MEET EMMANUEL DENNIS: THE NIGERIAN PLAYER WHO STUNNED REAL MADRID

Justin Ehiogu

Hardly could Club Brugge have expected to find themselves two goals up in just a little over the half-hour mark, at the Santiago Bernabeu, against Real Madrid and Zinedine Zidane, a partnership that has achieved unprecedented dominance in the Champions League in recent years; but they did, and the poster boy at the end of the match was none other than Emmanuel Bonaventura Dennis, a 22-year-old Nigerian from Yola.

The forward had three shots on target, and two goals, against the Spanish giants. Dennis’s brace was spectacular, not just because it was scored before tens of thousands of the Bernabeu faithful, but because of the interesting style that the Nigerian adopted. Having awkwardly scored his first with a mixed up footing while one on one with Courtois, Dennis then employed a deceptive style for his second – again, in a one-on-one situation – that made it seem as though he had lost the ball. He pretended to trip, and then, following a split-second hesitation from Courtois, lobbed the ball coolly over the Real Madrid goalkeeper.

After each of his goals Dennis ran to the corner flag and performed Cristiano Ronaldo’s trademark celebration, in front of the home fans. When asked why he did so, he said: ‘… because I like Ronaldo. He is my favourite player in the world and I am not happy he left Madrid, so I just [did] the celebration to show them (Madrid fans) they miss something.’

While still at Zorya Luhansk in Ukraine, fans were so impressed with him that they started calling him Nigerian Neymar. A talented dribbler and a pacey forward, Dennis has already been called to the Nigerian senior squad. He made his debut in the friendly against Ukraine, and also came off the bench against Brazil. He is currently with the Super Eagles in their AFCON qualifying campaign. Hopefully, we’ll see and hear more of the Nigerian Neymar in the future.