Chelsea 4 Arsenal 1: Iwobi Becomes First Nigerian To Score In Final Of European Club Competition

Published: May 29, 2019

Arsenal missed the chance to qualify for next season's Champions League after they were thrashed 4-1 by London neighbors Chelsea in the final of the Europa League at the Baku Olympic Stadium on Wednesday evening.

Of the three Nigerian players that traveled with the Gunners first team to Azerbaijan, only Super Eagles star Alex Iwobi was afforded game-time when he came off the bench in the 66th minute.

Fellow Hale End Academy product Bukayo Saka was a non-playing substitute while Xavier Amaechi was the only Arsenal player that failed to make the match day 23.

Ironically, Giroud, who had played for Arsenal from 2012 to 2018, gave Chelsea the lead with a header three minutes after the restart, before goals from Pedro Rodríguez and Eden Hazard in the 60th and 65th minute respectively put Chelsea in cruise control.

Three minutes after his introduction, Iwobi lashed in a tremendous volley from outside the area to make it 3-1 and momentarily gave Arsenal a flicker of hope.

The 23-year-old is the first Nigerian player to score in the final of a European club competition including the European Cup, UEFA Champions League, UEFA Cup, UEFA Europa League and UEFA Cup Winners' Cup.

Any hopes of a comeback ended when Hazard scored in the 72nd minute to give The Blues a 4-1 advantage.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel

Photo Credit : uefa.com