After injury scare on Super Eagles duty, Chukwueze opens season account against Okoye's Udinese

Samuel Chukwueze opened his goalscoring account for the 2024-2025 season as AC Milan defeated Maduka Okoye's Udinese 1-0 in a Serie A clash at Stadio Giuseppe Meazza on Saturday evening.

Chukwueze shook off an injury scare to be available for selection against the Bianconeri.

The former Villarreal dazzler was one of the standout performers for the Super Eagles after he came off the bench to replace Frank Onyeka just past the hour mark, but suffered an injury in the closing minutes of the Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Libya at the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium on Friday, October 11.

Thirteen minutes into the contest between AC Milan and Udinese, Chukwueze broke the deadlock as he finished brilliantly with a low curling strike into the far corner after he was set up by Christian Pulisic.

Five minutes after Chukwueze's opener, Álvaro Morata had a chance to double the advantage but his header was saved by Super Eagles goalkeeper Okoye.

The Rossoneri played a man short for the last one hour after Tijjani Reijnders was dismissed for a reckless challenge on Sandi Lovric.

Nine minutes after the restart, former Super Eagles invitee Kingsley Ehizibue could not get his header on target at the back post after he was picked out by Oier Zarraga.

In the 75th minute, Okoye pulled off a brilliant double save, first stopping a shot from Pulisic and then denying Tammy Abraham.

Fikayo Tomori was brought on to protect the lead in the 88th minute, with Chukwueze making way for the one-time Nigerian Federation target. 

In the fifth minute of stoppage time,  Christian Kabasele thought he had equalized when he steered a header into the back of the net but the goal was disallowed following a VAR review.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel

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