Uzoho revels in historic La Liga debut

Former Nigeria U-17 goalkeeper Francis Uzoho hailed a memorable Deportivo La Coruna debut after keeping a clean sheet in Sunday’s 0-0 draw at Eibar.
The 18-year-old, who arrived at the club from Qatar’s Aspire Academy in January, produced four important saves to help Deportivo claim a point.
“A day that will never disappear from my memory – my debut – thanks all for the support,” he said on Twitter.
Uzoho is the youngest foreign goalkeeper to ever play in La Liga.
At 18 years 11 months and 17 days, he becomes the second youngest player in La Liga this season, behind Real Madrid’s Moroccan defender Achraf Hakimi – who made his debut at 18 years 10 months 27 days earlier this month.
Uzoho follows in the footsteps of Wilfred Agbonavbare and Peter Rufai as Nigerian goalkeepers to have played in the Spanish top flight.
After regular first-choice goalkeeper Ruben had suffered a finger injury, Deportivo boss Pepe Mel opted for the Nigerian ahead of the experienced Costel Pantilimon and was impressed by the youngster.
“A coach has to act according to the things he sees in training,” Mel said.
“He is only 18 and he can barely speak Spanish but I know what he can offer this club.”
Uzoho will be hoping he has done enough to make a second appearance when Deportivo host Girona on 23 October.
The goalkeeper was part of the victorious Nigeria squad at the 2013 Fifa U-17 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates, albeit without playing a single minute at the tournament.
Deportivo have a long history of giving African goalkeepers opportunities
Rufai, who won the Nations Cup with Nigeria in 1994 and appeared at two World Cups, played for the club between 1997 and 1999.
Yet the most successful African spell in goal came via former Cameroon international Jacques Songo’o.
‘Man City cannot take Napoli lightly’
Pep Guardiola has said Manchester City would be “stupid” to expect an easy outing against Napoli in the Champions League on Tuesday just because they thumped Stoke City 7-2 in the Premier League over the weekend.
Napoli top the Serie A table with eight wins from as many games and sit third in Group F in the Champions League behind leaders City and Shakhtar Donetsk after a 2-1 opening loss to the Ukrainian side and a 3-1 win over Feyenoord.
Guardiola’s side are unbeaten pace-setters in the English top flight with seven wins from eight games. They showed their might against Stoke but the Spanish manager suggested Napoli would not crumble under pressure.
“Of course, if they think that, they will be stupid,” Guardiola told British media. “That isn’t going to happen.
“I am going to show Napoli to my players – how good they are. Napoli can kill you with high pressing. They are able to press our keeper. I’m very happy to have the opportunity to play this kind of game.”
City began their European campaign with a 4-0 win over Dutch side Feyenoord and followed it up with a routine 2-0 result over Shakhtar.