By 
Noah Okafor sent RB Salzburg into raptures as he scored the only goal for the Austrian club to claim a 1-0 victory over 10-man Sevilla at the Red Bull Arena on Wednesday to progress to the knockout stages of the Champions League for the first time in their history.
Salzburg finished as runners-up in Group G with 10 points from their six matches, one behind pool winners Lille. Sevilla ended in third place and will play in the Europa League playoff round.
The first half had little goal-mouth action but the game burst into life after the break as Salzburg were helped by a second yellow card for Sevilla’s key midfielder Joan Jordan on 65 minutes.
Salzburg scored with an excellent team goal after stringing passes together and much-talked about Karim Adeyemi was worked into space on the left. His low cross into the box was turned in by Swiss forward of Nigerian heritage, Okafor.
Sevilla’s night got worse on 65 minutes when Jordan received a deserved second booking for pulling back the pacey Adeyemi and they were left needing to find two goals with 10 men.
Salzburg were able to comfortably hold out to the end, with Rakitic’s first-half shot the only one Sevilla, who are second in Spain’s LaLiga, could muster on target.
Match winner and man of the match, Okafor couldn’t hold back his joy after the match: “I really don’t care about our opponent in the round of 16; right now, I just want to enjoy the moment with the team.”
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