Boateng: Seeing Messi on the field is magic

The Ghana international surprisingly joined the club in January from Serie A side Sassuolo, which has given him a chance to enjoy watching La Pulga in training on a regular basis, something that he is very thankful for.

“I can honestly tell you that playing against Messi is very difficult,” Boateng told La Vanguardia.

“But seeing him now on the field is magical. He can do everything on his own, it is incredible.

“Playing for this team is the most exciting thing that can happen to you and even at my age, although I’m a little old, it is a dream to play here.”

The former AC Milan man also admitted that he didn’t quite take his career as seriously as he should have at the outset but is now fully focused, something that he credits with the birth of his son.

“When I was young, I was crazy. At 18 years old, I thought I was the boss in my neighbourhood because I had money,” he revealed.

“Then I had a child and it made me mature and without that happening, I wouldn’t have played for teams like Milan or Barcelona.

“I now weigh 83 kilos but there was a point when I was 95. In London, I was 20 years old and you go out partying and eat badly.

“When you’re young, if you don’t play you don’t really care because you have money and your friends all tell you that you are a phenomenon.”

Boateng also insisted that when it comes to battling racism, something he has suffered and which led to him walking off a field in Italy in 2013, he is ready for the challenge.

“I am very clear about this. If it happens to me, I’ll walk off and go my home and ask my team to accompany me,” he concluded.

“It is a problem of the clubs and leagues, but also for society.”

Pictures of Nigeria super eagles before departing for Russia

no plan yet for Mariel attend FIFA World Cup in Russia

Berlin – No campaign comprise been complete nevertheless for German Chancellor Angela Merkel to keep your mind on the 2018 FIFA planet beaker matches in Russia, deputy rule speaker Martina Fietz alleged on Friday.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel“At the minute nearby are no procedure of such a trip, if they are made, wewill notify you,’’ Fietz told newsmen.On Wednesday, German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer, who is in addition in charge for sports in the German government, believed that he considered to stay Russia and concentrate the earth chalice matches if his schedulepermitted.Russia’s first-ever FIFA planet mug will be detained from June 14 to July 15 at 12 arenas in 11 cities across the country.

FA charges Pep Guardiola over Catalonia political symbol

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola was Friday charged by the Football Association over his wearing of a yellow ribbon in support of jailed Catalan independence leaders.
Guardiola
The FA said in a statement that the symbol worn by the former Barcelona boss on his jacket was in breach of its kit and advertising regulations.
Guardiola, whose side face Arsenal in the League Cup final on Sunday, has until 1800 GMT on March 5 to respond to the charge.

Serena Williams: I almost died giving birth to my daughter

Serena Williams has revealed her near-death experience after giving birth to her daughter Olympia in September, in an article she wrote for CNN.
Serena Williams
The tennis legend said she lives in fear of blood clots, a condition that surfaced during her harrowing post-natal ordeal. She said she got blood clot in her lungs, blocking one or more arteries.
“I almost died after giving birth to my daughter,” Williams wrote.
The 23-time Grand Slam champion Williams said she had to have an emergency Cesarean section surgery after her heart rate plummeted dramatically during contractions. The surgery was successful and before she knew it she was holding the newborn.
“But what followed just 24 hours after giving birth were six days of uncertainty,” she said.
In a Vogue magazine interview in January, Williams said that during her postnatal ordeal she suffered a pulmonary embolism — when blood clots block one or more arteries in the lungs.
But this was not the first time the 36-year-old Williams has had a scrape with death from blood clots. In 2011, she spent nearly 12 months incapacitated after a cut on her foot from a piece of broken glass at a Munich restaurant led to a pulmonary embolism.
“Because of my medical history with this problem I live in fear of this situation,” the American said Tuesday.
Williams said that while recovering in the hospital, one day after the emergency Cesarean, she felt short of breath and after some convincing on Williams’ part, the hospital staff finally sent for a CT scan and then put her on a life-saving drip.
– Wound popped open –
But her ordeal wasn’t over. She started coughing so much from the blood clots that her Cesarean wound popped open.
“I returned to surgery where the doctors found a large hematoma in my abdomen. Then I returned to the operating room for a procedure that prevents clots from travelling to my lungs.
“When I finally made it home to my family I had to spend six weeks of motherhood in bed.”
Williams praised the hospital staff saying “if it weren’t for their professional care, I wouldn’t be here today”. She did not reveal the name of the hospital in the CNN piece.
Her kind words though were in contrast to some sharp statements she made in the earlier Vogue article where she says she had to coax the hospital staff to send her for a CT scan and hook her up to an IV.
“I was like a Doppler? I told you, I need a CT scan and a heparin drip (blood thinner),” Williams told the magazine.
Williams said it was a complicated experience and despite the agonizing ups and downs she “considers herself fortunate”.
Partly for surviving the ordeal and also because she can still live out her dream on the tennis court once she returns to competitive form.
The former world number one staged her long-awaited tennis comeback earlier this month by playing alongside her older sister, Venus, in a Federation Cup doubles match but it didn’t go well.
Serena — looking rusty and slow-footed — lost 6-2, 6-3 to the unheralded Dutch pairing of Lesley Kerkhove and Demi Schuurs.

