Onyedika’s exit ends Nigerians’ UCL quest
Nigeria’s last representative in this season’s Champions League crashed out on Wednesday night as Raphael Onyedika and Club Brugge suffered a comprehensive 3-0 defeat to Aston Villa at Villa Park, crashing out 6-1 on aggregate at the round of 16 stage.
The Belgian champions’ fate was effectively sealed after just 17 minutes when defender Kyriani Sabbe was shown a straight red card for fouling Marcus Rashford when through on goal, leaving the visitors who were already trailing 3-1 from the first leg with an impossible mountain to climb.
Marco Asensio proved the catalyst for Villa’s victory, with the Spanish international netting twice in the second half after being introduced as a substitute. His first goal came after 50 minutes, lashing home following Leon Bailey’s assist before Ian Maatsen made it 2-0 seven minutes later from Morgan Rogers’ cutback.
Asensio completed his brace on 61 minutes, tapping in from Rashford’s cross to secure a commanding victory for Unai Emery’s side, who will now face Paris Saint-Germain in the quarter-finals.
The result means Onyedika becomes the latest Nigerian to exit Europe’s premier club competition this season, following the earlier eliminations of Ademola Lookman (Atalanta), Victor Boniface and Nathan Tella (Bayer Leverkusen) and Samuel Chukwueze (AC Milan).
Lookman had briefly offered hope for Atalanta in their playoff round defeat to Brugge, scoring within 35 seconds of coming on as a substitute but also missing a crucial penalty as the Italian side lost 3-1 (5-2 on aggregate).
Chukwueze’s Milan were knocked out by Feyenoord despite a 1-1 draw at San Siro, with the Dutch side progressing 2-1 on aggregate, while Boniface and Tella suffered a crushing 5-0 aggregate defeat to Bayern Munich after losing the second leg 2-0 in Leverkusen.
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