The Nigeria international has found his top gear for his Belgian club just in time before the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations kicks off
Royale Antwerp winger Chidera Ejuke and AC Milan star Samuel Chukwueze have been named among the best dribblers of the UEFA Champions League matchday five fixtures, Soccernet.ng reports.
Ejuke featured for only 45 minutes as Antwerp suffered their fifth straight loss in the group stage of the competition following a narrow 1-0 defeat to Shakhtar Donetsk at the Volksparkstadion in Hamburg.
But it was enough time for the Super Eagles playmaker to ramp up nine dribbles – more than all but two of the players who played in the Champions League on matchday five.
Only Feyenoord’s Yankuba Miteh (14) and Barcelona’s Joao Cancelo (10) dribbled past their opponents more times than Ejuke.
Ejuke outshone the Paris Saint-Germain duo of Ousmane Dembele and Kylian Mbappe, as well as FC Copenhagen’s Elias Achouri, who completed eight successful dribbles each.
That is as much as Manchester City’s Jack Grealish, PSV’s Johan Bakayoko, and Manchester United’s Antony each managed for the respective clubs.
Ejuke will be pleased with his performances in recent weeks for Antwerp.
After struggling to gain minutes on the pitch in his first few minutes at the club, Ejuke has scored two goals in his last four games for Antwerp, including the first goal in the 5-2 comeback win over Sporting Charleroi in the Belgian Cup in midweek.
The 25-year-old winger will look to continue his best form and hope it gets the attention of the national team handlers ahead of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations tournament.
Ejuke was a member of the Super Eagles squad for the 2021 AFCON, where Nigeria crashed in the first knockout round.
This post was last modified on December 9, 2023 10:33 am