Villarreal of Spain winger, Samuel Chukwueze was on from the start and again in top form for The Yellow Submarine on Sunday, but his efforts were not enough to save them from falling 4-1 against visiting Barcelona, while Mikel Ndubuisi Agu got top marks with Vitoria de Guimarãess of Portugal.
Megasportsarena.com gathered that, although Chukwueze had a foot in his side’s initial equalizer, after Barca went 1-up courtesy an own goal, it turned out to be a mere consolation goal on the night, as his effort was not enough to save the game for the hosts.
While Chukwueze slumped with his team across the border in Spain, Agu was on fire in their Iberian neighbours, as he produced a top-notch show that helped Guimarães get a 1-0 win away at Portimonense and keep alive their slim hope for a ticket into Europe.
Following his man-of-the-match performance in midweek, the former FC Porto and Setubal of Poertugal as well as Bursaspor of Turkey midfielder kept his place in the starting eleven for the visitors, were hoping to record back-to-back victories for the first time since March.
In a tense first half largely dominated by the hosts, Agu was impressive for his side, and they went into the break goalless, but the visitors went ahead after an inspired double substitution by their coach in the second half, with the former Super Eagles’ midfielder getting a foot in it.
A well directed ball from Agu from midfield set the attack rolling, with Falaye Sacko producing an in swinging cross from the flank with substitute Bruno Duarte Da Silva heading home to seal all three points.
Agu was on for the entire match duration, finishing with a rating of 7.2 over 10, 83.9% of his passes, won seven duels, made five clearances, four key tackles, one interception and one blocked shot.
In Denmark, Tosin Kehinde netted his first professional goal and helped Randers eke out a 3-2 road win against Hobro at DS Arena, where the Nigerian under-23 national team, Olympic Eagles’ former invitee got his ninth start of the season in the Danish Superliga.
The former Manchester United of England youth team player, who got on the scorers’ sheet in the 65th minute to put Randers 3-1 up during Sunday’s encounter, did not make a competitive debut for Feirense of Portugal before he was loaned to Randers in July 2019, and he spent 1,095 minutes in total on the pitch across 21 matches before netting his first professional goal.
The 22-year-old Kehinde, who departed United in the summer of 2018 in search of first-team opportunities elsewhere, finally broke his duck against Hobro, during a match in which he was in action for ninety minutes before making way for Oliver Bundgaard.
In the lower division, Jubril Adedeji celebrated his new deal with HB Koge by netting his fourth goal of the season, but his team were held to a 1-1 draw by Hvidovre, even after he hit the net just five minutes after the restart, as the opponents equalised a minute from time.
In Sweden, AIK Stockholm’s Peter Nsima opened his account for the season, bit his 62nd minute effort could only eke out a 1-1- draw with Falkenbergs FF in their Swedish Allsvenskan clash at Friends Arena in Solna, where his side threw away their lead in the first minute of second half stoppage time.
In Finland, FF Jaro attacker, Anthony Olusanya became joint-highest goals scorer in the Ykkönen with his second goal in the first two games in the restart, as he netted the winner on 58 minutes, taking his tally for the season to three goals from six games in all competitions with as 2-1 win over IF Gnistan.
In Turkey’s lower division, Chukwuma ‘Bentley’ Akabueze hit one for Umraniyespor but it was not enough to save the day as they were beaten 3-2 by Osmanlispor FK at Osmanli Stadi in Ankara, where he struck from long range with only three minutes left on the clock.
In Italy, William Troost-Ekong played all 90 minutes for Udinese in their 2-2 draw at home with Genoa while his teammate, Stefano Chuka Ocaka got off their bench on 58 minutes, in place of Ilija Nestorovski, but could not help the hosts get victory.
Also in Italy on Sunday, Victor Moses was out injured and missed Enter Milan’s shock 2-1 loss at home against Bologna; while Spain had several Nigerian players absent from action, with lower division midfielder, Kelechi Nwakali benched for all 90 minutes by Huesca in their 2-1 loss away to Deportivo La Coruna.
Kenneth Omeruo also missed an astonishing 1-0 win away to Espanyol by Leganes, who had Chidozie Awaziem who had on as an 81st minute substitute, but Oghenekaro Etebo was absent for Getafe in their goalless draw away to Osasuna, but Chukwueze got full duration action with Villarreal in their 4-1 home defeat by Barcelona.
Despite his defeat, the biggest Nigerian talking point on Sunday was Chukwueze, who got some sweet words from pundits for his performance with Villarreal at Estadio de la Ceramica, where strikes from Antoine Griezmann, Luis Suarez and Ansu Fati, plus a Pau Torres own goal saw The Catalans get victory, even after Gerard Moreno briefly restored parity in the 14th minute.
Chukwueze was involved in the build-up to Villarreal’s only goal, when his defense-splitting pass found Paco Alcacer, who pushed it to Sancti Cazorla, whose shot was blocked and Moreno fired home the rebound, but The Yellow Submarine could not hold out till the end.
The Nigerian lad, however, has morale-boosting words leading him into his side’s next match, which will be a visit to Coliseum Alfonso Pérez, where they face Oghenekaro Etebo’s Getafe on Wednesday, with Villarreal three points behind fourth placed Sevilla, who have a game in hand.
Heading into that game, former Brighton & Hove Albion of England winger, Andrea Orlandi has soothing words for Chukwueze, even as he blamed Barcelona full-back Jordi Alba for not fully tracking the Super Eagles’ youngster put through the pass that led to Villarreal’s lone goal.
The player-turned-analyst also pointed out that Barca launched most of their attacks from the left of their front line because of the defensive frailties of Chukwueze on the right side of the host’s midfield, where he featured for the entire duration of the game.
Orlandi told LaLiga TV: “It was a fantastic pass from Chukwueze, Jordi Alba was trying to get closer to him but not enough, he didn’t do enough to actually stop that pass. For Villarreal they were surprised by Barcelona setup, they didn’t expect Antoine Griezmann, Suarez playing together, they didn’t expect Messi to be top of the diamond.
“Those first 45 minutes they were really surprised. Iborra and Anguissa couldn’t cope with the numbers Barcelona had there, they were completely outnumbered in midfield. Barcelona kept attacking on the left hand side because both Mario Gaspar and Chukwueze had problems to defend.”
