AFCON 2025
Super Eagles goalkeeper, Maduka Okoye, featured in his first match of the season on Monday night as Udinese and Cremonese played out a one-all draw in a Serie A fixture.
Okoye returned to Udinese’s starting line-up on his return from a two-month ban following his involvement in a betting scandal last season.
Maduka Okoye put up a brilliant display in between the sticks as he stopped Jamie Vardy from putting Cremonese ahead in the fixture.
Former Romania U21 international, Razvan Savan, played in his absence and featured in the first six Serie A matches of the new season.
Despite his absence for two months, Okoye showed no sign of weakness or rutiness in between the sticks, helping Udinese secure a point on the road.
In a post-match reaction, Udinese group technical director Gianluca Nani explained why Maduka Okoye immediately returned to the line-up following the expiration of his suspension.
He revealed that the goalkeeper has been training very well while serving his ban and has been impossible to score against in training.
“Okoye has trained really well in recent weeks; it was almost impossible to score against him in training,” Nani told DAZN, via Tutto Udinese.
“We’re really happy he’s back because he’s our starting goalkeeper, and there were never any doubts. But I want to thank whoever replaced him, who did very well.”
Maduka Okoye will likely be in contention to return to the Super Eagles ahead of next month’s FIFA World Cup playoffs in Morocco.
The former Sparta Rotterdam goalie made his feature appearance under Eric Chelle in a friendly match against Russia in June.
