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Lyon flogs Barcelona to win Women’s Champions League

Published

5 years ago

May 18, 2019

The Gleamer

Lyon flog Barcelona to win Women’s Champions League

….Oshoala goal not enough to stage a comeback fight.

Olympique Lyon women’s team flogged the Barcelona of Spain 4-1 to emerged winner of of 2019 women’s champions League.

People will bemoan the gulf in class. This was supposed to be competitive football at the top level. But Lyon’s one-sided mauling of Barcelona is not something to be criticised, but should instead be celebrated as a testament to investment, to equality. Club president Jean-Michel Aulas’s long-term project is paying dividends and then some.

An emotional early opener from the Budapest-born Dzsenifer Marozsán, who was warmly cheers by the crowd on announcement in the starting XI, followed by a stunning 17-minute hat-trick from Ada Hegerberg put the French champions in the driving seat by the half-hour mark.

Asisat Oshoala’s late strike was not enough to launch a comeback of the scale we have become accustomed to in recent weeks.

Lyon looked every bit worthy of their fourth consecutive Champions League title from the off. Tall, strong and athletic with Barcelona looking decidedly lightweight in comparison. Their project well and truly confirmed to be still very much in its infancy by a ruthless Lyon.

It took five minutes for Lyon to take the lead. Shanice van de Sanden, who provided three assists off the bench in extra time last year, used her electric pace to race clear of Leila Ouahabi and whipped a cross towards an incoming Marozsán who powered home in front of her home crowd, punching her chest at the emotion of it all.

Barcelona were lucky not to be two down in two minutes, Hegerberg playing a one-two with Majri whose shot was kept out by Sandra Paños. Van de Sanden powered a header goalward on the rebound but Ouahabi headed it off the line and away.

On 14 minutes, Van de Sanden, fed by the England right-back Lucy Bronze, again left Ouahabi trailing and played an almost identical pass from the right, but this time it was Hegerberg’s turn, coolly slotting under Paños.

Five minutes later and it was three. Amel Majri skipping into the box from the left and slipping the ball to Hegerberg who hooked in with her left foot.

A very rare Barça break saw Mariona beat Majri to swing a cross into the box but it was just behind Toni Duggan, then Lieke Martens.

If this was Martens’s audition to entice an approach from her opponents as the buildup had suggested, it was hard to see why they would bother.

On the half-hour mark, Hegerberg notched her hat-trick and confirmed she would finished the competition’s top scorer for the second consecutive season.

Bronze this time was the provider, sending a pinpoint cross in for the Norwegian to turn home.

Barcelona had not conceded in the competition since September. On the rare occasions they found themselves in the opposition third they were hesitant, dazed and unsure in the pass. A team known for dominating possession looked utterly lost with it.

When the two sides met in last season’s quarter final it was much tighter. A 2-1 home with for Lyon was followed by a 1-0 win at the Miniestadi.

But now Barcelona’s easier route to the final – Cypriot side Barcelona FA, Glasgow City, LSK Kvinner, Bayern Munich – was exposed. This match left Lyon’s quarter-final against last years runners-up Wolfsburg and a tough physical match-up with Chelsea in their semi-final looking like a closer test.

After 68 minutes, and urged on by a sympathetic crowd, Barça had their best chance of the game. Aitana Bonmatí squared to Vicky Losada whose cross was flicked on my Alexia Putellas. The ball landed cleanly at the feet of Martens but she slipped her half-volley painfully wide of the near post from six yards.

With Lyon more settled, perhaps feeling safe with their four-goal cushion, Barcelona pushed for something, anything. With 15 minutes left Losada caught out the usually immaculately disciplined Lyon backline but her lofted ball over Sarah Bouhaddi looped on to the roof of the net.

Lyon, though casual in their pressure now, still threatened. The French striker Eugénie Le Sommer curled a shot into Paños’s arms and then forced her to palm another effort away within the space of two minutes before being pulled off for left-back Selma Bacha to enter the fray.

As the clock ticked down, Barcelona got their consolation and restored a fraction of pride. Played through the middle by Martens, Oshoala took one touch to take the ball round Bouhaddi before sliding home.

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Featured

RMRDC: Making Giant Strides Under Prof. Nnanyelugo Martins Ike-Muonso

Published

6 hours ago

September 19, 2024

The Gleamer

By Joel Ajayi

As we embark on a journey, we always pray for an able, experienced, and courageous driver, pilot, or sailor depending on the means of transportation.

This is because the captain will have enough experience and boldness to navigate out of turbulence and to bring all the passengers and crew to the intended destination.

