FC Porto of Portugal defender, Chidozie Awaziem will hope to keep his place in the squad’s main team, in order to stand a chance of playing against AS Roma in the UEFA Champions League next year.
Sports247.ng can report that, although Awaziem played a cameo role in Porto’s last group match of the UCL just this past week, the Super Eagles star was at the weekend demoted to his club’s B-squad.
It is a huge blow for Awaziem, who was a regular while on loan at FC Nantes of France last season, and looked good for a busy spell with Porto after heading back with rave reviews.
Some sterling efforts in training further shored up his rating with the 1997 and 2004 European champions, thereby raising hope of relevance for him, ahead of Kelechi Nwakali and Mikel Ndubuisi Agu.
While Agu has since been loaned to Victoria Setubal and Nwakali continues oscillating from the second team and third tier squad at Oporto, Awaziem is closet on the door of the first team.
He will, however, have to hope hard and strong to still be in the frame come January, to avoid another loan spell and get the chance of battling home and away against Roma in the UCL, following the knock-out stage draw, which placed both side head-to-head on Monday.
From the same draw, former Real Madrid star, Cristiano Ronaldo will head back to the Spanish city where he made his biggest marks in world soccer, as he joins his pals at Juventus of Italy for their first knock-out stage match in the UEFA Champions League against Atletico Madrid.
Ronaldo’s potential return to the city of Madrid with Juve highlights the UCL draw on Monday, which also pits Manchester United against Paris Saint-Germain in the last 16, while Liverpool will face Bayern Munich and Tottenham Hotspur take on Borussia Dortmund.
To complete a haul of three testy England versus Germany ties in the first knock-out stage, Manchester City are drawn against Schalke 04, meaning three of the four English Premier League teams will face top opposition from the German Bundesliga.
While Ronaldo will return to Spain with Juventus against Atletico, the team he helped win three back-to-back titles, Real Madrid face Ajax of Holland, while Barcelona will take on Lyon and Roma battle FC Porto.
The first legs of the last-16 ties will be split over two midweek dates, on February 12/13 and 19/20, with the second legs played over March 5/6 and 12/13, heading into the quarter-finals and semi-finals, while the final will take place on June 1 at Metropolitano Stadium in Madrid.
