3 hours Ago By Abimbola Falana
Tuesday’s UEFA Champions League game at San Siro saw a rollercoaster of emotions for Nigeria’s Super Eagles duo, Samuel Chukwueze of AC Milan and Raphael Onyedika of Club Brugge. Raphael Onyedika started the match for Club Brugge, but his night took a dramatic turn when he was shown a straight red card just 40 minutes into the game. The incident occurred when Onyedika attempted to challenge AC Milan’s Tijjani Reijnders for possession, resulting in both players sustaining injuries.
Referee Felix Zwayer, after consulting the Video Assistant Referee (VAR), deemed Onyedika’s tackle dangerous and sent him off, leaving Brugge to play the rest of the match with only ten men. At that point, Brugge was already trailing by one goal, but they managed to equalize just six minutes into the second half, despite being a man down. Their efforts to stay in the game were short-lived, as AC Milan quickly responded with two more goals, one of which came after Samuel Chukwueze entered the match in the 60th minute.
Chukwueze, who replaced Rafael Leão, made an instant impact. Just ten minutes after stepping onto the field, he set up Reijnders for Milan’s third goal, securing a comfortable 3-1 victory for the Italian side. This marked Milan’s first win in the new Champions League group phase format after earlier losses to Liverpool and Bayer Leverkusen.
For Onyedika, the match ended in disappointment. It was his second red card of the 2024-2025 season, the first having occurred during Brugge’s 1-1 draw against Royale Union Saint-Gilloise. Concerns about his discipline on the field are growing as he continues to play a crucial role for Brugge in their Champions League campaign.
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