The 19-year-old Super Eagles played his first-ever game in the elite European competition but it ended on a disastrous note
Samson Tijani made his debut appearance in the Champions League on Tuesday as RB Salzburg suffered a 7-1 defeat against Bayern Munich.
The Nigeria international was brought on as a 67th-minute substitute for Mohamed Camara but his introduction could not save the Austrians from crumbling at Allianz Arena.
Robert Lewandowski was the star man as his first-half hat-trick inspired the destruction in the eight-goal thriller.
Hoping to become the first Austrian side to reach the quarter-finals of Europe’s premier club competition in 37 years, the Red Bulls flew out of the blocks with calamitous defending their major undoing.
Lewandowski put the Germans ahead in the 12th minute from the penalty spot after he was fouled by Maximilian Wober in the box.
Nine minutes later, the Poland international doubled his team’s advantage – again from the penalty mark following a challenge from Wober.
Lewandowski completed his treble two minutes later as goalkeeper Philipp Köhn’s clearance was charged down and eventually finished by the 33-year-old.
In the goal-laden first half, Serge Gnabry made it four goals for the Germans in the 31st minute after he was teed up by Kingsley Coman.
The harvest of goals continued six minutes before the hour mark through Thomas Muller, with Leroy Sane supplying the last pass.
Despite looking dead and buried, the visitors pulled a goal back through Maurits Kjaergaard but there was still time for Muller to complete his double while Sane wrapped up the match with the seventh.
For his contributions, Tijani made one interception, one clearance, 13 touches eight passes with a passing accuracy of 87.5%.
“Everyone knew that we had to put our foot on the gas from the first minute and show our quality. Especially the first 45 minutes showed that we are extremely dangerous when we play a bit quicker and get the ball into the penalty area. We showed that today,” Lewandowski told the media per club website.
With this result, Bayern Munich have qualified for the quarter-finals of the competition after an 8-2 aggregate win, while Salzburg will hope to learn their lessons after a memorable campaign in Europe.
Matthias Jaissle’s men will now focus on their Austrian Bundesliga campaign. They face welcome Sturm Graz to the Red Bull Arena, Wals-Siezenheim with the Nigerian eyeing his fourth league cap.
Three days later, they face Wolfsberger AC in an Austrian Cup fixture billed for the Lavanttal Arena.
From goal.com