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ETEBO ‘RELISHES’ FIRST GOAL IN LA LIGA FOR GETAFE

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Super Eagles’ and Getafe midfielder, Oghenekaro Etebo, is at the moment on cloud nine after his maiden goal for his club in La liga restart that earned the team a draw with Eibar at the Coliseum on Saturday.

The loaned player from English Championship side, Stoke City have been having impressive outing with the club but yet to register any goal despite appreciable assist to his credit took to Instagram on Sunday to celebrate the feat.

“Happy to get my first Getafe goal. Heads up lads,” Etebo posted on Instagram.

The feat, made him the 21st Nigerian to score in the Spanish top-flight, joining an illustrious list that includes the likes of  Ikechukwu Uche, Finidi George, Emmanuel Amuneke, Mutiu Adepoju, Odion Ighalo, Obafemi Martins and Rashidi Yekini.

The 24-year-old, who was part of the Nigeria’s bronze winning football team to the last Olympics in Brazil, according to reports, was in the firld for 69 minutes, produced 41 touches on the ball, and 16 accurate passes (64%) with one shot on and off-target.

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Etebo gave his side the lead after driving in the ball home from Angel Rodriguez’s assist in the 30th minute.

Unfortunately, the lead was short lived as Charles Dias equalised just before the half-time whistle with a header after Sergi Enrich knocked the ball into his path.

The encounter was Etebo’s ninth league appearance for Getafe since his arrival in January. He has played in every game bar against Athletic Bilbao and Valencia, in which he was injured and was unfit to make the match day squad in the game before the last match.

Of the nine outings, six have been starts.

Before last Saturday’s first ever goal for his club in Spain, he had previously played for Las Palmas on loan from Portuguese side Feirense. He was also a January loan signing and made a total of 14 appearances.

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His presence was, however, not enough for the Canary Islands outfit to stay up in La Liga as they finished in 19th place.

Getafe’s draw with Eibar means they were unable to close the gap to fourth-place Sevilla, who drew with Barcelona at the Estadio Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan on Friday night. The gap now stands at four points.

Jose Bordalas’ side is now unbeaten in their last four La Liga matches, drawing three and losing one. Their last victory came in a 1-0 win Mallorca on March 1, a week before the league was suspended because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Their next assignment is an away trip to Real Valladolid on Tuesday.

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Kunle Solaja is the author of landmark books on sports and journalism as well as being a multiple award-winning journalist and editor of long standing. He is easily Nigeria’s foremost soccer diarist and Africa's most capped FIFA World Cup journalist, having attended all FIFA World Cup finals from Italia ’90 to Qatar 2022. He was honoured at the Qatar 2022 World Cup by FIFA and AIPS.

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