The Nigeria international has found his best gear at the Belgian club in time for the start of the 2023 African Cup of Nations.
Royal Antwerp winger Chidera Ijuke and AC Milan star Samuel Chukwueze have been named the best dribblers for Round 5 of the UEFA Champions League, Soccernet.ng reports.
Izyuk played just 45 minutes as Antwerp suffered a narrow 1-0 defeat to Shakhtar Donetsk at the Volksparkstadion in Hamburg, making it their fifth consecutive defeat in the group stage.
However, the Super Eagles playmaker had enough time to make nine dribbles. This was more than all but two of his players who appeared in his League of ChampionsRound 5.
Only Feyenoord’s Jankuba Mite (14) and Barcelona’s Joao Cancelo (10) have dribbled past opponents more often than Ejuk.
Ijuku surpassed Paris Saint-Germain’s Ousmane Dembele and Kylian Mbappé, who each achieved eight successful dribbles, and FC Copenhagen’s Elias Acholi.
AC Milan’s Chukwueze scored his team’s repechage goal as Borussia Dortmund lost 3-1 at home. He made seven successful dribbles in the game.
This is the same amount of time Manchester City’s Jack Grealish, PSV’s Johan Bakayoko and Manchester United’s Anthony all managed at their respective clubs.
Ijuk will be happy with his performance in Antwerp in recent weeks.
CHIDI! 🎯 #RAFC #ANTCHA #CrokyCup 🏆
— Royal Antwerp FC (@official_rafc) December 6, 2023
Although he struggled to earn playing time on the pitch in his first minutes after joining the club, Ejuk has scored two goals in his last four games for Antwerp, including at the Belgian Stadium. He also scored the opening goal in a 5-2 come-from-behind victory over Sporting Charleroi. Cup during the week.
The 25-year-old winger is aiming to maintain his best form and hopes to attract the attention of national team officials ahead of the 2023 African Cup of Nations.
Ijukwu was a member of the Super Eagles squad at AFCON 2021, where Nigeria were eliminated in the first knockout round.
