It was a night of mixed fortune for African players as the return leg of Quarter Final matches of the UEFA Champions League took center stage on Tuesday night.
On the heroic side was Nigeria’s Samuel Chimerenka Chukwueze of Villarreal scored a late goal in the clash against Bayern Munich of Germany to take the Yellow Submarine into the next round of the competition. The first leg of the tie ended in a 1-0 victory for the Spanish side and Munich was in a better place after taking the lead in the return leg but substitute Chukwueze had other ideas.
Villarreal’s victory is by all standards an upset given the pedigree of Bayern Munich in the elite club completion. The German side had won the competition seven-time while Villarreal’s best run in the competition was a semi-final stop in the 2005/2006 season when they lost out to Arsenal on a 1–0 aggregate scoreline following Arsenal goalkeeper Jens Lehmann’s save of Riquelme’s last-minute penalty.
With Bayern’s pedigree and quality, it is not surprising that it took an African “hammer” to put final nail on the German side’s coffin.
Since the Yellow Submarine was founded, several players from Africa have represented the outfit, with names like Ikechukwu Uche (Nigeria), Karl Toko Ekambi (Cameroon), and Cedric Bakambu (DR Congo) coming to mind.
Others Africans who currently ply their football trade with Villarreal are Boulaye Dia (Senegal), Arnaut Danjuma (Nigeria), Serge Aurier (Cote d’Ivoire), Aissa Mandi (Algeria), and of course Nigeria’s Samuel Chukwueze
Real Madrid Vs Chelsea
In the other quarter-final tie of the UEFA Champions League on the night. The most successful side in the history of the competition, Real Madrid of Spain hosted Chelsea FC of England who are the current champions of the competition.
There were no African goal scorers in the tie which ended 3-2 in favour of Chelsea, Real Madrid progressed into the next round of the competition with a better goal difference because the first league ended 3-1 in favour of the Spanish side.
The two sides however both have a rich history of African players who have done their colours. While there are no player player of African nationality in Madrid’s current Champions League squad, there were Africans who gave good accounts of themselves on the night on Chelsea’s side. The Blues goalkeeper, Edward Mendy plays for the African Champion – Senegal, while Hakim Ziyech of Morocco also gave his best for the Londoners on the night.