Villarreal of Spain winger, Samuel Chukwueze again struggled as a make-shift striker on Thursday and he had to be yanked off at half time of his club’s 2-1 loss away to Real Madrid at Alfredo di Stefano Stadium, a fixture that eventually confirmed the hosts as LaLiga champions with a match left to play, megasportsarena.com reports.
Just three days after a former Barcelona star scolded Villarreal’s coach for playing Chukwueze as a point-man against Real Sociedad, the Super Eagles’ youngster started as a support-striker for The Yellow Submarine but he could last only 46 minutes before he was replaced by Javier Ontiveros, as Madrid won this season’s title with victory with a brace of goals from Karim Benzema.
Villarreal substitute, Vicente Iborra pulled one back with a powerful header in the 86th minute for the visitors, who have been scolded for trying to convert Chukwueze into a striker, while a sub for the hosts, Marco Asensio had a goal chalked off by VAR in injury-time, but Los Blancos still emerged title winners after second-placed Barcelona lost 2-1 at home against Osasuna.
In England, Alex Iwobi played for 62 minutes for Everton before giving way to Theo Walcott in their 1-1 draw against visiting Aston Villa; Kelechi Iheanacho was benched all night but Wilfred Onyinyen Ndidi got 90 minutes for Leicester City in their 2-0 home win against Sheffield United; while Odion Jude Ighalo also sat out for Manchester United in a 2-0 win away to Crystal Palace.
Ndidi put up an impressive showing as Leicester defeated Sheffield in Thursday’s encounter, with goals from Ayoze Perez and substitute Demarai Gray giving victory to The Foxes in the Super Eagles’ star’s 30th English top-flight game of the season.
The 23-year-old Ndidi, who has made 121 tackles so far this season, to lead the tacklers’ chart ahead of Manchester United’s Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Leicester teammate, Ricardo Pereira, underlined his efficiency for The Foxes with 46 passes, five interceptions, 10 tackles won and 89% passing accuracy.
A day before all that, Sammy Ameobi also struck twice for Nottingham Forest and helped them move closer to a playoff spot on a 2-2 draw with Swansea City at City Ground, where his side twice came from behind courtesy of his goals in each half for the home team.
Ameobi has been involved in all but one game played by Forest in the English Championship this season, with five goals and nine assists, drew his team level in the 20th minute with a brilliant effort into the top corner from the edge of the box and then equalised again nine minutes into the second half when shot from 25 yards beat The Swans’ goalkeeper.
In Norway, Leke James continued his fine start to the season by netting twice for Molde in a 5-0 rout of Viking at Aker Stadium, where he broke the deadlock when he converted a spot kick in the fifth minute and made it 3-0 in the 65th; meaning the 27-year-old attacker has now scored five goals in his first six appearances of the Norwegian Eliteserien’s 2020 campaign.
Back in Spain, Chidozie Awaziem was out on suspension and missed Leganes’ remarkable 2-0 win away to Athletic Bilbao, against who Kenneth Omeruo defied injury to make his side’s squad list but stayed on the bench all night long.
Oghenekaro Etebo was also missing for Getafe in their 2-0 loss at home versus Atletico Madrid but Ramon Azeez played as a 76th minute substitute for Granada in their 2-1 win away to Real Mallorca , and Chukwueze was on the start for Villarreal as they lost 2-1 away to Real Madrid.
Chukwueze’s struggles against Madrid rehashed the whiplash his club got just three days earlier former Barcelona winger, Andrea Orlandi, who opined that the Eagles’ youngster failed to adjust to playing various roles in Monday’s game against Sociedad.
After getting off Villarreal’s bench at half-time, the Chile 2015 FIFA U-17 World Cup gold medal winner could not save his side from losing 2-1 at Estadio de la Cerámica, but he still managed to get an assist that helped The Yellow Submarine acquire a consolation goal.
However, with Gerard Moreno suspended, Carlos Bacca missing with injury and Paco Alcácer a non-playing sub due to muscular pain, Villarreal’s coach, Javi Calleja deployed Chukwueze as a top striker in the second half, much to the dismay of Orlandi.
Orlandi told LaLiga TV: “It all comes from Samuel Chukwueze playing on the right. Chukwueze was playing as a striker in the first 35 minutes of the second half, he couldn’t find the spaces, he needs spaces to run, he needs to play on the wing. He played there in the last fifteen minutes and he caused problems for Real Sociedad, but it was a little bit too late for Villarreal.”
