Alex Iwobi’s father, Chuka, has explained why his son missed Tuesday’s Super Eagles training session, ahead of Nigeria’s 2018 World Cup qualifier against Zambia on Saturday. Iwobi, who plays for Arsenal in England, was one of only five players who missed the team’s first session at the practice pitch of the Godswill Akpabio Stadium on Tuesday. He arrived on Tuesday, but could not participate in the session, which had 20 players in attendance, but took part in the evening session on Wednesday. “Arsenal played a game on Sunday and the way it works at Arsenal is you have media obligations and then the warm down. “It was an early kick-off but then you’ve got the media, the warm down and it was practically impossible to head off straight to the airport. He could also have cramp,” Chuka stated. Iwobi senior insists he has trained his son not to take his duties lightly. “Alex is a very disciplined young man and I’d be the last person to encourage him to disobey camp rules. “If Arsenal had played on Saturday, Alex would have been here by Monday and he’d have taken part in training. It was logistically impossible for him to have got here by Monday. I left London with him on Monday for Abuja and we left immediately for Uyo. We got to Uyo as soon as possible; there was no resting in Abuja or anything. We spoke with the team officials about the situation and they agreed with us,” he added.

Chelsea midfielder, Cesc Fabregas, has admitted that he was the player who threw a slice of pizza at then-Manchester United manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, at Old Trafford in 2004. The incident happened after Arsenal lost their 49-game unbeaten run against United. There was friction between the two sets of players and it spilled over into the tunnel, where a piece of pizza was anonymously hurled into Ferguson’s face. Fabregas has long been suspected of being responsible, but nobody from either side of the scuffle has ever fully accused the Spanish midfielder, a teenager at Arsenal at the time, of casting that fateful slice. But speaking on an upcoming episode of Sky One show ‘A League of Their Own’, Fabregas was asked directly by host James Corden, if he threw the pizza at Sir Alex. “Yes,” the now-Chelsea player sheepishly replied. “All of a sudden, I heard noises [in the tunnel] and I thought what’s happening? So I go out with my slice of pizza and I saw Sol Campbell, Rio Ferdinand, Martin Keown. Everyone pushing each other.” “I was like I want to get involved but I don’t know how to and I just threw it. Once I saw who it was hitting… well, I didn’t mean it. I apologise Sir Alex, I really didn’t mean to do that!”