

They had been in Lisbon, Portugal, but have now moved to Lagos to keep preparing for the new season in the Saudi Pro League.

Ronaldo came with some of his teammates, including new player João Félix. The team shared pictures on social media, saying: “Lisbon chapter closed, Lagos chapter loading.” This message showed that they were done in Lisbon and ready for their next stop.

Earlier in the preseason, Al Nassr played a match against French club Toulouse and won 2-1. Ronaldo scored one of the goals. Now, the team is focusing on their next match, which will be against their rivals, Al Ittihad, in the Super Cup.

Al Nassr has added more star players like Sadio Mané and João Félix to strengthen the team. The club posted photos of their arrival in Lagos, and fans are excited to see these top footballers in their city.

During one of the training sessions, people noticed Ronaldo wearing a bib with the number 9 instead of his famous number 7. In some of his Instagram photos, he was seen in orange and yellow training bibs with “9” on them.

In another football update, Bruno Fernandes, the captain of Manchester United, criticized his team after their 2-2 draw with Everton in the Premier League Summer Series. He was unhappy with the way the team performed, even though they won the tournament.

Manchester United had their worst season last year, finishing 15th in the league. Fernandes said he had a chance to leave for another club, but decided to stay because he was promised improvements.

Even though the team had wins over West Ham and Bournemouth in preseason, Fernandes said they repeated old mistakes against Everton. He was honest about it, saying, “It’s improving, but it’s not where we want it to be. It’s a game of football; there’s always passion there. Whatever happens, happens. There was nothing spicy there; it’s normal; it is part of the game.”

He added that the U.S. tour helped the players connect more, but said, “We looked a bit lazy today and we need to change that.”

Fernandez also had a message for the club’s management. He said they need to sign more good players to create competition and help the team grow. “I don’t want to have a dig at anyone, but I think the club is doing the best they can in terms of all the financial situations they talk about,” he explained.

He continued: “I don’t know about it; I’m not involved in that. But obviously it was crystal clear we needed more competition for the players that were here. We needed more quality to get everyone to step up a bit more and to have more to do to get into the starting line-up. I think that’s what the club and the manager are trying to do and hopefully we can get one or two players more to help with that.”

New players such as Bryan Mbeumo and Matheus Cunha played well in the game against Everton. The club is now trying to sign Benjamin Sesko, but they are also facing competition from another club backed by big money.

Sports

Luka Modric’s World Cup Story Ends, Cristiano Ronaldo Gets Lifeline

Published

23 hours ago

July 3, 2026

Eric

By Eric Elezuo

It was an emotional encounter as two of world’s best footballers; Luca Modric and Cristiano Ronaldo squared against each other in a bid to lay their hands on the coveted World Cup trophy when Portugal met Croatia in the round of 32. But after about 97minutes of play time, the World Cup story of Modric came to am abrupt end while Ronaldo gets a lifeline, proceeding to the Round of 16.

Both Ronaldo and Modric are not likely to feature in another World Cup tournament.

Portugal battled into the last 16 of the World Cup with a drama-filled 2-1 victory over Croatia on Thursday to set up a titanic showdown with European champions Spain.

In another nerve-shredding World Cup classic, Goncalo Ramos headed Portugal into the lead in the fourth minute of stoppage time before Croatia saw a last-gasp equaliser agonisingly ruled out for offside in Toronto.

Portugal’s 41-year-old superstar captain Cristiano Ronaldo had helped haul his team back into the contest, burying a 68th-minute penalty to cancel out Croatia’s 53rd-minute opener from Ivan Perisic.

Ronaldo later joined frenzied celebrations after Ramos glanced home a sensational header deep into injury time to give Portugal the lead.

But Ronaldo and his Portugal team-mates were left stunned when Josko Gvardiol prodded home an apparent equaliser in stoppage time.

Yet there was one final twist when the goal was chalked off for offside after a lengthy VAR review to the disbelief of Croatia’s players and their large contingent of fans at Toronto’s BMO Field.

After the final whistle, an emotional Ronaldo held up and pulled on a Portugal shirt bearing the number 21, a tribute to late team-mate Diogo Jota, the Liverpool star who tragically died in a car crash almost a year to the day from Thursday’s win, on July 3 last year.

“We knew it before the game. It was a so special moment. We speak today, our group, about that, the coincidence of life, it’s unbelievable,” Ronaldo said afterwards of the tribute to Jota.

“I was amazed because the situation of today. It means a lot to us, not only because we won the game, but the also the way we won the game. It was a difficult game, we knew it.”

The result ensures that Ronaldo’s incredible World Cup career will be extended for at least one more match when the Portuguese face Iberian rivals Spain in the last 16 in Dallas on Monday.

Ronaldo’s second-half penalty made him the oldest man to score in a World Cup knockout match.

Spain romp past Austria

Spain had advanced to that meeting with a scintillating 3-0 win over Austria in Los Angeles earlier Friday that confirmed their status as one of the favourites for the title.

Two goals from Mikel Oyarzabal and a Pedro Porro header sealed victory for the Spaniards, who produced their most complete performance of the tournament to advance to the next round.

Spain opened their World Cup campaign with a faltering 0-0 draw against Cape Verde, but have subsequently built momentum with each match.

AFP

Sports

Ronaldo Celebrates Saudi Pro League Win with Al-Nassr

Published

1 month ago

May 22, 2026

Eric

Al Nassr captain, Cristiano Ronaldo, has finally won the Saudi Pro League title.

They were confirmed champions on Thursday, thanks to a 4-2 drubbing of relegation battlers, Damac.

The title race had gone down to the final day after Al-Nassr dramatically dropped points against Al-Hilal the previous week.

Jorge Jesus’ side knew there could be no mistakes against a Damac side fighting for survival at the other end of the table.

Ronaldo was on the scoresheet, as his brace helped Al Nassr secure the title ahead of rivals Al Hilal.

Sports

FIFA Lists Six Females Among 52 Referees for 2026 World Cup

Published

3 months ago

April 10, 2026

Eric

FIFA on Thursday unveiled its list of match officials for the June 11-July 19 World Cup, including 52 referees, six of whom are women.

Football’s governing body will also take 88 assistant referees and 30 video match officials, who hail from all six confederations and 50 member associations.

“The selected match officials are the very best in the world,” said Pierluigi Collina, FIFA’s chief refereeing officer.

“They were part of a wider pool of officials that was identified and monitored over the past three years. They have attended seminars and officiated at FIFA tournaments.

“In addition, their performances in domestic and international matches were regularly assessed.”

The World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico will be the biggest in history, with a 48-team line-up and 104 matches to be played.

There are 41 more match officials than at Qatar four years ago, where 32 teams played 64 matches.

“The fact that six women match officials have been selected continues a trend that was started four years ago in Qatar as we aim to further develop women’s refereeing,” Collina said, with six women having already refereed in 2022.

AFP