Arsenal of England midfielder, Miguel Azeez has admitted sheer delight in how he got his senior debut with The Gunners in their amazing 4-2 victory over Dundalk of Ireland in the UEFA Europa League, megasportsarena.com reports.
Born in England to a Nigerian father and Spanish mother, the 18-year-old Azeez finally made his long awaited debut for Arsenal’s main team some 13 years after joining The Gunners, and he is now relishing how he went on for the last seven minutes of Thursday’s victory.
After defeating Dundalk in their last fixture of Group B, Arsenal are the only team to finish the Europa League group stage with a 100% mark, cemented in a game that also saw yet another Nigerian-born youngster, Folarin Balogun get an assist and a goal.
Azeez is now top of a list that also has the Nigerian-born quartet of goalkeeper Ovie Ejeheri, fullback Daniel Oyegoke, defender Mazeed Ogungbo and winger Nathan Butler-Oyedeji, as he joined Balogun in the game that saw Eddie Nketiah and Mohammed Elneny also score against Dundalk, who were without former Olympic Eagles’ invitee, Nathan Oduwa.
Azeez, who inked his first professional contract with the north London club in September 2019, is one of four players of Nigerian descent registered by Arsenal for the Europa League, the others being goalkeeper Arthur Okonkwo, fullback Ryan Alebiosu and Balogun.
Balogun entered the game in the 62nd minute, following which he was joined in the last seven minutes of action on the turf of Dublin Arena by Azeez, a central midfielder, who became the first player in the 2019/20 intake of academy scholars to debut for Arsenal’s first team.
Five minutes after his introduction, Balogun set up the third goal scored by the north London club, holding the ball with his back to goal before laying it off for Joe Willock, who fired home a hot shot past the opposing keeper.
The 19-year-old Balogun, who has now scored two goals in four appearances for Arsenal’s first team in 61 minutes of action in the Europa League, turned from provider to scorer when he made it 4-1 thirteen minutes later after he was given time and space to shoot past Rogers.
Azeez got off The Gunners’ bench in place of Willock, and the Nigerian-born mulatto has now admitted he was delighted to help Arsenal see out the game and maintain their 100 per cent record in this season’s second-tier European competition, much to the youngster’s delight.
“I’m buzzing. I’m happy and overjoyed with the experience. I’m so grateful that I was able to get the experience and all the hard work has paid off. I just wanted to play my game because that’s why I’m here.
“I didn’t want to do anything that I’m not used to doing. I just wanted to see the game out and make sure we won and put in a good performance,” Azeez concluded.
