Villarreal of Spain winger, Samuel Chukwueze could not fully relish his side’s victory over Arsenal of England in the UEFA Europa League semi-finals, as he was forced off by injury in the first half of their reverse fixture.
Megasportsarena.com reports that, after helping his side eke out a 2-1 win at home in the first leg last week, Chukwueze had been hoping to put the icing on the cake on Thursday at Emirates Stadium in London.
However, it ended in a personal nightmare for the Chile 2015 FIFA U-17 World Cup revelation, as the 21-year-old product of Diamond Football Academy of Umuahia was taken off in the first half after suffering an injury and was replaced by Yeremi Pino
The Super Eagles’ youngster, was having a fine game and posed a major threat to The Gunners’ backline before going down with an injury and he almost gave the Spaniards an early lead after four minutes.
Francis Coquelin switched the play over to the right and Mario Gaspar knocked the ball down to be connected with a well-struck left-footed shot from the edge of the box by Chukwueze, but the effort was tipped for a corner kick by Arsenal’s goalkeeper, Bernd Leno.
That, though, turned out to be the biggest impact of the game from Chukwueze, who has been terrific for Emery’s side, scoring three goals in five Spanish elite division matches – a feat that saw him nominated for the La Liga Player of the Month award for April.
He will compete with Barcelona’s Lionel Messi, Real Madrid’s Thibaut Courtois and Atletico Madrid’s Angel Correa for the gong, but he will conclude that race in pain, as he was attended to by medics and was subsequently replaced by Spanish teenager, Yeremi Pino in the 28th minute.
In Chukwueze’s absence, Villarreal held on for a 0-0 draw at Emirates to secure a 2-1 aggregate victory and a place against Manchester United of England in the Europa League final on May 26.
