UCL Round Up: Sanusi scores in Porto win; Plzen's Bassey and Ajax's Bassey in record defeats
Imhonlamhen Eronmhonsele- It was an evening of contrasting fortunes for Nigerian stars on the first night of the MD3 fixtures of the UEFA Champions League group stage.
Zaidu Sanusi: FC Porto 2-0 Bayer Leverkusen
Super Eagles fullback, Zaidu Sanusi headed home the crucial opening goal of the game to power FC Porto to a hard-fought 2-0 triumph over Bayer Leverkusen at the Estádio Do Dragão.
Sanusi started on the bench and watched as the Portuguese champions laboured against the Bundesliga visitors in front of a partisan home crowd.
But a mere six minutes after coming off the substitute bench, Sanusi did well to get on the end of a fantastic team move to score his first goal of the season and hand Porto the crucial lead.
Brazil's Galena made sure of the points four minutes from time as Porto earned their first UCL victory of the campaign.
Raphael Onyedika: Club Brugge 2-0 Atletico Madrid
New Super Eagles star, Raphael Onyedika delivered another excellent midfield display as Club Brugge made it three wins in three games with a convincing 2-0 defeat of Atletico Madrid.
Onyedika received a caution in the encounter, but his brilliance in shielding Brugge's central defenders was more impressive as Atletico failed to score for only the third time in their last 18 games in all competitions.
Club Brugge, with nine points, lead Group B ahead of Porto, Bayer Leverkusen, and Atletico, all with three points.
One more win will see the Blue-Blacks secure a spot in the knockout phase of the Champions League.
Fortune Bassey: Bayern Munich 5-0 Viktoria Plzen
Fortune Bassey played the final 32 minutes for Viktoria Plzen as the Czech Republic champions were outclassed 5-0 by German giants Bayern Munich.
The match was decided inside the opening twenty-one minutes as a Serge Gnabry effort sandwiched by a Sadio Mane brace set Bayern on the path to extending their unbeaten run in the group stage to thirty-one games.
Mane completed his hat-trick shortly after the halftime break and Cameroon's Choupo-Moting made it five for the Bundesliga champions moments after Bassey was introduced in place of Czech forward Chory.
Calvin Bassey: Ajax 1-6 Napoli
The presence of Nigeria international, Calvin Bassey at the heart of the Ajax defence did not stop Napoli from cruising to a crushing 6-1 victory at the Johan Cruijff Arena.
Ghanian attacker Mohamed Kudus opened the scoring for the Dutch champions after just nine minutes.
But despite being without star forward, Victor Osimhen, Napoli replied with three goals before the break and another three after the interval to hand Ajax their heaviest defeat at home in the UEFA Champions League.
It was also the first time Napoli scored more than three goals away from Italy in the competition.
Who was your best performer ? Leave a comment below
