Red- hot Oshoala leads Barcelona to 3- 0 victory over Man City

ASISAT Oshoala was in her dangerous best yesterday when she led Barcelona women to a 3- 0 defeat of Manchester City in the first leg of their UEFA Women’s Champions League quarterfinal. According to BBC, Oshoala opened the scoring in the 35th minute before Barca’s Mariona Caldentey netted a second- half penalty after Demi Stokes tripped the Nigerian striker.

City’s Chloe Kelly missed a golden opportunity to halve the deficit seeing her 55th- minute penalty saved. Jenni Hermoso tapped in a third late on after Alexia Putellas struck the post.

Gareth Taylor’s side must score at least three goals to avoid elimination in next Wednesday’s home second leg ( 16: 00 BST) at Academy Stadium in Manchester.

“I don’t think it’s a tough task,” Taylor told BBC Sport. “I think we can turn it around. It’s within our capabilities.

“The way this team has performed this season and the goals we have scored, I think we can do it, no problem at all.”

With England centre- back Steph Houghton out with an Achilles injury, City struggled defensively as goalkeeper Ellie Roebuck kept the English side in the tie in the first half.

Roebuck was at her best to deny Oshoala when through on goal before her opener and pulled off excellent diving saves to deny Aitana Bonmati and Putellas just before the break.

Caroline Weir placed a tame effort straight at Barca keeper Sandra Panos and Kelly and Ellen White both failed to find the target from promising positions with the tie still goalless. City boss Taylor will be left wondering what could have been had Kelly scored a crucial away goal to make it 2- 1 after Lauren Hemp was brought down in the area.

Spanish champions Barcelona have won all 20 of their league fixtures this term, scoring 99 goals and conceding just three.

And the 2019 Champions League runners- up showed their knockout football experience, consistently forcing errors from City’s defenders with a devastating high press.

Caldentey’s spot- kick and Hermoso’s late goal will

TRUE to expectations, Lagos and Edo states have qualified for the semifinals of the ongoing National Men’s Cricket Championship holding in Benin City.

Edo State humbled the star- studded Lagos by four runs in the closing match of Pool A, but the Lagos side still qualified as group leaders alongside the Edo team.

The loser on the final group day was Anambra, who had earlier beaten Kwara hoping to ride on Edo’s defeat to the semifinals.

Uthe Ogbimi, national U- 19 Coach, who is also working closely with the Head Coach at the event, praised the doggedness of the Edo State team, saying it brought out the make Barcelona strong favourites to reach the semifinals for a fourth time in five seasons. best in them.

“I think the two teams that qualified justified their place in the semis though both team showed some level of vulnerability that I believe they should go back and address as the game progresses to the 50 over round,” he said.

Teams Anambra and Kwara will now have to leave the tournament.

Meanwhile, the four teams in Pool B, Rivers, Ebonyi, Kaduna and Oyo will take to the Turf Wickets for their preliminaries from today to Saturday at the Edo Boys High School in Benin City.

Kaduna and Rivers will open the rounds for the group by 9: 30 a. m., while Ebonyi ( a last minute call up to replace Delta State that pulled out of the

A City turnaround seems an unlikely task given Barcelona have not conceded three or more goals in a

Lagos, Edo qualify for National Men’s Cricket Championship semifinals

event) and Oyo State will duel later in the afternoon.

Enesi Habeeb, the Technical Director of the Nigeria Cricket Federation ( NCF) said the event has lived up to its billing as most of the players have widened the national team’s considerations through their show at the championship. game since their 4- 1 loss to Lyon in the 2019 Champions League final.

“This event is living up to what we hope it would achieve for us in team selection and technical details. It is obvious we have a lot of work to do and I believe the National Head Coach, Asanka ( Gurusinha), who is also on ground, has his notes full,” he said.

The championship will end on March 31.