Off the mark: Onyekuru opens account for Olympiacos

The Nigerian forward played his second game for The Legends, but that’s all he needed to show his class as the Greek side secured a place in the Europa League group stage 

Nigerian forward Henry Onyekuru scored his first goal for Olympiacos to help The Greek champions secure a 2-2 draw against Slovan Bratislava at the Tehelne Pole in Slovakia.

Henry Onyekuru was gifted his first start in an Olympiacos shirt on Wednesday. It was a comfortable position for the Nigerian as after securing a 3-0 victory in the first leg in Greece, the game was more of a dead rubber.

Slovan Bratislava played about a third of the game with ten men as Vernon de Marco got a straight red card on the 24th minute.

It didn’t take long for Olympiacos to make use of their man advantage as Youssef El-Arabi gave the away side the lead in the 33rd minute after he met a cross from Matthieu Valbuena to head the ball home, beating Adrian Chovan in goal.

However, parity was restored in the 42nd minute as Nigerian striker Ezekiel Henty struck a well-placed shot behind Tomas Vaclik. The first half was pretty even as the possession, and goal attempts for both sides were almost equal.

The Greek Champions started the second half with more purpose, and Onyekuru gained from the early pressure as he met a pass from Valbuena and tucked in neatly. However, their joy was short-lived as Andre Green restored parity for Slovan Bratislava in the 62nd minute.

Olympiacos thwarted all attempts by Slovan Bratislava to score, and they ran out with a 2-2 draw, which secured their ticket to the group stage of the Europa League.