Not less than seventy players were used as substitutes in the opening day of the 2022/23 UEFA Champions League (UCL). Interestingly, only three of them scored after being brought in. Who are these super-subs....CONTINUE READING
The first among them is Juventus midfielder, Weston McKennie. This United States of America player was brought in for 19-year-old Fabio Miretti in the second half of their away clash with Paris Saint-Germain.
The 24-year-old footballer was received a cross from Filip Kostić and wasted no time before heading it in. This 53rd minute goal made him the first non-European to score in the current UCL.
However, his effort was not enough to cancel out the first half brace scored by Mbappe for the hosts.
Eden Hazard became the second super-sub on the season after his 77th minute goal for Real Madrid in the 3-0 away win over Celtic. The Belgian, who joined Los Blancos for a record €115m in 2019, was brought in when Karim Benzema was forced off the pitch due to knee injury.
The former Chelsea forward got on the score sheet in the 77th minute following a pass from Daniel Carvajal. Meanwhile, Hazard started the counter attack that led to Vinicius Junior goal. The Belgian international also provided the key pass that helped Luka Modric to score the second goal of the match.
The third man on this list is Lassina Traoré of Shakhtar Donetsk. The striker came in for Ukrainian forward, Oleksandr Zubkov 20 minutes before the away clash with RB Leipzig of Germany.
Fifteen minutes later, the Burkina Faso-born player received a pass from Arsenal transfer target, Mykhaylo Mudryk and slotted home. He was the first African super-sub of the night and the goal is his first ever in the European elite competition.
For the records, all these super-subs scored for the away teams.
