Chukwueze dropped for Pino in Villarreal most important game of the season

Samuel Chukwueze may have lost his importance in the Villarreal squad to Spanish winger Yeremi Pino after the Nigerian was dropped in their most important game of the season.

Since Yeremi Pino broke into Villarreal’s starting XI following an injury to Samuel Chukwueze last season, the Spanish and Nigerian wingers have fought for a place in the right-wing.

Samuel Chukwueze appeared to be the favoured player for the position but after Yeremi Pino’s historic four goals in Villarreal’s 5-1 win against Espanyol two weeks ago, the order seemed to have changed.

With the wonderkid Yeremi Pino who turned down a move to Barcelona to remain at Villarreal now favoured as the main starter ahead of Samuel Chukwueze.

Looks like Samuel Chukwueze’s inability to elevate his game beyond just dribbling may have cost him his place going by Unai Emery decision to drop him for the Juventus game.

Today, Villarreal tackle Juventus in a UEFA Champions League round of 16 second-leg game, and Samuel Chukwueze was dropped to the bench.

Although he started in Villarreal 1-0 league win against Celta Vigo on Saturday, so did everyone else who made the starting line up today except Pervis Estupinan and Etienne Capoue.

This was going to happen, it was a matter of time has Samuel Chukwueze continued to struggle to make an impact in the final third.

The Nigerian winger does almost all that is expected of wingers in today’s football; tracking back to defend, taking on defenders one-on-one, making good use of the space but his final decision and goal contributions remain questionable.