Asisat Oshoala Wins First Trophy with FC Barcelona
Asisat Oshoala has begun to realise her
dreams in Spain as she helped Barcelona win the 2019 Copa Catalunya after a 4-0
win over Espanyol in the final on Saturday.
The Nigeria international, who initially
joined the Liga Iberdrola side on loan in January before securing a permanent
deal with her convincing form, scored eight goals in 11 games in June.
Since her arrival, the Blaugrana
crumbled in the race for the Spanish Liga Iberdrola and the Women's Champions
League titles, leaving the FC Robo product no chance to celebrate silverware.
Heading to Saturday's final, Oshoala had
scored to help her side to a 5-1 win over the Seagulls in the pre-season
competition at the Estadi Municipal Palamos Costa Brava on Thursday.
The two-time Chinese Women's Super
League title-winner started where she left off in their opener two days ago, as
she almost put Barca in front but was denied two minutes into the encounter.
In the 11th minute, last season's Liga
Iberdrola runners-up came close for the opener but no one was there to finish
off Oshoala's cross.
After a few botched attempts, Barcelona
finally broke the resistance of Espanyol when Alexia Putellas teed up the Super
Falcons star to blast home in the 24th minute.
In the 31st minute, Mariona Caldentey
found a breakthrough and did not hesitate to double the lead for Barcelona as
they gained a 2-0 advantage going into the half time break.
After the restart, the Periquitos
suffered a huge setback as they were reduced to 10 players after Letti Sevilla
was sent off for a poor challenge in the 59th minute.
Four minutes later, Barca won a penalty
and Caldentey did not miss the chance from the spot to hit her brace and the
third of the match for LluÃs Cortes' side.
A minute from regulation time, Claudia
Pina got on the scoresheet as Barcelona clinched their fourth of the encounter
to silence the league counterparts and guaranteed their triumph in Palamos.
The result means Oshoala has finally won
her first trophy with the Liga Iberdrola outfit, scoring nine goals in six
games for Cortes' side this season and 17 in 17 overall.
After the match, she is expected to join
the Nigeria women's team for the Tokyo Olympic Games qualifier clash with
Algeria today Monday.
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