There was no joy for two Nigerian internationals on Tuesday night as their clubs failed to secure positive results in the continent’s premier club competition
Super Eagles star Abdullahi Shehu featured in every single minute, but his best efforts failed to help Omonia Nicosia avoid a 2-0 defeat away to Dinamo Zagreb in the qualifying rounds of the UEFA Champions League.
Deployed in his preferred defensive midfield role, Shehu was instrumental to the Cypriot champions keeping a clean sheet in the first half of the encounter inside the magnificent Stadion Maksimir in Zagreb.
But Dinamo Zagreb’s quality eventually showed as second-half strikes from midfielders Lovros Majer and Kristijan Jakic powered the Croatian kings to a fine first-leg win.
Out-of-favour Super Eagles midfield dynamo Onazi Ogenyi suffered a similar fate in Budapest as his Zalgiris Vilnius side fell to a 2-0 away defeat to Ferencvaros.
Onazi, whose first goal in ages helped the Lithuanian champions edge Linfield 5-1 on aggregate in the previous UCL qualifying rounds, saw action for 84 minutes.
But the damage had already been done by the time the 28-year-old left the field of the Groupama Aréna as first-half goals from Myrto Uzuni and Tokmac Nguen had handed the victory to the home side.
The second leg of both encounters will be played next week.
This post was last modified on July 21, 2021 7:52 am