Ibekimi Oriamaja Reports
The Super Eagles three of Victor Osimhen, Calvin Bassey, and Zaidu Sanusi will learn their opponents for the 2022–2023 UEFA Champions League season on Thursday (today).
Only three Nigerian internationals (Innocent Bonke, Samuel Chukwueze, and Sanusi) competed in the competition the previous year.
This year’s competition draw will take place in Istanbul, which will also play home to the final in June 2023 at the Ataturk Olympic Stadium.
The trio are the only Eagles stars taking part in the coveted club championship this year with their various European sides.
However, they will be hoping to leave their mark on the competition’s annals, much like the trio of Nwankwo Kanu, Finidi George, and Mikel Obi who previously won the coveted title.
While Bassey is getting ready to compete for the first time with Ajax, Osimhen and Sanusi will be making their second appearance in the league.
Samson Tijani and Bryan Okoh of RB Salzburg and Fortune Bassey of Viktoria Plzen are two more Nigerians who will participate in the competition’s group round.
This season, the team of Okoh and Bassey will compete for the first time.
After spending time on loan at Ferencvaros, Bassey returned to Viktoria Plzen in August, and he will be looking to make an impact in the league.
Okoh, a 19-year-old player for Switzerland’s youth teams, was born in Houston, Texas, to a Nigerian father and a Congolese mother. He still qualifies to play for four nations (USA, Nigeria, Congo and Switzerland).
After making his competition debut against Bayern in his team’s 7-1 defeat in March, Tijani will be looking forward to his second outing this season.
Four pots will be created from the participating clubs in the Champions League group stage, with one club from each pot making up a group.
Real Madrid, Eintracht Frankfurt, Manchester City, PSG, AC Milan, and Bayern Munich are seeded in Pot 1 for the competition along with Ajax and Porto, while Napoli is seeded in Pot 3 along with Borussia Dortmund, Salzburg, Shakhtar Donetsk, Inter, Napoli, Sporting CP, and Bayer Leverkusen.
Porto and Napoli have each won the UCL twice, while Ajax has won the competition four times.
The former Eagles striker explained why there are less Nigerian athletes in the competition by claiming that the majority of them don’t fit into the strategies or plans of these elite European coaches.
The top coaches of major teams won’t pursue you if you don’t possess the exact skills they are looking for. You are not necessarily bad, but you are not quite at the level he wants.
Emmanuel Amuneke, a former Eagles assistant coach, added, “It’s because we want a quick cure, but it’s unfortunate that’s where we find ourselves.
“Things will improve, just like they did when there were more competitors in the events, but we must act responsibly to ensure that the proper actions are taken at the appropriate times because that is really essential.
“I think the three players competing this season will do well and exhibit their class,” the author said.
On September 6 and 7, the initial group stage matches will take place, with the second round of games scheduled for the following week.
Since players must be released to their national sides by November 13 in order to be ready for the World Cup, which begins on November 20, this year’s group stage will take place in a compressed eight-week window rather than the customary 12-week window.
