Five Nigerian players are set to feature in the 2019/20 UEFA Champions League group stage following the draw which held in Geneva, Switzerland on Wednesday, October 1, 2020
The prestigious European competition will feature former and current Super Eagles stars Odion Ighalo (Manchester United); Frank Onyeka (Midtjylland); Azubuike Okechukwu (Istanbul Basaksehir); David Okereke and Emmanuel Dennis (Club Brugge) who
are all set to compete in the group stages which will kick off on Tuesday, October 20.
Of the five Nigerian stars, only Ighalo will be looking to make his Champions League debut before the expiration of his loan deal at Manchester United in January next year.
Dennis has five goals in 15 UCL appearances for Club Brugge while his striking partner, Okereke has made eight appearances without any goal for the Belgian side who are in Group F alongside Zenit St Petersburg, Borussia Dortmund and Lazio.
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Onyeka has one goal in six UCL appearances for Midtjylland who are in Group D alongside Liverpool, Ajax, Atalanta, while his midfield compatriot, Okechukwu has made two UCL appearances for Basakeserhir.
Interestingly too, Ighalo will face Okechukwu who will be looking to be fit ahead of the clash between United and Basaksehir in Group H that also have Paris St-Germain and RB Leipzig.
It will be recalled that Dennis scored a brace against Real Madrid in the competition’s group stage last season.
By Sulaiman Alao
7 Comments
CS…are you guys suggesting that Zaidu Sanusi is no longer a Nigerian? Or maybe Porto are playing in CAF champions league? I have always insisted that you guys hardly do your due diligence before rushing to post. Quite disappointing.
Lolz, it might be that Portugal are plotting to convince Zaidu to play for them. Yeye!
problem of copy and paste journalism. This very lineup was posted on twitter yesterday. I pointed out to the poster about Zaidu. They did not do their homework.
In a similar vein, a couple of Nigerian players will be active in the UEFA cup too
Peter Olayinka will compete in group C with Slavia Prague, Aribo and Balogun will be in Group D with Glasgow Rangers, Azeez will turn out in group E with Granada, Teams in group F should get ready for the fury of a certain Victor Osimhen, Ndidi and Iheanacho will be in group G with Leicester, Samu Chuks will lead Villareal out in Group I, Chidera Ejike in Group K and SE new boy Kevin Akpoguma will turn out for Hoffenheim in Group L
Group A: Roma, Young Boys, Cluj, CSKA Sofia
Group B: Arsenal, Rapid Vienna, Molde, Dundalk
Group C: Bayer Leverkusen, Slavia Prague, Hapoel Beer-Sheva, Nice
Group D: Benfica, Standard Liege, Rangers, Lech Poznan
Group E: PSV Eindhoven, PAOK, Granada, Omonoia
Group F: Napoli, Real Sociedad, AZ Alkmaar, Rijeka
Group G: Braga, Leicester, AEK Athens, Zorya Luhansk
Group H: Celtic, Sparta Prague, AC Milan, Lille
Group I: Villarreal, Qarabag, Maccabi Tel-Aviv, Sivasspor
Group J: Tottenham, Ludogorets, LASK, Royal Antwerp
Group K: CSKA Moscow, Dinamo Zagreb, Feyenoord, Wolfsberger
Group L: Gent, Red Star, Hoffenheim, Slovan Liberec.
Little by little, our players are rising up to the basic level where we expect them to compete, in order to be able to face the rest of the world without any feeling of awe or intimidation….but for us to really dream of playing up to Semi finals of the world cup, our players should be competing at the latter stages of these top club competitions.
@Drey, You missed out
Shehu Abdullahi of Omonia Nicosia and
David Nwolokor of Rijeka,
Junior Pius Udeme of Royal Antwerp,
Leke James of Molde,
Bright Enobakhare of AEK Athens,
Anderson Esiti of PAOK,
Atiemwen Iyayi Believe of Dynamo Zagreb,
to mention but a few
Oh…thanks Big D. Many thanks for your additions.
I really wish we can have this many Nigerian players playing in the latter stages of European cup competitions.
🙂