Football

Italy and Paris Saint-Germain star Marco Verratti has claimed that Lionel Messi gets special treatment from referees.

Verratti, 25, was sent off after receiving his second yellow card against Real Madrid in their UEFA Champions League second-leg round of 16 clash giants for arguing with the referee.

Speaking with La Gazetta dello Sport, he said: “I got it wrong against Real, but it was a red card out of frustration and sometimes referees could be more tolerant.

The camp of the Super Eagles on Tuesday morning was boosted by the arrivals of eight players as the former African champions who have made five appearances at the World Cup prepare for Friday's international friendly against Poland at the Municipal Stadium in Wrocław.

Deportivo La Coruna goalkeeper Francis Uzoho, Monaco defender Elderson Echiejile, Lokomotiv Plovdiv defender Stephen Eze and Torino midfielder Joel Obi were sighted this morning at the Super Eagles Radisson Blu Hotel Wroclaw camp.

Other new arrivals are Bursaspor right-back Shehu Abdullahi, Hapoel Beer Sheva star John Ogu, Gent winger Moses Simon and Chelsea defender Kenneth Omeruo.

Two Super Eagles midfielders in the shape of Eddy Onazi and Mikel Agu have been selected for the Turkish Super Lig Team of the Week on the back of their imperious displays for their clubs this past weekend.

Whoscored.com, the London based football statistics website run by Guardian Sport Network, named the duo in its weekly team of the week for the matches that took place 16-18 March 2018.

The team of the week selects only the best performing player for each position.

Liverpool's talisman, Mohammed Salah who is gunning to win Europe's top scorer for the season has drawn the line on where himself and Lionel Messi can be compared, although he said it was amazing to be compared to the best player in the world. The Liverpool star currently leads the continental ranking following a four-goal haul on Saturday versus Watford, and he spoke of his pride in doing so on Monday. Speaking at an event organized by Vodafone, Salah said;

Morocco is billed to spend a total of $15.8bn on stadiums and infrastructure if it will the bid to host the 2026 World Cup, media reported yesterday. Morocco have proposed using 14 stadiums and budgeting to spend 15.8 billion dollars on infrastructure if it wins the right to host the World Cup soccer finals in 2026, the country’s bid committee announced at a news conference.

Leicester City’s Nigerian midfielder Wilfred Ndidi has agreed to join Liverpool this summer, according to reports in the UK.

The 21-ye21-year-old has been touted as a replacement for German midfielder, Emre Can, who is set to leave Anfield at the expiration of his contract.