Super Eagles wide forward Samuel Chukwueze was at his brilliant best as Villarreal sealed a ticket to the UEL semifinal on Thursday.
Chukwueze put in a man of the match performance to help the Yellow Submarines defeat Croatian side, Dinamo Zagreb 2-1 on the night for a 3-1 aggregate win.
The young Super Eagles winger completed more dribbles (6), hit the woodwork twice, won the most duels (9) and created three chances for his teammates, one of which was the assist for the opening goal scored by Paco Alcacer.
The home side went into the second leg match with a 1-0 lead on aggregate following their narrow win in Croatia a week ago.
If there were any doubts that Chukwueze and his team were easily the better side over both legs, they were erased when Villarreal netted two goals in seven minutes to put the game to bed with the Nigerian at the thick of proceedings at the Estadio de la Cerámica.
Despite a late fight back from the visitors inspired by left forward Mislav Orsic, Chukwueze and his teammates held on for the win which saw Villarreal through to the semifinals for the first time since the 2015/16 season.
They take on Arsenal, who overcame a disappointing first leg result at the Emirates stadium in London in the first leg to thrash Slavia Prague 0-4 in farway Prague.
The Czech side were complete with their Nigerian sir, Olayinka Peter who was helpless as his club suffered premium humiliation from the English side.
Villarreal coach, Unai Emery had this to say about the Semifinal clash against his former employers, Arsenal;
“Everyone here recalls that we had a semi-final against Arsenal in the Champions League and three more in the Europa League. We’ve achieved this rematch by taking things a match at a time, with the belief that we’re building something beautiful.”
A wonderful performance from over own Chukwueze, who deserved a goal at least but for the woodwork that denied him twice.
Nonetheless, he lives to fight another day and will be happy with his contribution for the Yellow Submarines tonight.
Up next for him and the rest of the Villarreal team, they will return to LaLiga to continue their fight for a place in Europe next season with key games against Levante, Alavés , and Barcelona on the horizon.