Although his team crashed out of the competition, the 23-year-old overtook his compatriot with his sixth goal of the season
Youssef En-Nesyri’s second-half double in Sevilla’s 2-2 draw with Borussia Dortmund has seen him leapfrog Marouane Chamakh to become the highest-scoring Moroccan in a single Champions League season.
In the 2009-10 campaign, Chamakh scored five times during Bordeaux’s ill-fated campaign. That term, the former Arsenal striker found the net against Bayern Munich, Juventus, Olympiacos and Olympique Lyon over two legs.
Against the Bundesliga giants in the second round of the Round of 16 clash staged at the Signal-Iduna-Park, the 23-year-old accentuated his relevance to Julen Lopetegui’s squad by getting a brace.
Los Nervionenses needed a turnaround after losing 3-2 in the first leg, but it was the Westfalenstadion giants who took the lead in the 35th minute courtesy of Erling Haaland.
Nine minutes into the second-half, the Norwegian prodigy doubled the advantage for Edin Terzic’s men – this time from the penalty spot.
While the Spanish elite division giants looked already dead and buried, the Morocco international gave a glimmer of hope. First, he reduced the deficit in the 69th minute - smashing past goalkeeper Marwin Hitz from the penalty mark after Emre Can had pushed substitute Luuk de Jong to the ground.
The former Leganes man completed his double in the sixth minute of added time by heading past Hitz a cross from Ivan Rakitic. Even at that, his team kissed the tournament goodbye as they were unable to get the all-important third goal.
Furthermore, he joins Chamakh, Hakim Ziyech and Medhi Benatia in the hallowed rank of players from the North African country to have scored in the Champions League’ knockout phase.
At club level, he is next to Wissam Ben Yedder in terms of most goals for Sevilla in a single campaign in the tournament. In the 2017-18 season, Yedder was on target eight times.
Following Sevilla’s elimination from the Champions League, they will now shift their attention to LaLiga in their quest to emerge as champions for the second time in their history. They welcome sixth-placed Real Betis to the Estadio Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan on Sunday night.
With 48 points from 25 matches in the ongoing season, Lopetegui’s men occupy the fourth spot in the log - 11 points behind leaders Atletico Madrid.