The youngster rose from the substitute bench to announce his presence to the world as he scored a brace very late in the game
Ghanaian striker Felix Afena-Gyan scored twice when AS Roma defeated Genoa 2-0 in Seria A on Sunday to breathe life back into their title challenge.
With Jose Mourinho’s side missing Bryan Cristante and Gonzalo Villar due to COVID-19, while Matias Vina, Riccardo Calafiori and Leonardo Spinazzola were also out of the game because of injury, Roma began the game with a 3-5-2.
However, things didn’t work as Roma were struggling to break down the bulwark defence of Genoa. Therefore, Mourinho opted to throw young Afena-Gyan into the fray although he had Nicolo Zaniolo on the bench.
Afena-Gyan came on in the 75th minute and quickly exerted himself in the game as he created spaces to cause troubles to Genoa’s defence.
He then shot Roma ahead by the 82nd minute after he was played through by Henrikh Mkhitaryan before wrapping it up with a beautiful long range effort very deep in additional time to win the day for Roma.
The former Berekum Presbyterian Senior High School student latched onto the ball on the left wing and went past his marker before he unleashed a thunderbolt from almost 30 yards away to score and win the day for Roma.
Afena-Gyan was mobbed by his teammates and technical team as Roma celebrated a famous win.
Meanwhile, Afena-Gyan’s countryman Caleb Ekuban also played for Genoa but he couldn’t find the back of the net for his side and new coach Andriy Shevchenko.
Mourinho’s side have now moved up to fifth place with 22 points, three points behind Atalanta who occupy fourth place and the last slot for Uefa Champions League qualification.