Mikel Arteta Hands Professional Debut To Nigeria-Eligible Striker In Arsenal's 3-0 Rout Of Dundalk

Published: October 29, 2020

New York City-born striker of Nigerian descent Folarin Balogun made his professional debut for Arsenal as they hammered Irish club Dundalk 3-0 in a Europa League matchday two fixture at the Emirates Stadium on Thursday night, allnigeriasoccer.com reports.

Arsenal first team manager Mikel Arteta handed the England U20 international his professional debut by introducing him in the 74th minute as a replacement for Eddie Nketiah.

The 2001-born Balogun wore the number 38 at the back of his jersey in his first official match for the Gunners.

A product of Arsenal's Hale End Academy, he was spotted training with the first team in the days leading up to the game against Dundalk.

The League of Ireland Premier Division side did a really good job of frustrating their illustrious opponents for forty-two minutes but their resistance was broken when Nketiah reacted quickly to fire in the opener following an error from the visitors.

A minutes before half-time, Joe Willock coolly fired in to make it 2-0 before Nicolas Pepe curled a brilliant shot into the top corner for Arsenal's third goal 31 seconds into the second half.

The north London club top Group B of the Europa League with six points from the opening two games ahead of the visit of Norwegian outfit Molde to the Emirates next Thursday.

Meanwhile, Bukayo Saka was a non-playing substitute for tonight's clash and the same applies to Tottenham Hotspur product Nathan Oduwa.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel

Photo Credit : arsenal.com

Copyright ANS

All rights reserved. This material, and other digital content on this website, may not be reproduced, published, rewritten or redistributed in whole or in part without prior express written permission from allnigeriasoccer.com