The final of the 2024 Europa League could see three Nigerians chasing glory at the Aviva Stadium, Dublin in Ireland come May 22.
On Thursday (today), Victor Boniface and Nathan Tella will be in action when high-flying German champions Bayer Leverkusen host Roma at BayArena for the second leg of the semi-finals of the Europa League.
For the second season running the two clubs are meeting in the semi-finals, but events in the first leg make the new German champions favourites to overturn last year’s result.
Leverkusen took a giant stride towards meeting either Marseille or Atalanta in the final by running out 2-0 winners at Stadio Olimpico.
With one foot in the Europa League final, Leverkusen will hope to preserve their 48-game unbeaten runs and set a new record for the longest unbeaten streak.
Benfica’s longstanding European record – set between December 1963 and February 1965 – has now been matched, so keeping Roma at bay would cement their place in history.
In the other semi-finals game, Lookman will hope to guide Atalanta to their first-ever Europa League title and probably their first silverware in 61 years but first have to overcome French giants Marseille hurdle today at home.
Lookman is part of the side that have extended their unbeaten away run in Europe to 11 matches – including last month’s superb 3-0 win over Liverpool at Anfield.
On Thursday, they return to home turf, where they have won 11 of their last 14 matches and a win will see them book a place in the final against Boniface and Tella’s Leverkusen.
Any result other than defeat for both Leverkusen and Atalanta means there will be three Nigerians vying for honours in the final later this month, meaning at least a Nigerian is bound to be crowned champion.
In recent times, Nigerians have enjoyed relative success in Europe’s second-tier league, with Samuel Chukwueze the last Nigerian to win the tournament in 2021. The AC Milan winger was with then with Villarreal, who defeated Manchester United 11-10 on penalties following a 1-1 draw during regulation and extra time.
Spartak Moscow forward Victor Moses holds the record for only N igerian who has won the competition twice in 2012/13 and 2018/19 with Chelsea, the latter triumph a 4-1 win at the expense of eternal rivals Arsenal, whose only goal was courtesy fellow Nigerian Alex Iwobi.
Mikel Obi (Chelsea) also won it once in the 2012/13 season.
Meanwhile, in 2022 Joe Aribo and Calvin Bassey were runners-up following Glasgow Rangers’ defeat to Eintracht Frankfurt on penalties in Seville, Spain.
