18-year-old George Ilenikhena scores against Barcelona in UCL for the second consecutive season
BY Jonathan Ledger
George Ilenikhena scored the winner as Monaco defeated ten-man Barcelona 2-1 in their UEFA Champions League encounter in France on Thursday night.
It was de-ja-vu for Barcelona as 18-year-old wonderkid Ilenikhena struck again in similar fashion to his winner for Antwerp’s 3-2 victory over the Blaugrana last season.
Barcelona had Eric Garcia sent off in the tenth minute, and their host took advantage by taking the lead before Lamine Yammal restored parity with his first-ever UCL goal.
The poised situation opened the center stage for Ilenikhena to score twelve minutes after coming onto the pitch. He beat the offside trap to run onto a through ball before his shot sailed beyond Marc-Andre ter Stegen, who got a hand to it.
The goal makes Ilenikhena Monaco’s youngest UCL goalscorer at 18 years and 34 days, breaking the record set by Kylian Mbappe in 2017.
The former Antwerp striker’s goal also helped Monaco win their first UCL in 15 matches. It was also Monaco’s first-ever win over Barcelona.
Victory also ended seven consecutive defeats for Monaco at their Stade Louis II stadium.
In other matches of the night involving Nigerian players, Victor Boniface put on a good display as his Bayer Leverkusen team defeated Feyenoord 4-0 in Holland while Ademola Lookman and Atalanta could not break down Arsenal’s defence as the match ended goalless.
However, Peter Olayinka, Nigerian forward, played 72 minutes but could not save Red Star Belgrade from a 2-1 loss at home to Benfica.
RESULTS
Feyenoord 0-4 Bayer Leverkusen
Red Star Belgrade 1-2 Benfica
Atalanta 0-0 Arsenal
AS Monaco 2-1 Barcelona
Atletico Madrid 2-1 Leipzig
Brest 2-1 Sturm Graz
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