Former England youth international, Chuba Akpom has hailed PAOK’s performance against Ajax after the Dutch giants were held to a thrilling 2-2 draw in Greece in the first leg of their Champions League qualification fixture on Tuesday evening.
Akpom, an Arsenal academy graduate, played all ninety minutes and netted a first half strike to cancel out a Hakim Ziyech opener to help the Greek avoid defeat at home in the qualifying rounds of the Champions League.
The 23-year-old forward’s 32nd-minute strike in the four-goal thriller gave PAOK the momentum which translated to a second goal in the 39th minute but the Greek side could not hold on for the win as Klaas Jan Huntelaar rescued a point for the visitors in the second half.
Despite the disappointment of having to throw away the lead in the second half, Chuba Akpom has chosen to see only positives lessons to take from the encounter as focus shifts to the second leg clash billed to take place in the Netherlands next week Tuesday.
Akpom, who pledged his allegiance to Nigeria earlier this year, after the match took to his instagram account to commend his team-mates.
“Back at Toumba. Good team performance. Many positives to take out of this game. Full focus on the next,” he wrote.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B024h5ughzv/
Nigeria’s Odion Ighalo, top scorer at the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations, has announced his retirement from the Super Eagles and should Chuba Akpom continue his impressive goalscoring his first Super Eagles call up may not be too far away.