On Wednesday, October 3, eight matches in total were played in round two of this season’s Champions League. A number of Nigerian players and those of Nigerian descent were on the football field. A lot of goals were scored and there were a few surprising results.
In Moscow, Lokomotiv played hosts to the visiting Schalke 04 team. Schalke won the game with a single goal scored a few minutes before the final whistle. Brian Idowu, the Super Eagles defender, was in the starting line-up for the Russian team. He played the full length of the game.
The Wanda Metropolitano Stadium in Madrid was the venue for the match between Atletico Madrid and Belgian champions, Club Brugge. Antoine Griezmann scored two goals, one in each half, to guide Atletico to a 3:1 win in the end. Koke scored the third goal in the 3rd minute of stoppage time. Club Brugge did go level at one point when the very talented Arnaut Groeneveld Danjuma scored a brilliant goal from distance. He’s been in the media recently as he is eligible to play for the Super Eagles but hasn’t yet decided whether he will play for Nigeria or the Netherlands. Emmanuel Dennis didn’t get to play for the Belgian side sitting the game out on the bench.
Arnaut Groeneveld Danjuma (www.clubbrugge.be)
Tottenham Hotspurs had a hard task ahead of them at home playing Barcelona. Luke Amos, who is looking to get a place in the Spurs first team wasn’t able to play due to the injury he sustained against Blackburn playing for Tottenham’s U-23 side. Sadly, his knee ligaments have been damaged enough to make his return to the active roster this season unlikely. Spurs went down in the 2nd minute to a Philippe Coutinho goal and never recovered with Ivan Rakitic scoring the second before Lionel Messi secured the win for the Spaniards with two goals in the 2nd half. Harry Kane and Erik Lamela scored for the London team.
Liverpool were surprising losers in the game against Napoli at the San Paolo stadium, conceding a goal in the 90th minute. Lorenzo Insigne was the game-winner for the Italian team. Dominic Solanke didn’t make the squad.
Porto met Galatasaray at their home stadium and managed to take all three points. Chidozie Awaziem watched the game from the substitutes bench. For the visitors, Henry Onyekuru played the full 90 minutes but failed to get a meaningful chance in front of goal. Moussa Marega scored the winner for Porto shortly after the break.