February 19, (THEWILL) — Nigerian forwards, Ademola Lookman and Raphael Onyedika, were both on the scoresheet in a thrilling 3-3 draw between Club Brugge and Atletico Madrid in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League play-off tie at Jan Breydelstadion on Tuesday night.
Atletico Madrid took the lead early when referee Joaquin Seys penalised Brugge for handball inside the penalty area. Julian Alvarez converted from the spot in the eighth minute, and Jan Oblak compounded Brugge’s frustration by twice denying Tresoldi and Onyedika before the break. Lookman then extended the lead, tapping home from close range after Antoine Griezmann flicked on a corner delivery.
Brugge transformed the contest within minutes of the restart. Onyedika forced the ball over the line after Oblak had initially kept out a Tresoldi effort, then Tresoldi drew the hosts level on the hour mark, turning Mamadou Diakhon’s low delivery past the Atletico goalkeeper to make it 2-2.
Atletico refused to relent. Alexander Sorloth struck the woodwork before Joel Ordonez inadvertently turned Marcos Llorente’s cross into his own net in the 79th minute, putting the Spanish side back in front and seemingly on course for a narrow advantage ahead of the return fixture.
However, Brugge had the final word. Christos Tzolis, played in by Onyedika, directed the ball into the bottom-left corner in the 89th minute to level the tie at 3-3, leaving the aggregate score finely balanced before the second leg next week.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
