The atmosphere was frenzy on Tuesday May 22nd as thousands of football loving fans gathered at the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium, Uyo to catch the grip of excitement as LaLiga giant Atletico Madrid play the Super Eagles at the maiden edition of the GOtv Max Cup on.
Atletico Madrid ended the season second below Barcelona, above Real Madrid in the LaLiga standings. They also defeated French side Olympique Marseille to win the UEFA Europa League, following a 3-0 emphatic victory.
No doubt the football fraternity stood still on the night as MultiChoice, leading pay TV in Nigeria demonstrated its passion in developing the football spirit and uniting fans in Nigeria
As I arrived the stadiums 45 minutes before kickoff time, and to my surprise thousands of fans have gathered and the venue was already packed full with fans waiting in anticipation to watch the GOtv Max Cup final. I could not but take pictures and quickly shared it on my Facebook and Tweeter account.
Guess what, in just less than five minutes of sharing the pictures on my social media account, my phone rang and guess what; it was a call from our Lagos office, Mike Ochonma, (BusinessDay Motoring Editor), popularly addressed as ‘The Sheikh’ for his astute passion for football and a die-hard fan of Arsenal. The first question he asked was:
“Is Diego Simeone with the Atletico Madrid Team; my man, please tell him the Sheikh is greeting him and make sure you take photos with him, I have taken my seat to watch the game.”
Obong Edet, a passionate fan of the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) said, “This is unbelievable, watching Atletico Madrid play live here in Uyo is a dream comes true for me as a fan and all the thousands of fans gathered here tonight.
“I have wished to watch Fernando Torres play live and tonight am fulfilled. MultiChoice has once again demonstrated their passion and commitment to football by organising the GOtv Max cup and credits must be given to them for this great feat, “he said.
The fans were thrilled with brilliant display from both teams.
Kelechi Nwakali scored the opening goal for the Super Eagles with a superb strike from outside the box that beat goalkeeper Jan Oblak.
The fans gave a loud applause as Fernando Torres was introduced at the start of the second half and the former Liverpool striker wasted no time to announce his presence with a superb header from a corner kick in the 64 minutes to give Atletico the lead.
“It was a very difficult game playing Nigeria here today. We came here to win and so put in more efforts,” said Simeone in his post match comment.
Salisu Yusuf, Super Eagles coach commended his players for putting up great effort to ensure that the Europa champions did not disgrace them. “We are very happy over this result. We knew what to expect from Atletico; they showed maturity and class, but my players proved they were worthy ambassadors of the country,” Salisu noted.
The icing on the cake was the presentation of a special gift by Martin Mabutho, General Manager Sales and Marketing, Multichoice Nigeria to Fernando Torres to celebrate his final game for Atletico Madrid, a memory that will live long with Torres.
Although the Super Eagles lost 2-3 to Atletico, but the loss did not matter as the fans left the stadium with joy and smiles having watched a spectacle.
Anthony Nlebem
@anthonynlebem
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