Nigerian International Samuel Chukwueze impressed in Russia on Thursday as Villarreal ran out 3 – 1 winner against Zenit St Petersburg in the UEFA Europa League round of 16 fixture.
The youngster who failed to make the call-up list of Super Eagles coach Gernot Rohr ahead of the Seychelles and Egypt games was called up to show his quality against the Russian side at the Gazprom Arena in a must-win fixture.
Former Leicester City man Vincente Iborra opened the scoring for the away side in the 33rd minute of the game while the home team provided a quick reply in the 35th minute through Sardar Azmoun.
The Spanish side pushed for the maximum points in the second half with Gerard Moreno giving the visiting side the lead in the 64th minute before Manu Molanes ensured that the Yellow Submariners will be playing more comfortably at home.
The tricky Nigerian winger who has had lesser playing time in the La Liga in the past few games was handed a starting berth and was on for the entire duration of the game. Reacting to the win, Chukwueze took to his Twitter handle to appreciate his teammates. “@VillarrealCF ..@EuropaLeague great away win”
Meanwhile, head coach of the team Javi Calleja has tasked the players to extend their Europa League form to the La Liga Santander. “Now we need to rest and think about the La Liga once more. This match should be an example for us. We need to forget the pressure and goo into the matches as we do in Europe
Now we are playing against Levante and we are going into the match trying to get out of the bottom three.”
