Leonardo Bonucci said he cannot wait for the return leg in Catalonian . He belived his team will put out all their best against Bacelona at camp non.

You Won’t Believe This! 6 European Footballers Of The Year Who Are Not Europeans

It is said in Africa, that one must be a bonafide  member of a household to share of its inheritance but these people shook a belief to its very foundations, the belief that you must be European to win the European Footballer of The Year Award.

1 George Weah AC Milan (1995)

This son of Africa created several records in the year 1995, by becoming the first African to win European Footballer of The Year and still remains the only African to perform this feat also he became the first non European to win an award which was meant for European footballers. That year he won, African, European and World Footballer of The Year Awards.

2 Ronaldo de Lima Internazionale& Real Madrid (1997&2002)

Since one person had created the way it was easy for others to follow just like Sir Roger Bannister who broke the four minute mile inspiring a generation of others who did the same. Ronaldo followed the lead of George as he won the European Footballer of The Year not once but twice and with two different clubs to prove that the first time he won it was not a fluke

3 Rivaldo Barcelona (1999)

If one Brazilian can do it trust another to repeat it, two years after fellow team mate in the Brazilian national team won the coveted award for European Footballers, Rivaldo hit the mark by becoming the third non European to win the award and the second Brazilian in history to repeat this remarkable feat

4 Ronaldinho Gaucho Barcelona (2005)

There is no stopping the samba boys or the boys in yellow shirts and blue shorts who stop at nothing especially when it comes to the round leather game. Six years after Rivaldo did his native Brazil proud another son of South America who also played for Barcelona did his nation proud and making himself the third Brazilian to achieve this feat, his name Ronaldinho

5 Kaka AC Milan (2007)

Ronaldo, Rivaldo, Ronaldinho and guess who is next on the winning list? It is Kaka, telling the world though silent that there is no stopping the boys in yellow because all they do is win, win and win. Kaka became the fifth non European and the fourth Brazilian to win European Footballer of The Year with the same club George Weah won it with, AC Milan

6 Lionel Messi Barcelona (2009)

Yes I saved the best for the last because this list will not be complete without, ‘The Messiah’ makes history as the sixth non European and the first Argentine to win the award. A well deserved award for a worthy player

Two unbelievable facts that you must not ignore are three of the winners of the award, Rivaldo, Ronaldinho and Lionel Messi won it while playing for Barcelona while George and Kaka won it while playing for AC Milan, dear reader what do you think of all these?

Incredible! 3 Wrestlers Who Fooled Us With Their Identities

Appearances can be very deceptive because the more we look, we less we actually see. Not all that glitters before our eyeballs is gold and not all that sparkles are diamonds, these wrestlers way back had many of us fooled with their identities or nearly fooled us

1 Yokozuna

Remember that 600 pound monster mentored by the veteran and mastermind, Mr. Fuji who waved the Japanese flag to our faces finishing his opponents with the ‘Banzai Drop’. Opponents who suffered in the hands of this behemoth included,  Hacksaw Jim Duggan, Crush, Bret ‘The Hit Man’ Hart, Kamala and Hollywood Hogan just to mention a few. In the year 1994, on the 4th of July Mr. Fuji in New York city dared any wrestler to slam Yokozuna of which many tried but only Lex Luger succeeded. In Survivor  Series that year, he was among the Foreign Fanatics that fought against The Patriots that comprised of Lex Luger, The Steiner Brothers and The Undertaker who took the place of Tatanka who had been eliminated. Shocking but the man the wrestling world called Yokozuna which is the highest rank in professional sumo wrestling is really an American who goes by the name Rodney Agatupu Ainoa’i who was a Samoan American but managed by Mr. Fuji who surprisingly is a Japanese American. Rodney passed on in the year 2000 at the age of 34 while on a wrestling tour in London

2 Kamala

I always knew there was something fishy about this wrestler referred to as the Ugandan giant. While in Nigeria for a match against then champion, Power Uti, Kamala in company of Special Delivery Jones spoke to the Nigerian audience with the American accent and years later he could barely say I am a man but guess what people? Kamala is not his real name neither is he from Uganda rather he is another American just like Rodney, an African-American who goes by the name James Harris who hails from Senatobia Mississippi. Great trick Jimmy you could have some of the people all the time but you couldn’t fool all the people all the time

3 Ludvig Borga

In the year 1993, a bullying wrestler from Finland demanded that when the Finnish anthem was being played he wanted all the wrestling fans to stand up an instruction which many defied. Ludvig continued to bully many wrestlers but was cut to size by Lex Luger in Survivor Series 1994. Little did the wrestling world know that Ludvig though was from Finland but his real name Tony Christian Halme who was a singer, actor, politician who died in the year 2010 from a bullet wound in a suicide attempt

There you have it people not all that you see is actually real some are illusions, some are figments of our imagination while some is just what others want us to believe

                                          Ronaldo Hits 100th Goals in Europe                                                                                   The portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo had given Real Madrid a very advantage over Bayern ,\at the Alluanz Arena on wednesday night .After Arturo Vidal header has given Bayern the lead in the opening period and has also blasted a penalty over the cross bar. At Allianz Arena 2014 Real Madrid ran out 4-0 win, and Ronaldo scored twice in the semi-final second leg.Ronaldo is the only player with a new record of 17 goals in a single season.Bayer boss carlo Ancelotti praised his.....And i call him the( PHENOM).

