Football

Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho says he has ended his war of words with Chelsea manager Antonio Conte ahead of Saturday’s Emirates FA Cup final.

Both Mourinho and Conte have been involved in a long-running feud which started last season. Both managers clashed after Chelsea’s 4-0 win over United at Stamford Bridge, and Mourinho later said that the Italian’s celebrations were “humiliating”.

This season Conte said Mourinho was suffering from senile dementia, and the Manchester United boss responding by pointing to Conte’s match-fixing suspension at his former club Siena, which he was later acquitted of.

Former Super Eagles coach, Sunday Oliseh, has warned that the three-time African Champions must be prepared to face a very dynamic midfield from Croatia in their opening group game at the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.

Nigeria who are making their sixth appearance at the FIFA World Cup will take on the Vatreni in their opening game before battling Iceland and Argentina in their remaining fixtures.

Analysing the strength and weaknesses of Nigeria’s opponents at the World Cup, the former Fortuna Sittard manager, told CompleteSports in an exclusive interview that the trio of Luka Modric, Ivan Rakitic and Mateo Kovacic offers Croatia a lot of dynamism and qualities playing in different roles comfortable.

Nigeria B head coach Salisu Yusuf has invited 23 players for May 22 hybrid friendly against newly crowned Europa League champions, Atletico Madrid.

The fixture billed for the Godswill Akpabio Stadium will see the Super Eagles battle Los Rojiblancos – who dismissed Olympique Marseille 3-0 to win the Europa League on Wednesday.

The squad is a blend of foreign and local based professionals with Netherlands based midfielder Kelechi Nwakali, Ojo Olorunleke, Musa Muhammed and Dayo Ojo making the cut.

Pep Guardiola signed a new contract to commit himself to Manchester City for another three years and immediately warned the rest of English football that his intention was to make his record-breaking team even more formidable opponents.

Guardiola has agreed a two-year extension to his present deal, which had another 12 months to run, meaning he will have until 2021 to achieve the club’s ambition of winning the Champions League for the first time.

“I am so happy and excited,” he said. “It’s a pleasure to be able to work here. I enjoy working with our players every day and we will try to do our best together in the coming years.

American sportswear makers Nike have claimed that they have received in excess of three million orders for the new World Cup jerseys of the Super Eagles. The jerseys were unveiled in February but are still not available on general sale. At a meeting with Nigeria Football Federation executives at Nike’s Europe headquarters in Amsterdam, Netherlands, the sportswear company also announced that the much-anticipated release of the jerseys into the global market would happen on Tuesday, 29th May, at a the cost of $85 (about N30,000).

Nigeria’s Blessing Oborududu (68kg) has arrived in New York to join her teammates for the “Beat The Streets Invitational Wrestling Tournament’’ beginning on May 17. Oborududu was unable to travel on Sunday with her teammates due to visa problems. She joined Odunayo Adekuoroye (57kg) and Aminat Adeniyi (62kg) for the competition that will hold at the popular Times Square, New York.