Istanbul Basaksehir of Turkey midfielder, Azubuike Okechukwu is stating out in the midst of a poor collective run from his team, with the former Olympic Eagles’ captain now stylishly tagged ‘The New Kante’ at his base in The Land of The Ottoman, megasportsarena.com reports.
While his club are currently struggling in the Turkish Super Lig, which they won last season in dramatic fashion, Azubuike is in top personal form and again produced a man of the match show to help his side reach the Turkey Cup semi-finals by beating Fenerbahçe 2-1.
Although Basaksehir were the away team and they have failed to win any of their last seven games in all competitions, Okechukwu led the battle for survival in a squad that entered the clash short of confidence.
Incidentally, their last victory came in a round of 16 encounter away to Tuzlaspor in the same competition, and they pulled off yet another shock during a game in which Okechukwu started his second Turkey Cup fixture along with Youssouf Ndayishimiye in a 4-2-3-1 formation.
With former Chelsea of England striker, Demba Ba leading the line, Okechukwu’s team were clearly the better side in the first 40 minutes and they took a well deserved lead when Junior Fernandes slammed the ball home and receiving a pass from Ozcan following a counter-attack.
Things then got worse for the hosts as they were reduced to 10 men following a VAR check after the goal and they made a triple change at the break, but Okechukwu continued strong deep in the middle of the pack, only for Enner Valencia to equalized 18 minutes from time and settle the result at 1-1.
The visitors from Basaksehir, however, went on to seal a place in the semi-finals when Fredrick Gulbrandsen scored six minutes into extra time to make it 2-1 and help Okechukwu’s team get their first win after eight games in all competitions.
Okechukwu won lots of accolades from fans and analysts alike, with a all hailing he efforts he put up in holding back the hosts with his battling form through the middle and, in recognition of his sterling performance all night long, Basaksehir’s media unit posted afterwards: “K̶a̶n̶t̶e!”
