UCL Match Day 3: Nigerian players set for action

At least five Nigerian players will be up for selection at their various teams while a few others will either miss out on injury or for not being registered for the competition by their teams.
Manchester United’s Odion Ighalo has been used sparingly this season, and hasn’t featured in the Champions League so far in the two matches the team has played. He was on the bench as United beat PSG 2-1 away in Paris and also sat on the bench in the 5-0 win over Leipzig.

It has been even tougher for him after the arrival of Uruguayan Edinson Cavani, but he will be hoping to get some play time when the team travels to Turkey to face Istanbul Basaksehir. Though United are coming from a defeat in the league, their form in Europe has been good and they will be favorites for a win here.

Should Ighalo feature in the game against Basaksehir, he will be the only Nigerian out there, as the Turkish champions’ Nigerian player, Okechukwu Azubuike is still out injured. Azubuike is nursing an injury sustained in June and has so far missed matches against Leipzig and PSG. He is however recovering well and recently posted on social media about his progress.

Meanwhile, in Denmark,Frank Onyeka will be gunning for his third straight start in this season’s competition, when his team, Midtjylland hosts Dutch giants Ajax. Onyeka played the full game against Liverpool and 87 minutes against Atalanta in the opening two matches as his team lost both games.

The midfielder was booked against Liverpool and will be hoping for a clean evening when the side from Netherlands tours. It has been a rough ride for the Danish side in the competition so far (see predictions here ahead of the game).

Two other Nigerians at Midtjylland, Jibril Abubakar and David Akintola were not registered in the club’s Champions League squad.

Among the teams participating in this season’s Champions League, Club Brugge of Belgium has the highest number of Nigerian players registered – two. David Okereke and Emmanuel Dennis were both named in the match day squads for Brugge's opening two matches. While Okereke stayed on the bench for both these games, Emmanuel featured in both.

Emmanuel was on for 88 minutes against Lazio as the two sides drew 1-1 while he was on the score sheet as he played 82 minutes in the 2-1 win over Zenit. The downside is that he got booked in both matches.

Of all the Nigerians set for action in Round 3, Emmanuel Dennis is the only one with a goal so far, and it will be remembered he grabbed a brace against Real Madrid last season, taking his tally in that campaign to three. So far he has five Champions League goals, having earlier in 2017/18 scored against Istanbul Basaksehir.

Having started both matches in the group, we are backing him to start again against Borussia Dortmund who have a poor away record and he will fancy his chances of scoring here.

Another side with a Nigerian player is FC Porto, who are set to face French side Olympique Marseille. The Portuguese giants have defender Zaidu Sanusi in their ranks and he has featured in both their opening group matches.

He played for 76 minutes as the team lost 3-1 to Manchester City then was up the full game as he helped his side to a 2-0 win over Olympiakos. He has featured in six of Porto’s eight matches this season and is a likely starter here with Porto backed to secure a second win in the group.