21st May, 2012
Nigerian John Mikel Obi is in big money after his team won the UEFA Champions League at the weekend.
Reports from TheSun of London early today say the Super Eagles star will pocket £300,000 (N75m) as bonus, the same that each of the players of the team will earn as their largesse for winning the Euro trophy.
Mikel, who showed up as one of Chelsea’s lynch pins in a rear guard action that stifled first Barcelona in the semi final, and then Bayern Munich in the final on Saturday, is glad to be part of the history making team at the Stamford Bridge. And 22 years after Finidi George and Nwankwo Kanu won the Champions League with Ajax, Mikel became only the third Nigerian to win the Champions League with a foreign club.
Meanwhile, tens of thousands of Chelsea fans gave their team a hero’s welcome on Sunday as they made an open-top bus parade through their west London home after their Champions League win over Bayern Munich.
Blue-clad fans lined the streets and roared their delight as the hero of Saturday’s victory, Didier Drogba, held the trophy aloft, flanked by captain John Terry, who was suspended for the final in Munich.
The bus was emblazoned with a banner proclaiming ‘Champions of Europe’ and Drogba, who scored the decisive spot-kick in the penalty shoot-out, milked the cheers of the crowd.
Like Oliver Twist, Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich cannot but ask for more titles from his team. The billionaire Russian told his players their Saturday triumph is only the start.
Abramovich made the speech in the dressing room after the shootout win over Bayern Munich. Chelsea chairman Bruce Buck said: “Roman told them that there is still plenty more to aim for.
“There’s a lot of clubs with three or four of those stars on their club badge. We have only one. Roman gave a thank you speech; the message was that it was all down to the boys.”
The excitement that followed the victory of Chelsea produced some casualties in Nigeria. Report says four persons were injured early yesterday morning at the Amike-Aba area of Abakaliki following a clash between a local vigilance group and jubilant fans of Chelsea FC of England.
The News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, reports that the fans were celebrating Chelsea’s victory. The clash between the vigilance group and the Chelsea fans occurred around 12.15 a.m. yesterday, as the fans celebrated in an unrestrained manner, which attracted the attention of the former.
The vigilance group urged the fans to be moderate in their celebration, an advice that did not go down well with the fans.