Asisat Oshoala aims UEFA Champions League title Again With Barcelona

By Michael V. Bolgent

Administrator

mykebou

Posted: May 21, 2022 at 11:30 AM, Updated: May 21, 2022 at 11:30 AM

Asisat Oshoala goal

With Barcelona Ladies, Asisat Oshoala wants to win another UEFA Women’s Champions League title.

The Blaugurana, the defending champions, will face Olympic Lyon of France in the final on Saturday at the Allianz Stadium in Torino (today).

Lyon, who have won the championship seven times, upset Barcelona 4-1 in the final three years ago, and the Spanish Iberdola team has the opportunity to avenge that loss.

In that match, Oshoala scored Barcelona’s lone goal, making her the first Nigerian and African woman to score in the UEFA Women’s Champions League final.

The former Arsenal and Liverpool player believes his club is ready to defend the title they won last season by defeating Chelsea in the final.

It’s all about the team, Oshoala told ESPN, “and we have the greatness.”

Winning the Champions League with Barca last year was the peak of her career for her, and she wants to accomplish it again this year.

After winning the Pichichi (best scorer) title in the Spanish Iberdola this week, Oshoala enter the game in high spirits.

Meet Asisat Oshoala; the African Turf Queen

Nigerian international Asisat Oshoala has never looked back after forsaking her education to pursue a career in football. Injuries have limited her playing time this season, limiting her to only 12 starts in 19 outings. Not to be deterred, the Super Falcons striker not only helped Barcelona win the league for the second year in a row, but she also went on to win the Spanish Premiera Iberdrola Golden Boot, becoming the first African to do so. Aside from that, the 27-year-old is concentrating on adding the UEFA Champions League medal to her collection.

After an amazing goalscoring season with champions Barcelona Femeni, Super Falcons striker Asisat Oshoala won the Spanish Premiera Iberdrola golden boot on Sunday, becoming the first African woman to do so after scoring 20 goals in just 12 starts across all 19 league games.

The 27-year-old scored her 20th goal of the season in a 5-1 win over Sevilla on May 5. She started the season with a brace in a 5-0 win over Real Betis on September 11.

The Super Falcons star tied Brazil’s Geyse of Madrid CFF with his 20th goal of the season, but he couldn’t go much further.

Even though she came on as a substitute in the 63rd minute and didn’t score in the final day’s 2-1 win over Atletico Madrid, the Nigerian won the award she had been waiting for, even though she had played in 19 fewer games than Geyse.

At the 2014 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup, the Nigerian captain scored the most goals and was voted the tournament’s best player. She was also voted best player and second top goalscorer for the Super Falcons’ 2014 African Women’s Championship-winning side.

Also, FIFA praised Leandro Paredes, a forward for both the Super Falcons and Barcelona Femeni, for winning the Pichichi with the Catalan club despite being out for two months with an injury.

On Sunday, Oshoala was named joint best scorer in the Spanish Women’s Football League after her 20 goals were enough to win the accolade.

A great club season and 20 goals. As FIFA commented on their official Women’s World Cup page, Asisat Oshoala has always been unstoppable!

Oshoala had a fantastic season, winning the league’s best scorer award and going undefeated in the league.

Barcelona managed to score 159 goals in 30 games while not dropping a single point. They only allowed 11 goals in order to cement their domination.

Barcelona Femeni will meet Lyon in the Champions League final today in the hope of defending their title, which they won last year.

If Barcelona wins the Champions League, Oshoala will win it for the second time, becoming the first African to do so, a season after becoming the first African to win it.

Oshoala, who is 27 years old, has more awards than any other female footballer in Africa. She was also the first African woman to win the Golden Boot in Spain.

Oshoala wants to reach another milestone with Jonatan Giraldez’s club. During their historic league season, they won all 30 of their games and got all 30 points.

Everyone has moved on from celebrating winning the league to getting ready for a big game in Turin, she said.

After that historic night in Italy, Barcelona will turn their attention to El Clasico versus Real Madrid in the Copa de la Reina semi-final on May 25.

Oshoala has now scored 81 goals in 104 games for Barcelona, and has agreed to stay with the club until the end of the 2023-24 season.

In January 2019, she moved to the Spanish club on loan from the Chinese champions Dalian Quanjian. Five months later, she made the move for good.

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After winning the Women’s FA Cup at Wembley with Arsenal in 2016, the player who used to play for FC Robo and Rivers Angels moved to the Far East in February 2017.

She was the top scorer in the Chinese Women’s Super League in 2017, scoring 12 goals to help her club win the title the same year. Oshoala, who began her European career with Liverpool, helped the Super Falcons win their third Women’s Africa Cup of Nations in Ghana in 2018, scoring three goals as Nigeria won the tournament for the ninth time.

Oshoala earned the Women’s Player of the Year award for the fourth time in 2020, equaling the record set by compatriot Perpetua Nkwocha.

Nigeria advanced to the last 16 of the 2019 Women’s World Cup in France, and she will be looking to lead her team to qualification for the 2023 World Cup and a record-extending 10th Nations Cup championship in Morocco in July.

In the group round of the tournament, Nigeria will face South Africa, whom the Super Falcons defeated on penalties four years ago to win the championship