Shocking! 3 Former Football Captains Called Stephen

Wonders will never end in this strange world of ours because the deeper we dig for answers the more questions there are. This world of ours continues to amaze me when I ponder about and here is another reason why I wonder about this place called life is because of this particular post, three former national football captains named Stephen

1 Stephen Okechukwu Keshi

Nicknamed ‘The Big Boss’ wore the captain’s arm band for the national for a record 60 times, being the most capped player at his retirement till when Joseph Yobo set a new record of 100 caps. He captained the Super Eagles to numerous African Cup of Nations tournaments especially the winning squad of 1994 who came tops at Tunisia 94. He went ahead to win the Nations Cup 19 years after this time as the head coach of the Super Eagles. He passed on the 8th of June 2016, eighteen years after the death of Nigeria’s maximum ruler, General Sani Abacha. He was aged 54

2 Steven George Gerard

Call him ‘Captain Fantastic’ or ‘Captain Charisma’ and you are on point this Liverpool legend who spent 17 years as a player which he won several silverware especially the UEFA Champions League trophy. He took the place of Rio Ferdinand as England’s skipper when the former was down with an injury. Presently he is the coach of Liverpool Academy. He was capped 114 times scoring 21 goals for the Three Lions of England

Stephen Leroy Appiah

The Ghanian sensation who represented his native Ghana at the youth, Olympics and national level. He captained the Black Stars of Ghana to their debut at Germany 2006 where they got to the quarter-finals a squad that did Africa proud earning themselves the name ‘Black Stars of Africa’ Stephen was out of African Cup of Nations mostly due to injury and made an appearance at South Africa 2010, the first ever World Cup to be hosted on African soil. He was capped 67 times scoring 14 goals for the senior team

15 Incredible Facts That Will Make The Undertaker Unforgettable

At Wrestle Mania 33, the last bell tolled for the man referred to as Big Evil, Dead Man, Phenom or to WWE Universe as The Undertaker. While watching his theme song on YouTube, someone made a shocking comment that the day the Undertaker leaves WWE, there would be tears, how prophetic it was for after his defeat in the hands of Roman Reigns it was tears and tributes to the man from the dark side to the man who had entertained the wrestling world for over three decades. Here are some incredible that will make the Dead Man a living legend in the hearts of fans worldwide

1 The real name of The Undertaker is Mark William Calaway

2 His career has spanned over three decades, thirty-three to be precise

3 Before he was known as The Undertaker, he was known under other names like ‘Texas Red’  ‘Mark Mean Callous’, The Master of Pain, The Punisher, Kane The Undertaker

4 The Undertaker has outlived some of his rivals including the Ultimate Warrior, Yokozuna, Giant Gonzales to mention a few

5 He will be remembered for The Streak in which he went 21 matches undefeated at WrestleMania until it was ended by Broc Lesnar

6 The Undertaker is not a stranger to winning gold, he has won USWA Unified Heavyweight Championship title, he was won the WWE title four times and the World Heavyweight Championship title three times

7 Believe this or not he dropped out of Texas Wesleyan University in Fort Texas to focus on his career in sports

8 He once served five years mostly in solitary confinement in United States Penitentiary, Atlanta for killing two men in a fight in the year 1989

9 Until his retirement he remained the last of his generation of wrestlers still wrestling while his contemporaries like Hollywood Hogan then known as Hulk Hogan, Mick Foley known as Mankind, Ric Flair The Nature Boy

10 In 1994 because of his absence, Ted Dibiase introduced an impostor called The Undertaker who was actually his cousin Brian Lee whom he defeated after delivering three Tombstone Piledrivers

11 He also did some acting appearing in a movie like Suburban Commando, Poltergeist: The Legacy and Celebrity Deathmatch

12 He created his own posse which consisted of wrestlers like Yokozuna, Rikishi, Savio Vega, Charles Wright and The Godwinns known as the Bone Street Krew in which each member had initials of the faction tattooed to their bodies

13 The Undertaker is both a fan of boxing and  mixed martial arts

14 He has a black belt which he earned in 2011 after practicing Brazilian jiu-jitsu for a long time

15 He is a big time investor in real estate owning some properties in his birthplace of Houston Texas

The Phenom though gone from WWE but he will forever remain the greatest wrestler that ever stepped into the ring, what do you think about the retirement of the Dead Man from the WWE?

