Victor Osimhen, forward for Galatasaray and the Super Eagles, scored a hat-trick against Ajax to record multiple milestones in the UEFA Champions League.
The match, played at the Johan Cruijff Arena in Amsterdam, ended 3-0 in favour of Galatasaray. Osimhen opened the scoring in the 59th minute with a header and later converted two penalties to complete his treble.
With this performance, Osimhen became the second Nigerian to score a hat-trick in the competition, following Yakubu Aiyegbeni’s 2002 feat for Maccabi Haifa. He is also the first Galatasaray player to achieve a Champions League hat-trick since Burak Yilmaz in 2012.
Osimhen has now surpassed Obafemi Martins as Nigeria’s top scorer in European competitions, reaching 25 goals. Additionally, he became the first Galatasaray player to score a brace in two consecutive European games and to earn the club’s MVP award in three successive Champions League matches.
Commenting on the team’s objectives, Osimhen 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.”
The 26-year-old is currently the top scorer in the group stage of this season’s competition with six goals, one ahead of Harry Kane, Erling Haaland, and Kylian Mbappe. He has now accumulated 15 Champions League goals in his career and is on an eight-match scoring run for Galatasaray in European fixtures.
Osimhen is expected to maintain his form when Galatasaray face Kocaelispor in the Turkish Super League on Sunday.
Man City win, Inter stay perfect, Barca held
Manchester City eased to a 4-1 win over Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday to stay unbeaten in the Champions League and Inter Milan kept up their perfect start, while Barcelona salvaged a point at Club Brugge.
Phil Foden twice curled in from outside the area and Erling Haaland slammed home his fifth goal of the competition as City brushed Dortmund aside at the Etihad.
Waldemar Anton pulled one back for Dortmund before Rayan Cherki netted City’s fourth in stoppage time.
Pep Guardiola’s side have 10 points from four matches and sit fourth in the table at the halfway stage of the league phase.
“We are in a good position, maybe with a win against Leverkusen and a few more we can be in the position to finish in the first eight,” Guardiola told TNT Sports, as he lauded Foden’s sparkling display.
“I would say he is already there (back to his best form). He does not need to get closer. He is already there. It is true we have missed goals and he got two incredible goals,” said Guardiola.
Inter moved back alongside Bayern Munich and Arsenal at the top with a fourth straight win after scraping past Kazakh outsiders Kairat Almaty.
Ofri Arad cancelled out Lautaro Martinez’s opener nine minutes after half-time but a thumping low drive from Carlos Augusto snatched Inter a 2-1 victory, bolstering their hopes of qualifying directly for the last 16.
Barcelona came from behind three times to rescue a 3-3 draw in Belgium as Lamine Yamal helped them overcome a shaky defensive performance.
Barca’s defence was shredded on multiple occasions by the hosts as Brugge winger Carlos Forbs struck twice and set one up for Nicolo Tresoldi.
Ferran Torres, Yamal and a Christos Tzolis own goal saved Barca from what would have been a humiliating defeat, even though they have several players out injured.
“It’s a game I think we have to win, but we have to do things a lot better,” Barca midfielder Frenkie de Jong told Movistar.
“We have to adjust some things, we know that, we’re working on it… if you let in three goals it’s difficult to win.”
Chelsea toil as Newcastle triumph
Alejandro Garnacho spared Chelsea’s blushes as the Argentine’s equaliser rescued a 2-2 draw against Qarabag.
Enzo Maresca’s side were in danger of an embarrassing loss in Baku after falling behind in the first half.
Estevao Willian gave Chelsea an early lead but Leandro Andrade equalised before Marko Jankovic converted a penalty to give the Azerbaijani minnows hope of a famous upset.
Former Manchester United winger Garnacho came off the bench to bail out the Blues with his composed finish after the interval.
“I think the big difference was inside the box,” said Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca.
“Again we conceded silly goals that we could avoid and we could probably finish better with most of the actions that we created.”
Dan Burn’s superb header set Newcastle on their way to a 2-0 home win over Athletic Bilbao.
Joelinton added a second shortly after half-time as the Magpies won for the third time in four European outings to move up to sixth place.
“Really pleased with today,” Newcastle manager Eddie Howe told TNT Sports. “We had a quick turnaround for this game. I don’t think it was us at our best but we’re in a good position now in this competition.”
Jose Mourinho’s Benfica slumped to a fourth defeat in a row as Patrik Schick got the only goal in a 1-0 win for Bayer Leverkusen in Lisbon.
Ajax are also still without a point after Victor Osimhen bagged a hat-trick to power Galatasaray to a 3-0 victory in Amsterdam.
Osimhem is the top scorer with six goals in this season’s Champions League, one ahead of Haaland, Harry Kane and Kylian Mbappe.
Lazar Samardzic hit a 90th-minute winner as Atalanta downed Marseille 1-0 at the Velodrome despite missing an early penalty.
Debutants Pafos from Cyprus picked up their first win as they beat Villarreal 1-0 thanks to a second-half header from Dutch defender Derrick Luckassen.
