UCL Final: Nigerian Streets, Motor Parks Agog Ahead Of Chelsea, Man City Clash

Discussions over Chelsea and Manchester City clash in the Champions League final tonight have set many streets and motor parks agog in Nigeria.

In some streets and motor parks in Lagos and Ogun states, fans hoisted Chelsea flags and customised their tricycles, popularly referred to as Keke.

Some of them also picked a uniform to show their loyalty to their clubs.

The majority of Chelsea fans were seen wearing blue clothes.

In the Mowe area of Ogun State, some of the supporters were seen playing music at Ariba Owo junction, displaying Chelsea flags.

This is as some of the Chelsea fans also painted cows blue in anticipation of their club’s victory in today’s showdown in Porto.

The PUNCH gathered that Chelsea enjoyed large followership in Nigeria, especially in motor parks.

Many football fans had tagged Chelsea an area boys club in Nigeria, probably because of the large support the club enjoyed at motor parks, markets as well as among the area boys in the country.

Man City vs Chelsea: Recent winners of Champions League
Area boys are loosely organised gangs of teenagers, composed mostly of youths, who roam the streets of major cities in Nigeria.

According to Nowheremag, area boys began in the 1980s as bands of bullies who roamed the central business district of Lagos and became more popular after unemployment swelled in the country.

By the mid-90s, the boys and girls began to populate bus stops, major highways, and markets.

Today’s UEFA Champions League final is the third of Europe’s elite club competition between two Premier League sides, and the second in just three seasons, such is the financial might of the English game.

And these are the two clubs whose own transformations in the last two decades under mega-rich foreign owners have done the most to change the landscape of the Premier League.

Chelsea and City have not met in a final since 1986 in the short-lived Full Members Cup, when the London club won 5-4 at Wembley.

That was before the Premier League and modern Champions League existed, before Roman Abramovich bought Chelsea in 2003 and before the Abu Dhabi takeover of City in 2008. Between them they have won seven of the last 10 Premier League titles.

Chelsea have experience at this stage in Europe before, having beaten Bayern Munich on penalties in the 2012 final. They have also won the Europa League twice since then.

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