Barcelona’s ordeal took a new turn Sunday night when the club’s captain, Lionel Messi was sent off in the final Super Cup match against Athletic Bilbao.

The Argentine astro was caught in an aggressive encounter near the winners’ box, and was sent off after the referee reviewed the incident through VAR. It thus marks the first time Messi is seeing a red card in his football career in Barcelona.

Messi who returned from injury to join Barcelona’s starting lineup led the team to a 2-2 goal line that took the game into extra time.

Frenchman Antoine Griezmann took advantage of a rebound from Messi to score the first goal for Barcelona. Bilbao responded two minutes later as Oscar De Marcos met Inaki Williams’ cross to put the game level at half time.

Raul Garcia’s header was disallowed for offside by VAR as the second half, which Bilbao dominated with many chances, began. Griezmann was close to sealing the victory for Barcelona with his second goal of the night before Bilbao’s substitute Villalibre volleyed home a 90-minute stunner, sending the game into additional 30 minutes.

Three minutes into extra time, Williams curled the winner into Barcelona’s net from the edge of the box. Barcelona’s effort to thwart the lead was marred by Messi’s red card. The game ended in a 2-3 win to Bilbao.

“What a goal it was!” Bilbao coach Marcelino said about 93rd minute winner. “It was a great piece of skill and you couldn’t produce a better finish.”

“In general I don’t think Barca deserved to take the lead, especially in the first half, anyway. The lads were so focused on this game and I’m so proud of them. They make your job easy and enjoyable,” he added.

Marcelino was only appointed Bilbao’s coach this month following the dismissal of Gaizka Garitino, and his win marks his second success in finals against Barcelona, after previous winning in the 2019 Copa del Rey final with Valencia. However, he acknowledged that it’s going to be difficult to keep the form that got him the cup.

“It’s going to be impossible to keep up that record. I don’t know many semi-finals I had to play before actually reaching a final, I think it was eight, but now I have won in two finals,” he said.

It’s Andy Koeman’s first test final as Barcelona’s coach. The Dutch man who inherited a depleted Barcelona team riddled with crisis has been under pressure to steer the Catalan giants to winning ways. The season has so far proved disappointing as Barca currently occupies third place on the La Liga table.

Messi who had last year asked to leave the club had said his future will be determined by the situation in the club. The six-time Ballon Do’r winner got into a fight with the Barcelona’s management over poor performance of the club, and it led to the resignation of the entire board including past president, Josep Bartomeu.

Messi’s unlikely red card on Sunday night reveals his frustration with the team, as his happiness is apparently waning in his childhood club.

The club is working to elect a new president as soon as possible in hope that it will appease Messi and make him stay. With the former president, Joan Laporta, who won the primary, polling over 10,000 votes, poised to return as new Barcelona president, the club’s fans are hopeful that the world’s best player will stay.

Nigeria’s inflation rate leaped to 15.75% in December to reach its highest level since 2017, marking the 16th month of consecutive increases, according to data published by Nigeria Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Friday.

This is coming a few weeks after Nigerian government announced the reopening of its closed land borders.

The NBS data reported that the composite food index rose by 19.56% in December from 18.30% in November due to high cost of some food items.

“This rise in the food index was caused by increases in prices of bread and cereals, potatoes, yam, and other tubers, meat, fruits, vegetable, fish and oils, and fats,” NBS said.

The increase in inflation rate has been expected due to the land borders that were closed since August 2019. In December, the federal government reopened the borders to honor its AfCFTA agreement, but the culminated harm caused by the closure has become an inflation propeller Nigeria’s economy will have to battle with into the near future.

Experts also pointed to other factors that have contributed to the high rise in inflation. Analysts at the Financial Derivatives Company Limited, last week described the inflation, which it predicted would rise by 0.51% to 15.4% in December, as “a hydra-headed monster that has eroded the disposable and discretionary income of consumers.”

The analysts explained that factors like hike in petrol price, electricity tariff, general reductions in subsidies, and improved tax mobilization has affected consumers’ disposable income negatively.

“The continued rise in the general price level is driven largely by forex rationing, output and productivity constraints, higher logistics and distribution costs,” they added.

NBS said the highest increases were recorded in prices of passenger transport by air, medical services, hospital services, shoes and other footwear, and passenger transport by road, among others.

Another factor which has been fingered is insecurity. Economic experts said continued insecurity in northern parts of the country where foods come from is responsible for the increase in prices of food items.

“We must recognize that the disruption we have had in the northern part of the country in terms of food production has a direct impact on food inflation,” said CEO of Cowry Asset Management Limited, Johnson Chukwu.

“We should expect these pressures to continue in the next couple of months. We should expect that the price of diesel will further increase because crude oil price has moved up and exchange rate has also deteriorated,” he added.

A host of other issues, including rural-urban migration has also been blamed.

But with the border reopened, there is optimism that the inflation will record a significant drop if the government lifts import restrictions on some food items to fill the gap created by insecurity in food producing states in northern Nigeria.

Additionally, a shift goes to winning the war on terrorism and banditry in the north. Economists say sustainable agricultural activities will increase food supply and minimize the rising cost of food items.

However, with the current situation of farmers’ vulnerability, food security is an aim not so close. In November, BBC Hausa reported that farmers in Kaduna, Katsina and Zamfara States pay periodic taxes to have access to their farms. The taxes, which range from N800,000 to N3 million have become another obstacle, in addition to the risk of being kidnapped in the farm, that farmers have to contend with.

“In my village, we pay N800,000 as tax and N900,000 as harvest fees,” a resident of Dankurmi Village in Maru Local Government Area of Zamfara State said. “Even if you pay, they will come to your farm and abduct you.”

With the current security situation in the north and the food import ban, the newly reopened border would only do a little to quell the upsurge of inflation.