Villarreal of Span winger, Samuel Chukwueze has received a rain of accolades from former Super Eagles’ star, Mutiu Adepoju, after helping his side snatch a late away 1-0 win against Celt a Vigo in the Spanish top-flight league, LaLiga, megasportsarena.com reports.
Adepoju, who starred for Compostela and Real Sociedad of Spain during his heyday, was all glee after seeing Chukwueze shine as a substitute in Saturday’s game, in which the Super Eagles’ youngster got off Villarreal’s bench to inspire his side’s burst of attacking push and eventually saw Manuel Trigueros net a stoppage-time winner at Municipal de Balaidos.
Chukwueze, who was named among The Yellow Submarine’s substitutes for their first match of the restart, after the forced break caused by coronavirus, was introduced to the game in place of Gerard Moreno in the 58th minute, but it was Trigueros that netted the winner in added time.
The 91st minute strike gave Villarreal a dramatic win, with Chukwueze playing a key part in the goal, as his shot on target was blocked before Trigueros pounced on the rebound, which gave the Eagles’ lad all three point in his 26th LaLiga game and, though he could not add to his current tally of three, he helped his side end a run of three consecutive fixtures without a win.
Villarreal now occupies eight position on the log, with 41 points, just four off sixth place and a spot in the UEFA Europa League, even as Javier Calleja’s side went into the encounter with the ambition of returning to winning ways, after the coronavirus pandemic placed football on hold.
Chukwueze’s all-round performance and efforts in Saturday’s game have now earned accolades from Adepoju, who noted that the product of Diamond Football Academy of Umuahia added a greater threat to Villarreal’s attack in 32 minutes, during which he got a shot on target, one off it, 14 passes and a 64.3% passing accuracy.
While also noting that Chukwueze’s outstanding efforts, burst of skills and sporadic runs at goal caused Oscar Junyent’s team all manner of problems down the flank, Adepoju went on to charge the lad to continue working hard, in order to keep improving and add goals to his game.
Adepoju posted on social media: “Great performance from Samuel Chukwueze against Celta Vigo at the Estadio de Balaidos. What an exciting player he is! I hope he keeps improving as well as work more on his goal scoring abilities.”
