Leaving Manchester United for Inter Milan has reinvigorated Romelu Lukaku and the striker is happy and hungry as he enters an important phase of his playing career, Belgium manager Roberto Martinez has said.

Belgium international Lukaku joined Inter last month, ending a two-year spell at United, which began well, but ended with him battling for a place in the team.

The 26-year-old has scored two league goals in as many games in Italy and Martinez is confident Lukaku's bright start to life in the Serie A can translate into success for the national team.

"This is the first time I've seen him free and happy. Going back to many camps, I've not seen Rom so focused, so happy, so refreshed by the new challenge," Martinez told reporters ahead of Monday's Euro 2020 qualifier in Scotland.

"I think he's now ready to face one of the biggest chapters in his career with the Inter move. He's driven to be as good as he can for the national team... I've been impressed."

Lukaku's short time in Italy has not been without problems, however, with the striker subjected to racist abuse by Cagliari supporters last week.

But Martinez said the incident had not affected Lukaku's mood during international duty.

"I haven't seen a difference," Martinez added.

"It's true he was sad with the episode he had to go through, but I'm sure that is something that everyone... will try to help him with, and try to eradicate.

"There's no tolerance for that kind of behaviour."

Belgium are top of Group I, with 15 points after five wins.

Rafael Nadal held off a strong comeback bid to win his 19th Grand Slam title by edging Daniil Medvedev 7-5, 6-3, 5-7, 4-6, 6-4 in a thrilling U.S. Open final that lasted nearly five hours Sunday.

This one was not easy for the second-seeded Nadal. Not at all. That's because after Nadal grabbed the opening two sets and went up a break in third, Medvedev mounted a charge, shifting styles and rattling Nadal.

Medvedev broke in the last game of each of the next two sets to force a fifth. But his attempt to become the first man since 1949 to win a U.S. Open final after trailing by two sets to none came up just short.

Nadal broke to lead 3-2 in the fifth and again for 5-2. But he failed to serve out the victory there, double-faulting on break point, then couldn't convert two match points at 5-3.

At 5-4, Nadal saved a break point, and finally converted his third championship point to earn his fourth trophy at Flushing Meadows.

Add that to 12 at the French Open, two at Wimbledon and one at the Australian Open, and Nadal is now only one major trophy behind Roger Federer for the most by a man in tennis history.

Some 25,000 Argentine soccer fans on Sunday cheered the country's legendary World Cup winner Diego Maradona as he kicked off his new role as coach of the local club Gimnasia y Esgrima to revive the struggling team.

"We are going to get ahead together," the 58-year-old former striker told fans at a stadium in the city of La Plata just outside Buenos Aires on his first day of training with the team known as "El Lobo," or The Wolf.

Maradona, widely considered to be one of the greatest players of all time, was hired to turn around the fortunes of Gimnasia, which was formed in 1887 and has won just one professional title, the Copa Centenario, in 1993. It is now last in its division and is struggling not to slip into a lower category.

Some 500 limited-edition shirts with Maradona's former number 10 sold out in a few hours, the club said.

Since talks between Gimnasia and Maradona began, thousands of fans have lined up in front of the club's headquarters to register as members and to secure a spot in matches.

Maradona most recently coached in Mexico, where he led second division side Dorados of Sinaloa to two unsuccessful playoff appearances.

​Barcelona are ready to offer Lionel Messi a lifetime contract to tie him to the club even after his retirement.

The Argentine's contract situation has dominated headlines in recent days after club president Josep Maria Bartomeu confirmed Messi has a clause in his current contract which would allow him to ​walk away from free at the end of the current season.

However, according to ​Mundo Deportivo, ​Barcelona are not concerned about the future of their talisman, and they are prepared to offer him a lifetime contract as a sign of their undying commitment to ​Messi.

This is by no means a new idea for Barcelona officials, who have toyed with the idea of offering Messi such a contract for months, but plans have started to be put into motion as a result of all the recent speculation.

Having said that, the champions of ​La Liga are in no rush to force through the deal, as they are believed to be completely confident that Messi remains 100% committed to the club. Formal negotiations are expected to begin in the coming months.

Barcelona believe that Messi will remain at the club until at least 2022, so as to feature for Argentina at the World Cup in Qatar that year. After that tournament, he will begin to think about his next move.

It is thought that Messi would like to return to Argentina to play for Newell's Old Boys before he retires, whilst a stint in ​Major League Soccer is also suggested, and Barcelona are completely happy to allow Messi to fulfil either dream before returning to Camp Nou in some capacity.

Their lifetime contract will permit Messi to leave the club temporarily, and he will then be allowed to return to Camp Nou and effectively pick whatever staff role he wants to do following his inevitable retirement.

In his 687 appearances for Barcelona, Messi has racked up an outrageous 603 goals and 242 assists, and the Blaugrana believe that he has earned the right to choose his next move.

The South African government has described its relationship with Nigeria as firm as President Muhammadu Buhari is scheduled to visit in October.

This reassurance was given over rising tension as a result of reported xenophobic attack against Nigerians and their businesses in South Africa.

The South African presidency in a statement said: “His Excellency President Muhammadu Buhari will undertake a State Visit to South Africa in October 2019 to reinforce the strong bonds between the two countries and jointly develop responses to challenges affecting people and businesses in South Africa and Nigeria.

“In the wake of public violence in South Africa and developments in Nigeria around South African businesses based in the West African country, President Cyril Ramaphosa held discussions yesterday, Friday 6 September 2019, with Ambassador Ahmed Rufai Abubakar, Special envoy of The President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, President Muhammadu Buhari.

