What could have been the fourth goal of the season in La Liga was denied Villarreal of Spain winger, Samuel Chukwueze, as Atletico Madrid’s goalkeeper, Jan Oblak pulled off a sensational save to deny the Super Eagles’ youngster a night of glory for his side, megasportsarena.com reports.
Chukwueze went for a goal in one of his famous dazzling runs, with intent on turning the tight and tensed up stalemate around at at Estadio de la Ceramica, but Oblak had other thoughts on his mind, as he saved well to keep the game barren in front of a crowd of 17,964.
At the end of proceedings, it was goalless between Chukwueze’s side and their visitors, who did little to improve their poor standing on the Liga table, as they were held to an entertaining draw by The Yellow Submarine, thereby making it three games without a win for Los Colchoneros.
While Chukwueze aimed to make the best of his return to Villarreal’s starting 11 and eventually got 89 minutes of action under his boots before he was replaced, Atleti’s boss, Diego Simeone was looking for a response to a 1-0 defeat by Barcelona in his side’s previous game, which left them trailing the top three by five points.
However, a wasteful show on Friday meant Simeone’s side were unsuccessful in achieving his target for the game, despite a soaring opening 45 minutes that produced chances aplenty at either end, but the post and poor finishing stopped Atletico from taking advantage.
Oblak was in inspired form in the visitors’ goal mouth, as he acrobatically stopped Chukwueze’s long-range effort and then parried Gerard Moreno’s header, before Joao Felix’s 30-yard strike hit the right-hand post.
While Oblak played his role perfectly in stopping Chukwueze and his mates in their ambitions, the second half saw Atletico up the ante towards the end, but a woeful miss from Renan Lodi summed up their performance.
Felix wasted an even better opportunity 10 minutes later, firing over when played through on goal by Koke, and Atletico again had to rely on Oblak when he tipped Manu Trigueros’ brilliant dipping volley on to the roof of the net just after the half hour.
Villarreal should have taken the lead through Chukwueze, but the Chile 2015 FIFA U-17 World Cup revelation and Adfrica Cup of Nations 2019 bronze medalist missed target after being fed into the box by Trigueros.
Chukwueze’s haplessness was highlighted when he shot over the bar from close range following Felix’s cross at the opposing end, and that proved to be Villarreal’s final clear-cut chance.
With Chukweueze eventually failing to net in the encounter, Simeone afterwards highlighted the increasing gap between his side and Sevilla, Real Sociedad and Athletic Bilbao, who will fancy their chances of moving four points clear of the capital club.
