Atletico Madrid beat Nigeria’s Super Eagles team B, 3-2, in the first GOtv MAX cup staged at the Godswill Akpabio stadium in Uyo.
In an action-packed encounter that ebbed and flowed, the very youthful Nigerian side took the game to the Diego Simeone-tutored Madrid side in the first half, with most of their attack initiated from the right flank.
The Madrid side were also dangerous on the break, but fell behind in the 32nd minute to a world-class strike from Kelechi Nwakali, whose bullet shot beat the flapping Atletico goal keeper Jan Oblak.
The full-capacity stadium were still celebrating the worldie by Nwakali, when Ghanaian defensive midfielder Thomas Partey on 34 minutes intercepted an Eagles attack to set up man-of-the-match Angel Corea who fired a brilliant strike past a very impressive Femi Thomas and tie the match at 1-1.
The second half saw the emergence of EL NINO Fernando Torres, who was given a rousing reception by the excited Uyo crowd.
And the 34 year old Spaniard paid back the love by smashing a super header off a corner kick in the 64th minute.
Sensing that Atletico were taking a stranglehold over proceedings, coach Salisu Yusuf brought in Plateau united striker Tosin Omoyele and Usman Mohammed, the change fired the Eagles to run rings round the Spanish clubside.
The two players combined to produce the equaliser, with Omoyele feeding Mohammed with the ball from the right, the latter took out three Atletico defenders to score the equaliser in the 80th minute.
But coach Simeone’s men are known to pull water out of fire from tight situations, and so they clinched the winner in the 85th minute with substitute Borja Garcés latching on to a through-ball to lash a right-footed shot which keeper Femi Thomas could not stop.
The GOtv MAX cup is an initiative aimed at deepening relations between the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) and their Spanish counterparts.
