Ivorians Franck Kessié and Abakar Sylla scored respectively for FC Barcelona and Club Brugge in the Champions League on September 7, 2022. Cameroonian André-Frank Zambo Anguissa also, with Naples.
GROUP A
Naples (Italy) – Liverpool (England) 4-1
Nigerian Victor Osimhen and Cameroonian André-Frank Zambo Anguissa made Liverpool suffer from a transparent Mohamed Salah in Italy. Osimhen fired on the Reds’ left post after 45 seconds, caused a penalty (which he then missed), served his partners on a plateau. The Marc-Vivien Foé 2020 Prize, on the other hand, had to leave his teammates in the 41st minute, hit in the adductors. Zambo-Anguissa, for his part, scored, thanks to a one-two and a cross shot. His compatriot, Joël Matip entered the game for Liverpool and thus sank with the English ship.
Ajax Amsterdam (Netherlands) – Glasgow Rangers (Scotland) 4-0
The Ajax of the Nigerian defender Calvin Bassey and especially the young Ghanaian midfielder Mohammed Kudus feasted. Kudus also scored with a powerful cross shot from the left. He was replaced at the very end of the game by Dutch-Ghanaian striker Brian Brobbey.
GROUP B
Club Brugge (Belgium) – Bayer Leverkusen (Germany) 1-0
Magic evening for the 19-year-old Ivorian Abakar Sylla, elected man of the match after his decisive header against Bayer. A meeting which will therefore have been more to the advantage of the Africans of the Belgian club (the Ghanaians Denis Odoi and Kamal Sowah, as well as the Nigerian Raphael Onyedika) than those of the German club (the Dutch-Ghanaian Jeremie Frimpong and the Ivorian Odilon Kossounou).
Atletico Madrid (Spain) – FC Porto (Portugal) 2-1
Mozambican side Reinlido’s Atletico beat Nigerian defender Zaidu’s FC Porto to the wire.
GROUP C
FC Barcelona (Spain) – Viktoria Plzen (Czech Republic) 5-1
First match in the Champions League with FC Barcelona and first achievement for Ivorian Franck Kessié, the midfielder opening the scoring for Barça with a whim. Note that the Nigerian Fortune Bassey came into play for Plzen.
Inter Milan (Italy) – Bayern Munich (Germany) 0-2
If he made some high-class parades, the Cameroonian goalkeeper of Inter Milan André Onana was however taken in by a dribble from the German Leroy Sané. The Senegalese Sadio Mané, he did not score for Bayern, also stumbling on Onana. But he offered several caviars to his partners.
GROUP D
Tottenham (England) – Olympique de Marseille (France) 2-0
The exclusion of Congolese defender Chancel Mbemba, excellent before his tackle in the position of last defender on Heung-min Son, was the turning point of the match. The Ivorian defender Eric Bailly, also applied before that, could not prevent the Brazilian Richarlison from scoring a double header. For his part, the Portuguese side of Cape Verdean origin Nuno Mendes was just as active as he was drafty for OM. Midfielders Amine Harit (Morocco) and Pape Gueye (Senegal), who came into play, did not change anything in the matter. Côte Spurs, the Malian Yves Bissouma and the Anglo-Congolese Japhet Tanganga have made their appearances.
Eintracht Frankfurt (Germany) – Sporting Portugal (Portugal) 0-3
The Franco-Cameroonians Evan N’Dicka and Junior Dina Ebimbe as well as the Franco-Congolese Randal Kolo Muani and the Germano-Ghanaian Ansgar Knauff took a slap defensively for the first Champions League match in the history of the German club.