Interestingly, these fine qualities of ability, experience, boldness, and many more, abound in the man, Prof. Nnanyelugo Martins Ike-Muonso, who we all are pleased was appointed the Raw Materials Research and Development Council, RMRDC, the Director General/CEO by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu a few months ago. This is because he has brought his knowledge, ability, experience, and doggedness to bear in carrying out his assignment in charge of the Council.

The RMRDC, operating under the Federal Ministry of Innovation, Science, and Technology, is pivotal in driving Nigeria’s industrial growth by optimizing local raw materials exploitation, development, and utilization. RMRDC, ab initio, was conceived as a child of necessity when Nigeria was reeling from the throes of global recession and plummeting crude oil prices.

Without an iota of doubt, today, the council is experiencing a transformation with massive innovation in raw material exploitation, development, and utilization, supporting business and industrial growth, and contributing to Nigeria’s economic prosperity.

Speaking during a press briefing on Tuesday, in Abuja to commemorate his 100 days in office, he said the council is laying a solid foundation through numerous innovations that will further enhance growth in the country.

According to him, “In the past 100 days, my strategic pursuits have been to lay solid foundations for enduring success in these goals.

“Upon assuming this position, I set five crucial deliverables which include, refocusing the Council as a premier research institution; Strengthening the Council’s productivity and operational efficiency; and Significantly improving the staff welfare to be the best in the class of similar organizations.

“Others include, Boosting the Council’s visibility and instituting remarkable culture change that encourages ownership and productivity as well as Strengthening and deepening the Council’s place in the international arena.”While speaking on his Achievements so far, the DG revealed further: “My first task, therefore, was to implement a strategic goal-setting for the Council’s staff to define and set out clear objectives and targets to be achieved by the Council within a specified period towards refocusing on this historical mandate. We unleashed five significant initiatives in that regard.

“The nationwide raw material data collection exercise that focused on technical and investment information to drive our mission forward.

“The restructuring and renaming of the former Technology Innovation Complex (TIC), at the Obasanjo Space Center at Airport Road, Abuja, to a Research and Demonstration Plants Complex (RDPC). This complex will be Africa’s first center of excellence in raw material research, featuring state-of-the-art laboratories, technology development workshops, and proof of concept demonstrations.

“We have reactivated the Council’s Journal and repositioned it internationally. The repositioned Journal of Raw Material Research (JORMAR) will host RMRDC’s researchers’ publications, which are crucial in promoting awareness, facilitating knowledge sharing, and informing stakeholders about the opportunities and challenges in Nigeria’s raw materials sector. “The collaboration with universities and academies will strengthen our capacity for conducting market-guided research, ensuring sustained workforce training while deepening our orientation in science.

“The council has reformulated a new template for all our research proposals to ensure and sustain a clear departure from the old culture of blue-sky and deliberately endless research.”Speaking further, Prof Nwanyelugo Martins Ike-Muonso stated that Staff welfare remains a top priority as an issue of unpaid salaries is settled as well as set up a comprehensive welfare program. “Similarly, we established the RMRDC Training School to sustainably build our staff and stakeholders’ capacity to further the staff welfare improvement goal.

“We are committed to openness, inclusiveness, and performance management and have initiated steps to continuously improve staff ownership, orchestrate transformative culture change, boost our corporate visibility, and enhance.

“To further strengthen our visibility and communication strategies, we are upgrading our media infrastructure, which includes the launch of the RMRDC online media platform, The RMRDC TV Online.

“Additionally, we are working hard to effectively enhance the intellectual property and patent portfolio of RMRDC from its current 40 to approximately 200 new patents within the next 24 months. This proactive approach secures valuable IP assets and positions the Council as a leader in innovation within the raw materials sector, contributing to Nigeria’s overall economic growth.“As well as launching an e-registration and certification portal to enhance transparency in the raw materials sector,” DG revealed.

He however reaffirmed his commitment to reshape the future of research, technology, and innovation, driving Nigeria towards an industrially vibrant and technologically resilient economy.

“As I mark 100 days in office, I boldly say that the Council is on the verge of rewriting its history.

“I believe that in no distant future, RMRDC will play a leading role in enhancing raw materials’ development to boost raw materials’ industrial trial processing and attain sustainable industrial growth in Nigeria.

The DG, however, applauded the Minister of Innovation, Science, and Technology, Chief Uche Geoffrey Nnaji, for his unwavering support and mentorship, saying the Minister’s leadership has been instrumental in the progress made so far.

In his opening remarks, the Directorate of Corporate Affairs, Mr Chucks Ngaha commended the hard-working DG who has weathered the storm further to put the Council on the ladder of more prosperity.

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