“The visit to Pretoria by the Special Envoy followed a recent meeting between Presidents Ramaphosa and Buhari in Yokohama, Japan, on the sidelines of the Summit of the Tokyo International Conference on African Development.

“In yesterday’s discussion, the Special Envoy conveyed President Buhari’s concern at recent events in South Africa, in the context of the strong and cordial relations that characterise the interaction between the two countries.

President Buhari conveyed his commitment to the values of prosperity and the advancement of Africa that are shared by South Africa and Nigeria.”

The South African government noted that Nigeria has expressed willingness to in establishing the root causes of the violence.

“Nigeria stands ready to assist South Africa in establishing the root causes of and developing sustainable solutions to the challenges concerned.

“President Buhari has undertaken that where challenges emerge in Nigeria, the Nigerian government will act against lawlessness and the targeting of South African assets in Nigeria.

"President Ramaphosa reaffirmed South Africa-Nigeria relations as being firm and strong and said the two partners were resolute in their shared commitment to build an Africa at peace with itself and others.”

Meanwhile, the Nigerian government denied reports that at least one explosion has rocked the South African embassy in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory.

The denial was issued by the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, in a statement signed by his media aide Segun Adeyemi on Saturday, September 7.

Liverpool star Mohamed Salah boasts similarities to Lionel Messi and can become even better if he tones down his obsession with goals, according to Arsene Wenger.

The ex-Arsenal coach, who recently hinted at a possible return to management in the international arena , believes the Reds attacker's game is comparable to Messi's but is still missing a few crucial ingredients.

Aside from a few more goals, Wenger also stressed Salah has to learn when to go for goal himself and when to pass it to a teammate.

"He's 20 goals away basically, if you want to be as concrete as possible," Wenger told beIN Sports .

"But he is similar to Messi. He must still find the consistency of Messi. I find him a just as good finisher but Messi is the complete thing - he gives the final ball as well and Salah is a bit obsessed now by finishing himself so that's a dimension he'll get certainly when he gets a little bit older. To find the moment when you have to give the ball and when you have to finish.

"I like him very much, he has huge potential."

In Liverpool's recent 3-0 win over Burnley, Salah was criticised after failing to pass to Sadio Mane in the second half when his fellow attacker was in a far better position.

While Salah is the star of the Reds frontline, Mane and Roberto Firmino have also been consistent performers for Jurgen Klopp's side with Wenger praising the Brazilian striker in particular for his selfless style of play.

"You forget the guy that sacrifices himself a little bit is Firmino," he said.

"Like Luis Suarez did for Messi and Neymar. A guy that works for the team, that works for everybody and gets them to shine.

"This piece of the jigsaw is very hard to find - a striker that is generous."

Since stepping aside from Arsenal in 2018, Wenger has avoided jumping straight back into management but admits he remains obsessed with the beautiful game.

"I needed longer than I thought to take a distance from what I did before. To really let it settle," Wenger said.

"I took a distance and realised I was living like somebody in a coma for 35 years and who woke up and saw something different in life other than just my club, my game and my work.

"I watch it still when I wake up in the morning - straight in my mind is football. My main interest is still there."

Residents of hostels in eastern Johannesburg, South Africa, marched along Jules Street in the area on Sunday, September 8, demanding that "foreigners must go back to where they came from".

According to Sowetan Live, the marchers carried weapons such as knobkerries, as they headed to Jules Park, where they were to be addressed by a Zulu tribe leader and notable politician, Mangosuthu Buthelezi.

Legit.ng gathers that without indicating reasons for their call, the group has maintained that it wants foreign nationals to leave.

South African President Cyril Ramphosa had condemned the attacks on foreigners, in the past week.

However, the leadership of the hostel dwellers in Johannesburg asked the government to engage citizens about finding solutions to the clashes with foreign nationals.

Speaking in eastern Johannesburg, chairman of the hostel headmen (izinduna) in Gauteng, Siphiwe Mhlongo, said: “We are not happy with how government has tried to resolve the problems that the country is facing.

“The government must come speak to the people and explain what it is going to do with the foreign nationals who are here illegally.”

Mhlongo said residents were angry that foreign nationals were taking jobs, and were also not happy about the drugs and RDP houses being owned by foreigners.

He said: "Everyone who is in South Africa has that feeling that foreign nationals must go back home. But we don't say foreign nationals must be beaten up; we are leaders."

Meanwhile, Legit.ng previously reported that Catholic bishops in South Africa lashed out at the government for saying the attack against Nigeria was carried out by a few criminal elements.

Buti Tigagale, a South African Catholic archbishop, said what happened in the country could only be described as xenophobia.

The archbishop said no arrests were made while Nigerian businesses were being attacked and looted.

Source: Legit NG

Former Mavin first lady, Tiwa Savage feels so excited as her new track with the video of 49-99 goes up in London electronic billboard days after appearing on new york times square billboard.

She also posted it trending on her instagram page.

View this post on Instagram

And we up in LA California ... West Sideeee My whole team going HARD #4999 Out NOW on all streaming platforms. Link in my bio

A post shared by Tiwa Savage (@tiwasavage) on Sep 8, 2019 at 10:18am PDT

WizKid’s ex girlfriend and mother of one, Sophia Alakija rock beautiful owanbe attires for an event. She looks so radiant and charming.

Ned Nwoko’s newest bride, Regina Daniels is currently in Dubai enjoying her summer vacation.

The Nollywood actress was spotted holding a live snake while she plays with it.