Akinlabi Makes Nigerian History With Real Madrid; Ndidi Impresses In Foxes’ Thrilling Win

Real Madrid were held to a goalless draw by Real Sociedad inside the Reale Seguros Stadium at Anoeta on Sunday evening, with a player of Nigerian descent warming himself into the record books.

With the match devoid of any significant creativity in the final third, Los Blancos boss Zinedine Zidane sent on young winger Marvin Akinlabi Park in place of Rodrygo to add more pace and tricky down the visitors’ right flank.

Spanish youth international, Akinlabi, thus became the first Nigeria-eligible player in history to make a first-team appearance for Real Madrid.

The Los Blancos academy winger made his non-competitive debut in a pre-season friendly against Getafe earlier this week and has been training regularly with the first team.

The 20-year-old attacker has gone a step further than the legendary Nigerian midfielder Mutiu Adepoju who excelled for Madrid Castilla but never turned out for the first team before making a fantastic career in La Liga with Racing Santander.

Born in Spain to a Nigerian father and a Korean mother, Akinlabi has already represented his country of birth at the youth level. However, he is still eligible to play for the Super Eagles.

Meanwhile, in the English Premier League, Wilfred Ndidi continued in his new role as a centre-back in Leicester City’s 4-2 lashing of Burnley at the King Power Stadium.

Ndidi has featured in both games played by the Foxes this term while compatriot Kelechi Iheanacho was yet again an unused substitute.

Peter Oghenekaro Etebo made his Super Lig debut for Galatasaray, featuring in the last 18 minutes as Fatih Terim’s side secured an impressive 2-0 victory at champions Istanbul Basaksehir.

The on-loan Stoke City star spent the second half of last season at Getafe, but he will hope his stay in Turkey ends better than Spain.