Hot!
Real Madrid book Champions League final with Liverpool after come back against Man City
Manchester City suffered one of the most remarkable Champions League collapses as Real Madrid came back from the abyss to set up a final showdown with Liverpool.
City were two goals ahead on aggregate going into the 90th minute after Riyad Mahrez’s strike had added to their 4-3 first-leg win last week.
And then Rodrygo happened.
The Brazilian substitute turned home Karim Benzema’s left-wing ball from close range in the final minute – with Real’s very first shot on target.
And 90 seconds later he levelled the tie with a header into the top corner after Marco Asensio flicked on Dani Carvajal’s cross.
That sent an already rowdy Bernabeu into absolute euphoria.
City, who thought they were going through to a second consecutive all-English Champions League final, were shell-shocked.
Both sides had chances to win the tie before the full-time whistle. Ederson denied Rodrygo a quick-fire hat-trick and then an unmarked Phil Foden fired over inside the box.
And so to extra time the game went – and it was Real who got the decisive goal in maybe the greatest Champions League semi-final ever.
Benzema beat Ruben Dias to a loose ball in the box and was brought down by the City defender. He stepped up to take the penalty himself and scored his 43rd goal of the season. There is no doubt it is the most important.
Real’s Thibaut Courtois, who was by far the busier keeper, tipped away Foden’s header with Fernandinho inches away from scoring the rebound – but City could not find a goal to send it to penalties.
That sets up a repeat of the most memorable Champions League final of recent years, when Real beat Liverpool 3-1 in 2018.
For City and manager Pep Guardiola now, the Premier League title – they sit one point above Liverpool with four games to go – is their only target.
Source: www.adomonline.com
The Member of Parliament for Nsawam Adoagyiri, Frank Annoh Dompreh, has expressed concern over delays in the release of the District Assemblies Common Fund, warning that the situation is stalling development across the country.
On his facebook page, he described as a matter of urgent national importance, the Minority Chief Whip pointed to what he sees as a growing crisis of unpaid contractors, abandoned projects, and halted infrastructure works in many districts.
He noted that several communities are grappling with half completed schools, unfinished health facilities, abandoned markets, deteriorating roads, and stalled sanitation projects.
According to him, many contractors who have executed projects for district assemblies have not been paid, forcing some construction firms to demobilise from sites while workers lose their jobs.
He stressed that the District Assemblies Common Fund is not a discretionary allocation but a constitutional requirement under Article 252 of the 1992 Constitution, intended to support development at the local level.
In his view, years of delayed releases and accumulated arrears have weakened district development financing and disrupted projects meant to improve living conditions in communities.
He further argued that some payments made in recent years were largely the settlement of old debts rather than funding for new or ongoing projects, a situation he believes has affected contractor confidence and local economic activity.
He described the issue as more than a budgetary challenge, characterising it as a development emergency and a governance concern.
He therefore urged the appropriate authorities to pay outstanding DACF arrears, settle contractors who have completed their work, and ensure that transfers to districts are automatic and predictable.
He maintained that decentralisation can only succeed when district assemblies receive adequate and timely funding to carry out development projects.
He emphasised that stalled projects directly affect ordinary citizens, since they rely on such infrastructure for education, healthcare, transportation, sanitation, and economic activities.
He called for renewed attention to grassroots development, insisting that national progress should not be concentrated only in major cities but extended to all communities.
By: Jacob Aggrey
Richard Appiah, the footballer who killed two children and stored part of their bodies in a fridge at Abesim in the Bono Region in 2021 has been handed a lifetime sentence.
This was after a five member panel of judges at the Accra High Court returned a verdict of guilty against the convict.
Appiah, 32, also a draughtsman would spend the rest of his life in prison after he was convicted of murder.
More more more
BY MALIK SULLEMANA
