Christantus becomes first Nigerian player ever to feature for Crystal Palace in Europe

SUPER Eagles playmaker Christantus Uche became the first Nigerian player to represent English Premier League side Crystal Palace in a European competition last night when he came on for them in a Uefa Conference League game yesterday.

Uche, 22, was a deadline day signing for Palace, moving to Selhurst Park on September 1, as the club eventually succeeded in wooing him from his Spanish club Getafe. He was secured on until June 2026, with Palace then under an obligation to buy him for a fee of around £17.3m at the end of the season.

Since joining palace, however, Uche is yet to start a game as it appears that the club has decided to break him in gently. He is still yet to make his Premier League debut but last night, he came on towards the end of the European match against Cypriot champions AEK Larnaca on matchday three of the Uefa Conference League.

Unfortunately for Uche and his team mates, Palace suffered a shocking 0-1 loss to the Cypriot side which has Nigerian Godswill Ekpolo on its books. In the game that took place at Selhurst Park, the home fans were left stunned in the 51st minute when Riad Bajic hammered a shot past goalkeeper Dean Henderson for what proved to be the only goal of the contest.

In search of an equaliser, manager Oliver Glasner made a late double substitution in the 87th minute, introducing Uche and Romain Esse for Ismaila Sarr and Will Hughes respectively. A relative newcomer, who was still playing in Nigeria up until 2022, Uche had never played European football before until last night.

Seven former Super Eagles invitees in Michael Olise, Eberechi Eze, Shola Ameobi, Victor Moses, Ade Akinbiyi, George Ndah and Dele Adebola have all played for Palace before but none of them featured for the club in Europe. To build up his match fitness ahead of last night's fixture, Uche featured in the first half of an EFL Trophy clash against Stevenage, where a Palace U21 side faced the League One club's senior team.