BEVERLY HILLS, April 19, (THEWILL) – On Sunday night, there was cause for celebration for Super Eagles’ talented winger, Samuel Chukwueze, while on duty for fifth-placed La Liga side Villarreal. Back to his brilliant best, Chukwueze produced an inspiring Man-of-the-Match performance to help the Yellow Submarines to a comprehensive 5-1 derby victory against Levante.
In the Valencian Community clash between two teams increasingly pushing for a place in Europe next season, it was Villarreal who gave life to their chances of a UEFA Europa League place when Samuel Chukwueze smashed in his first career double to ensure the win at the Estadio Ciudad de Valencia of Levante.
The hosts may have considered that they had an opportunity to rise to seventh with victory over Unai Emery’s side, who were increasingly prioritising finishing strong in UEL by resting key players, but two own goals, first from Sergio Postigo and then, Ruben Vezo, in both halves added to the Chukwueze’s brace to make it an unforgettable experience for the hosts.
Villarreal have won three of their last four games in the domestic competition and kept their progress on course as Chukwueze found the net just past the hour mark to put some daylight between both sides with the scoreline at 3-1. By the 75th-minute, the young 21-year-old’s double was complete in a solo run that he buried past Aitor Fernández, in goal for Levante.
As Opta, a British sports analytics company that provides data for 30 sports in 70 countries, pointed out, Chukwueze’s double made him the youngest Nigerian to score a brace in La Liga in the 21st century, at 21 years and 331 days old.
This excellent record-setting performance was also recognised by the official La Liga Twitter account. The league celebrated Chukwueze’s contribution with a tweet that read: “That’s a first #LaLigaSantander brace for @chukwueze_8! ” It was accompanied by a picture of Chukwueze celebrating on his knees with a finger from both hands pointed skywards.
Chukwueze’s statistics from the match clearly reveal the contribution he made to the team’s victory and why he was Man of the Match, aside the brace he netted. For the 81 minutes he was on, before being substituted by the Spanish teenager, Yeremi Pino, Chukwueze had notched up 18 touches, completed 81 percent of his passes, won seven duels and five successful dribbles while firing eight shots goalward.
Coach Emery, reputed as Master of the Europa, who is plotting to continue his brilliant performances in that competition that saw him win three years in a row with Sevilla, between 2014 and 2016 but fail with Arsenal in 2019, will be hoping Chukwueze’s form holds firm when they return to Europe to go head-to-head against his former employers at the Emirates in the semi-finals of this year’s competition.
The Yellow Submarines made it 11 wins out of 12 in the UEL on Thursday by seeing off Dinamo Zagreb to set up the intriguing matchup against the Gunners, who made a meal of their quarter-final opponents Slavia Prague with a dominant 4-0 display. The meeting between Villarreal and Arsenal over a two-legged semi-final will be the perfect stage for another Chukwueze record and the Nigerian is hitting the right levels just in time.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
