By Arinze Ude
Nigeria’s hopes of having their stars face each other in the final of Europa League were squashed on Thursday when Benfica overturned a 1-0 first leg deficit to beat Fenerbahce and set up a date with Chelsea.
Fenerbahce, who are the employers of Super Eagles captain, took the 1-0 advantage to Benfica’s stadium of Light but were outplayed and outclassed by the Portuguese who ran out 3-1 on the night and 3-2 on aggregate.
If the Turkish side (Fenerbahce) had won, it would have been the first time Nigeria would have representatives on both teams playing in the final.
Chelsea booked their place in the final with a 3-1 win (5-2 on aggregate) at Stamford Bridge with Nigerian winger, Victor Moses, scoring one of the goals – his tenth of the season.
The final of the Europa League will be played on Ajax Amsterdam’s home turf, the Amsterdam ArenA in Netherlands on 15th May 2013.