Uche Okechukwu, others launch football academy

Former Super Eagles captain, Uche Okechukwu, also known as Gentle Giant, has launched a football academy, called Abia Greater Tomorrow Football Academy in Aba, the commercial city of Abia State.
The Aba-based academy is set up by the ex-Nigerian International together with another ex-Eagles player, Emeka Ifejiagwa and Emeka Uche, Okechukwu’s twin brother, who is also a footballer.
Uche Okechukwu
Okechukwu started his football career in Aba in the early 80s with a local side called Aba Greater Tomorrow, he also played for Falcon FC, a division 3 club in Aba, Flash Flamingos of Benin, Iwuanyanwu Nationale of Owerri, before heading out to Brøndby in Denmark, from where he went to Fenerbahçe in Turkey.
Speaking from his base in Aba, Abia State, Uche said: “I know people have been wondering where I am and what I am doing. They have been expecting to hear from me and what my plans are after retirement. I take my time in doing whatever I want to do.
“The plan to set up this academy has been part of my plans, but I have been waiting for the right time, and I think this is the right time. My twin brother Emeka Uche and our friend, Emeka Ifejiagwa, who also played for the Super Eagles are in this together. “When we concluded plans to start up this academy, we decided to revive the name of the club that the three of us started in Aba, that is Aba Greater Tomorrow, but we decided to call it Abia Greater Tomorrow Football Academy. We want to start our academy where we started our football career. We want to give back to same locality that gave us the opportunity to become what we are today.
“We have made necessary contacts, both here in Nigeria and outside to get necessary partners for the academy. As soon as we are done with the finishing lines, the game will begin.
“There are bundles of talents in Aba an its environs, and the target of the academy is to look out for them wherever they are, groom and prepare them for a greater tomorrow in the game of football, and help them to actualize their dreams as professional footballers. That’s all we want to do.” Uche said.

Pogba back in United squad for Sevilla trip

Paul Pogba has been included in Manchester United’s squad for Wednesday’s Champions League last 16, first leg trip to Sevilla.
Pogba
The French international missed United’s 2-0 FA Cup 5th round win at Huddersfield on Saturday through illness, to compound a poor few weeks for the midfielder.
Pogba hasn’t completed 90 minutes for a month having been hauled off by United manager Jose Mourinho in recent defeats at Tottenham Hotspur and Newcastle, and dropped for Huddersfield’s trip to Old Trafford in the Premier League.
Mourinho has been heavily critical of Pogba’s form with debate raging over what his role should be to maximise the potential for which United paid Juventus a then world-record £89 million ($125 million).
Ander Herrera, Marcus Rashford and Antonio Valencia, who all missed the game at Huddersfield, also travelled to Seville.
AFP
Illness rules Pogba out of United's visit to Huddersf ield