FF Malmo of Sweden midfielder, Innocent Bonke shook off a recent bout with injury that hit last weekend in domestic action, as he featured for his team against Juventus in the UEFA Champions League, but his side crumbled in defeat.
Megasportsarena.com reports that Bonke got his UCL group stage debut on Tuesday, but his efforts were not good enough to save Malmo from the ignominy of a 3-0 defeat at the fee of Juventus, as the Italian Serie A side achieved their first clean sheet since March.
The recently capped Super Eagles’ rookie, who had been rated as doubtful for Tuesday’s game, after picking up an injury during Malmo’s Swedish Allsvenskan match against IFK Norrköping last weekend, got a starting spot after passing a late fitness test.
Alex Sandro, Paulo Dybala and Alvaro Morata got the goals for Juventus, while Bonke was replaced with 15 minutes remaining, leaving him to hope for a better outing when his die next travel to face Zenit St. Petersburg of Russia in their next UCL fixture on September 29.
Chukwubuike Adamu also featured for RB Salzburg of Austria at Estadio Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán and he helped his side open their campaign in Group G with a 1-1 draw against Sevilla of Spain, as Ivan Rakitic cancelled out Luka Sucic’s opener with both goals coming from first half penalties.
Kano-born Adamu was rewarded with his man-of-the-match performance of the past weekend, as Salzburg’s coach, Matthias Jaissle handed him his debut in the group stage as a 67th minute substitute
On the other hand, Villarreal of Spain winger, Samuel Chukwueze was missing from Group F action, as he is still battling to recovery from an injury he copped in the UEFA Europa League last season.
In Chukwueze’s absence, The Yellow Submarine failed to shine against Atalanta of Italy at Estadio de la Cerámica, where the game ended 2-2, after goals from Trigueros and Nigerian attacker, Arnaut Danjuma cancelled out efforts by Freuler and Robin Gosens.
