Nigeria’s national U23 stars David Okereke and Dennis Bonaventure were in action for Belgian side Club Brugge who defeated Dynamo Kyiv 1-0 in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League (UCL) third qualifying round tie on Tuesday.
Okereke who joined the club from Italian Serie B side Spenzia this summer started and completed the entire duration of the game, his first ever Champions League appearance while Bonaventure was replaced in the 63rd minute with Siebe Schrijvers.
The only goal of the game came in the 37th minute from the penalty spot when Hans Vanaken converted after Mats Rits was fouled inside the box. Brugge thus take the slender lead into the second leg coming up next week in Kiev, Ukraine.
In another Champions League game decided on Tuesday, former Arsenal starlet and Nigeria hopeful Chuba Akpom scored the first goal for Greek club PAOK Salonika in their 2-2 draw with last season’s semi-finalists Ajax in Greece.
Hakim Ziyech gave Ajax a 10th minute lead in the game but Akpom levelled in the 32nd minute before PAOK took a 2-1 lead into the break courtesy of Leo Matos’ strike.
Ajax however ensured they take two away goals into next week’s second leg after 35-year old forward Klaas-Jan Huntelaar equalised in the 57th minute, with no further goals in the contest.
Another Nigerian Anderson Esiti played full ninety minutes of the PAOK/Ajax game in the colours of PAOK.
Image: PhotoNews
