Monday night special: Ronaldo, Rashford, Yobo, Enyimba feature

The weekend was filled with great football drama and the biggest of them all is the UEFA Champions League final between Real Madrid and Atletico, Monday night special captures it all with interesting insights.
Cristiano Ronaldo
It wasn’t the greatest final of all-time or a game that wrecked nerves but it was a game that announced Atletico as a true force in European football as it was their second final in three years.

Interestingly, the last time the Rojiblancos got to the Champions League final in 2014, they lost to Real Madrid by 4-1 and despite arriving the Sansiro in fine form they again succumbed to the superior fire-power of the Los Blancos.
Sergio Ramos opener was cancelled out by Yannick Carrasco’s leveller which took the game into extra-time but Real Madrid stole it on penalties courtesy a Cristiano Ronaldo spot kick.
Amazingly it was the first goal the Portuguese had scored in the sansiro in five attempts.
Marcus Rashford
Another, interesting event that happened at the weekend was the debut of Manchester United forward Marcus Rashford for the England national team against Australia.

The 18-year-old enhanced his chances of making the Three Lions squad to the Euro 2016 by scoring just three minutes into his debut as England won 2-1 on the day.
Rashford who scored eight goals from 18 appearances in all competitions for the Red Devils was handed a £25,000-per-week new contract by Manchester United and will hopefully look to shine under new manager Jose Mourinho.
Joseph Yobo
Joseph Yobo was given a deserved testimonial by the Rivers state government and had former manager David Moyes, Austin Okocha, Kanu Nwankwo, Samuel Eto’o, AY the Comedian, and Pawpaw amongst others attend.
The former Everton defender who wrapped up his international career with 101 caps, scored in either side of the encounter as Team Nigeria defeated Team World 5-4.
However, there were unanswered questions of why current Super Eagles Captain John Mikel Obi did not show up for the game after the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) had released him to attend instead of playing in the Friendly against Mali and Luxembourg.

On the pitch, Jay Okocha stole the show with his sublime skills and at a point in the game, former Barcelona and Inter Milan forward Samuel Eto’o protested to the Team Nigeria bench to take-off the player as he kept producing assists that led to goals.
The Cameroonian himself scored a superb goal when he faked Lille OSC goalkeeper and a Nigeria centurion Vincent Enyeama to score. The celebration will be remembered for a long-time as Enyeama chased the forward around his goal post and when they caught-up with each other, they hugged.
Enyimba
Two-time African Champions League winners Enyimba of Aba crawled back into title contention in the Nigerian Professional Football League (NPFL), when they defeated Warri Wolves 2-1 to move to second on the log.
Interestingly, the Aba landlords have two more outstanding matches and are just a point behind league leaders Rivers United.  
The government of Abia State donated a bus to the team after the Warri Wolves match and may head into the second stanza of the league top of the log on their way to win a record eight domestic league title.