Unbelievable! 5 African Footballers Of The Year Who Never Won The AFCON Title

They may have won the battle for African Footballer of The Year, but they lost the war for the ultimate trophy, the African Cup of Nations which many tag as the African World Cup. Here is a list of the glory gang who won a prize but lost the big prize.

George Oppong Weah

In the year 1995, an African put the spotlight on his nation, Liberia by making history as the first African to become African, European and World Footballer of the Year in one year but never got close to winning a game in the African Cup of Nations let alone the title. George was instrumental to the building of the national team of whom he single handedly sponsored  as well as being their assistant coach at Mali 2002 but they were shown they way out by one of the tournament’s favourites and continental giants, The Super Eagles of Nigeria. So little to the man who gave so much

Nwankwo Kanu

Papilo as he is known to his numerous fans both locally and internationally is a two-time winner of the CAF African Footballer of The Year Award, in 1996 and in 1999 is one of the most decorated African Footballer of all times but never scored a goal in the bi-annual tournament let alone win a title He appeared in 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008 and 2010 tournaments respectively.

El Hadji Diouf

The Senegalese bad boy with his trademark white hair, number 11 shirt and troublesome attitude as he was either arguing with the referee or scolding a team mate. In 2001 and 2002, he was crowned as Africa’s best, what would have added the biggest feather in his cap that same year but he missed the AFCON title by inches thanks to his missed penalty against Cameroun in the final of  Mali 2002.

Didier Drogba

Deadly Drog as he is called has put his football prints in the sands of time not just in African but world football. He still remains the Ivorian top scorer of all times winning the African Footballer of The Year Award twice in 2006 and 2010, he led his team to five African Nations Cup tournaments yet never won a single title though he was close in 2006 and 2012 as Ivory Coast lost to Egypt and Zambia. When Ivory Coast became African Champions in 2015, he had called it quits to international football

Frederick Kanoute

The big Malian and former player for France U-21 has  been there and done that on the continent of Africa for his nation, the Eagles of Mali and for his efforts he won the CAF Footballer of The Year 2007 and nothing more than that. Still when you mention Malian football at least his name is one of those that comes to mind.

3 Incredible Athletes That Bear The Name Roger

These three people you are about to read about are from different nationalities and walks of life but share two things in common, they are athletes and I mean incredible athletes at that, and they all bear the same name, Roger

Roger Federer

What more could be said about the Swiss tennis superstar though ranked number 9 in the world has been dubbed the greatest tennis player ever by analysts and tennis players and Roger did not disappoint the faith they reposed in him as he won the Australian Open at the age of 35 proving a point that form maybe temporal but class is forever

Roger Bannister

On May 6 1954, history was made and a mission which many experts and critics had tagged impossible was turned to mission accomplished by a British medical student who at the Helsinki Olympics two years was the object of scorn by the press for coming fourth. Till that moment nobody had run a mile race in less than four minutes but he did even with limited time to train and the result, he beat the four minute mile race by a second. A month later, he record was broken by an Australian John Landy who was a rival to him but Bannister proved himself the better athlete when they met face-to-face in the British Empire Games in Vancouver Canada that same year as he beat his rival’s record by a second running at 3:58:8 before 35,000 spectators. Roger showed the world that the impossible could be made possible if people believed

Roger Miller

Albert Robert Mooh Miller proved to the world at Italia 90 and USA 94 that age is nothing but a number as he not only appeared at both editions of the World Cup as the oldest player but the oldest player to score five goals in the quadrennial tournament. The world knew nothing of this Camerounian who was a member of the Indomitable Lions squad at Espana 82 until eight years later as he dazzled the world with breathtaking goals and entertaining dance moves which he will never be forgotten for. His exploits at Italia 90 earned him the CAF African Footballer of The Year Award. Many rumours have it that he was one of the reasons that FIFA, the world football governing body increased Africa’s slot from two to three.

                  UEFA MOST FAVOURED TEAM ...BARCA.                                                                                It’s like this every season in Uefa,” he began. “Chelsea, AC Milan, Atletico Madrid, Arsenal and Bayern Munich and PSG are all victims of bad refereeing in favour of Barca.

“This nonsense must stop.”

In light of the controversy surrounding All these, and the split opinions of Goal’s followers, we’re keen to get the consensus on the referee and whether Uefa should take action after his performance in Barca’s historic triumph. Yes barca remains one of the biggest football team in the world.

