How Nigerian Players Fared In The Champions League

By Arinze Ude. Dynamo Kiev of Ukraine boasts a quartet of Nigerian players: Yusuf Ayila, Brown Ideye, Haruna Lukman and Taye Taiwo. They played away to Paris Saint Germain on Tuesday night and were annihilated by the French side who went 3 goals up in the first half through Zlatan Ibrahmiovic, Thiago Silva, Alex and Javier Pastore. Miguel Veloso scored a consolation for the Ukrainian outfit. John Mikel Obi and Victor Moses were in the Chelsea squad for the visit of Juventus at Stamford Bridge. Chelsea went two goals up in the first half through 21 year old Brazilian ace, Oscar. Arturo Vidal pulled one back for The Old Lady before halftime. Mikel Obi’s error allowed Andrea Pirlo to play a through ball to Fabio Quagliarella who equalised through the legs of Petr Cech in Chelsea goal. Elderson Echejile’s club, Sporting Braga of Portugal were stunned by Romanian club, CFR Cluj-Napoca at home via a Bastos brace. John Chukwudi Utaka and Montpellier were unlucky to lose to Arsenal at home. They created most of the chances and went ahead through Belhanda, who was hacked down by Vermaelen in the penalty, he picked himself up to score the resulting penalty. Lukas Podolski and Gervinho scored in quick succession to win the match for Arsenal. Emmanuel Emenike’s Spartak Moscow almost pulled out the shock of the first round robin games. They conceeded the opening goal of the game through Cristian Tello, only for Daniel Alves to push the ball into his own het equalising for the Russians. Romulo put them ahead in the second half, only for Lionel Messi to do what he does best, producing a meteoric display to ensure win for the Catalan side. Efe Ambrose’s new club, Celtic FC of Scotland drew stalemate with Portugese side, Benfica at Parkhead on Wednesday. Chinedu Obasi Ogbuke’s club, Schalke FC of Germany won 2-1 at Olympiakos. Benedickt Howedes and Jan Klaas Huntelaar and Algerian, Abdoun, scored for Schalke and Olympiakos respectively.