Izuchukwu Okosi
Super Eagles midfielder Wilfred Ndidi was handed the captain’s armband in Leicester City’s 2-1 defeat to Liverpool at Anfield on Friday night.
Belgium international, Wout Faes, was the most devastated player at Anfield as he reluctantly joined a club of Premier League players that everyone wants to avoid.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelThe unfortunate Belgian who was in his country’s team in the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar became the fourth man in the competition to score two own goals in a match.
Leicester City were leading 1-0 when Faes stretched to reach Trent Alexander-Arnold’s 38th-minute cross at the near post and deflected the ball up and over his helpless goalkeeper Danny Ward.
Before the halftime break, Faes was again in the wrong place at the wrong time as Darwin Nunez’s shot bounced back off the post, hit him and cannoned into the net.
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While that equalled an unwanted Premier League record and gifted Liverpool the goals that secured their narrow victory, Faes’ double disaster is not the shortest period between two own goals.
That unfortunate honour goes to Michael Proctor, who found his own net in the 29th and 32nd minutes for Sunderland against Charlton Athletic in 2002/03.
From a Nigerian perspective, the duo of Wilfred Ndidi and Kelechi Iheanacho played for a combined 78 minutes in the game.
Ndidi’s injury setback in the last past few months had seen him concede first team place to Malian international Boubakar Soumare but manager Brendan Rodgers shockingly started the now-fit Nigerian on Friday and even handed the captaincy to him.
Ndidi played for 58 minutes before he was substituted by Youri Tielemans while Iheanacho came off the bench in place of Harvey Barnes.
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
