The first of the second round of group matches in this season’s UEFA Champions League were played on Tuesday with African players getting in on the act for their clubs.
In England, Egyptian forward Mohamed Salah rounded off the scoring as six-time winners Liverpool defeated FC Midtjylland 2-0 at Anfield. Salah, a second-half substitute, won a penalty in injury time and converted the spot-kick as Liverpool made it two wins out of two. Earlier on, Diogo Jota scored Liverpool’s 10,000th goal in history to give them the lead.
In Italy, Burkina Faso striker Lassina Traore scored his sixth goal in two games as Ajax Amsterdam was held to a 2-2 draw by Atalanta. 19-year-old Dusan Tadic put the Dutch side 2-0 up in the first half but a double from Duvan Zapata rescued a point for the hosts. Traore had netted five goals over the weekend as Ajax recorded a historic 13-0 win against VVV Venlo.
Moroccan defender Achraf Hakimi played a full 90 minutes as Inter Milan was held to a goalless draw by Shakhtar Donetsk in Ukraine. It was his first full game after returning two negative tests for coronavirus last week. He missed last week’s 2-2 draw against Borussia Moenchengladbach after testing positive hours before kick-off.
Mali striker Moussa Marega set up a goal for Sergio Oliveira late in the second half as Porto defeated Olympiacos 2-0 in Portugal. The win saw the Portuguese side claim its first win in this season’s competition to sit in second behind Manchester City.
More African players will be in action later on Wednesday for the conclusion of the second round of matches before the Europa League takes centre stage on Thursday.