UNDER DOG TEAMS

Underdog Teams That Later Became Top Cats

Critics, analysts and pundits game them little or no chance because they were rated as the underdogs but they made those armchair critics eat their words as well as humble pie when the dark horses emerged as the winners of the race, a result that not even the prophets of sports saw coming. Here are just a few of those incredible teams who shocked the sporting world making history in the process

1 Nigeria- Atlanta Olympics 1996

They were never given a chance especially by the home fans who booed them while supporting their opponents in a friendly match which saw the Togolese national team defeating the U-23 national team. They got passed their Hungarian opponents with a slim 1-0 victory, beat Japan who had earlier beaten tournament favourites, the samba boys of Brazil. The team lost narrowly to the Brazilians but made it to the semi-finals to meet with Brazil again only this time Nigeria had the last laugh as they came from behind to win by the golden goal courtesy of a well taken Nwankwo Kanu shot. At the end of 90 minutes of their epic final battle with Argentina, Nigeria made history as the first African country to appear at an Olympic final as well as to win the gold, the rest is history as the team that was not preferred became the team to be revered hence their name The Dream Team.

2 Greece- Euro 2004

No one expected it as a lowly rated Greece to progress beyond the group stage yet they beat the hosts Portugal at the group stage and as well in the final in what was tagged as one of the biggest upsets in world football as Greece smiled home with the trophy while Cristiano Ronaldo went home in tears

3 Zambia- African Cup of Nations 2012

They say never pick a fight with someone whose has nothing to lose, yet Ivory Coast who were the tournaments favourites discovered this as they threw away an opportunity to become African champions with Didier Drogba throwing away a penalty in the first half. At the end of full and extra time, it was time for penalty shootout where Africa’s new kings of football emerged, Zambia, a team no one gave a chance took their chance and made the best of it

4 Nigeria-African Cup of Nations 2013

After playing a draw with Zambia and Boukina Fasso and managing to scrape past Ethiopia, the Super Eagles went full speed ahead in a tournament that they had been called ‘Underachievers’ by beating tournaments favourites, Ivory Coast 2-1, thrashed Mali 4-1 and met again with Boukina Fasso only this time a Sunday Mba goal ended Nigeria’s nineteen year search for the title as they were crowned African Champions

5 Portugal- Euro 2016

Portugal in the news again only this time they beat the hosts France who statistically were better on paper and on form than they were. Pundits lost all hope on Portugal as their talisman and skipper, Cristiano Ronaldo was taken off but at the end of the tournament, Portugal became champions of Europe though the odds were stacked high against them.

6 Cameroon- African Cup of Nations 2017

In Ghana 2008 Egypt and Cameroon met at the final in which Egypt won their sixth title. In Gabon 2017 Egypt and Cameroon met again in the final, a final which many football pundits widely believed would be a playback of 2008, were they so wrong because that night instead of Pharaohs picking up their eighth, it was the Indomitable Lions who picked up their fifth title in a tournament that looked down on them

Football stories which replay the epic battles of an inexperienced David faced with an overconfident Goliath, what do you have to say about this?

GOAL KEEPERS.

Unbelievable! 5 Goalkeepers Called Peter

Funny though that some names are attached to certain professions and one particular example is that of goalkeeping which 5 goalkeepers share the same name, Peter

Petr Cech

The showstopping goalkeeper that plies  his trade with Arsenal Football Club while his allegiance is to his native country of Czech Republic. Cech has had a long and successful career manning the goal posts for clubs like Chmel Blsany, Sparta Prague, Rennes, Chelsea and presently displays his goalkeeping skills for the Gunners. For him the sky is not the limit rather it is his starting point

Petr Kouba

Another fantastic goalkeeper from the Czech Republic though not as popular as his name sake but cannot be forgotten in a hurry especially with his heroics at Euro 96 as he assisted his team edge out France in the semi-final via penalty kicks only to lose to eventual champions Germany courtesy of two Oliver Bierhoff goals, one which was a sudden death goal. He is currently the assistant coach for the Czech U-20 and U-21 teams which goes to prove that there are no good gloves like old gloves

Peter Schmeichel

The legendary goalkeeper of Manchester United and Denmark who was a nightmare to strikers who did not know how to get a shot past his towering frame. Schmeichel was voted IFFHS World’s Best Goalkeeper  in 1992. He has had an illustrious at club level and for his nation as his legacy has served as a springboard for a new generation of young Danes to launch their careers.

Peter Shilton

This English player holds the record for playing more games for England’s men team more than anyone else earning 125 caps also under his belt is the all-time record for the most competitive appearances in world football. This goalkeeping Peter has the distinction of playing over 100 league games for five different clubs, he was voted by IFFHS as one of the best ten goalkeepers of the 20th century. He and Fabien Barthez share one record in common, 10 clean sheets

Peter Rufai

His name ‘Peter’, his code name ‘Dodo Mayana’ one time safest hands in Nigeria who flew the flag of Nigeria at numerous African Cup of Nations clinching the title in Tunisia in 1994, as well as manning the goal posts both at USA 94 and France 98. Peter still contributes his wealth of experience to the younger generation of Nigerian footballers who want to follow in his footsteps