Osimhen Sets Three Champions League Record Against Ajax
Super Eagles forward Victor Osimhen scored a sensational hat-trick against Ajax to become the second Nigerian to score a hat-trick in the UEFA Champions League.
Osimhen continued his impressive form in the competition with a match-winning performance to lead Galatasaray to a 3-0 win over Ajax at the Johan Cruijff Arena in Amsterdam.
He opened the scoring with a well-placed header in the 59th minute before scoring two penalties to complete his hat-trick.
The hat-trick etched his name in the history books for Nigeria and Galatasaray.
He became the second Nigerian player to score a hat-trick in the history of the competition after Yakubu Aiyegbeni achieved the feat to lead Maccabi Haifa to a 3–0 win over Olympiacos in 2002.
He is also the first Galatasaray player to achieve the feat in the competition since Burak Yilmaz’s hat-trick against Cluj in 2012.
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Osimhen has also overtaken Obafemi Martins as Nigeria’s top scorer in European competitions with 25 goals, two ahead of the former Inter Milan forward.
He also became the first Galatasaray player to score a brace in two consecutive games and the first player to win the MVP award in three consecutive Champions League matches for the Turkish club.
The 26-year-old is the top scorer in the league phase of the Champions League this season with six goals, one goal ahead of Harry Kane, Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappe.
He has now scored 15 Champions League goals in his career, while also on a scoring run of eight consecutive matches for Galatasaray in European competitions.
Osimhen revealed that the target for Galatasaray is to match up with European giants.
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He said, “We have a goal. We know what we want, and we know the magnitude of performance you need in the Champions League.
“We want to match up with the elite. It won’t be easy, but we’ll go step by step. We have the individual quality to do damage to every team.”
Osimhen will be hoping to continue his rich run of form when Galatasaray take on Kocaelispor on Sunday in the Turkish Super League.
