Europa League Round Up: Adetunji and James on target; Chukwueze stars

VILLARREAL, SPAIN - AUGUST 18: Samuel Chukwueze of Villarreal CF controls the ball during the UEFA Europa Conference League 2022/23 Play-Off First Leg match between Villarreal CF and Hajduk Split at Estadio de la Ceramica on August 18, 2022 in Villarreal, Spain. (Photo by Maria Jose Segovia/DeFodi Images via Getty Images)

The Europa League and Conference League preliminaries are slowly reaching its completion, with the first leg of the final play-off round of fixtures played on Thursday.

As expected Nigerian players were involved in some of the games, and not all of them had good outings with their clubs, while others and their teams will have to make it up next week.

In Spain, Samuel Chukwueze and his Villarreal side, beat Croatian side Hajduk Split 4-2 in the first leg of their Europa Conference League tie. sundThe visitors had Super Eagles defender Chidozie Awaziem feature for them.

Stipe Biuk opened the scoring for Hajduk Split after just two minutes before Jose Luis Morales got the equalizer in the 15th minute. Then Marko Livaja put the ball in his own net to hand Villarreal a 2-1 lead after 19 minutes.

Chukwueze could earlier in the game but he missed the chance in the 34th minute. However, he made up for his miss two minutes later, creating Morales' second goal of the night.

Gerard Moreno then added his goal to hand Villarreal a three goal cushion. Later in the second half, Fossati pulled one back for the visitors, but the Yellow Submarine cruised to a 4-2 win.

Meanwhile, in Macedonia, it was an evening of missed feelings for Sunday Adetunji. The former Abia Warriors striker opened the scoring for his side in the 19th minute, but they still  lost at home to FC Ballkani.

After Adetunji's opener, Albion Rrahmani drew level for the visitors just four minutes later. Meriton Korenica then put the visitors in the lead with a 67th-minute strike that ensured that the Kosovans left with a 2-1 away win.

In Sweden, Leke James was on target for Sivasspor, but his strike was not enough, as his side fell to a 3-1 defeat at Malmo in the first leg of their Europa League qualifiers.

Leke had scored in the 30th minute to draw his side level after Moustafa Zeidan put Malmo ahead in the 18th minute.

However, Anders Christiansen scored for the Swedish champions in the 37th minute to make it 2-1 before Niklas Moisander scored in the 68th minute to ensure that Malmo took a 3-1 advantage from the first leg.

The return leg of the fixtures will be played next week

 

This article was most recently revised and updated 2 weeks ago

All-round lover of the beautiful game. Massive football fan, supported Arsenal for decades for reasons that are unexplainable. One day we will win the Champions League!
JOIN THE CONVERSATION
Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here