Malawi Women’s National Football Team captain Tabitha Chawinga continues to hog the limelight in Europe after scoring one goal and providing an assist to inspire French side Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) to a 1-3 away win over Roma of Italy in the Uefa Women’s Champions League on Wednesday.
This was PSG’s second consecutive victory over Roma in Group C after a 2-1 win in Paris last week.
In front of a huge crowd at Stadio Tre Fontane in the Italian capital, Rome, Tabitha opened the floodgates in the 26th minute of the match.
The match marked Tabitha’s return to Italy where she also starred for Inter Milan. Against Roma, she caused a lot of problems to their defence and deservedly won the player-of-the-match award.
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The Malawian opened the scoring for PSG with a poked effort past goalkeeper Camelia Ceasar.
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She then turned provider, setting up Marie-Antoinette Katoto for PSG’s second goal of the night.
Korbin Albert put the game beyond Roma’s reach with a third goal but Manuel Giugliano curled in a free-kick for the hosts’ face saver.
This was Tabitha’s second Uefa Champions League goal for PSG in this campaign but has scored six goals in France’s D1 Arkema League. She described her performance against Roma as thrilling.
“It feels great to get maximum points. I am happy with the overall performance of the team,’’ Tabitha said.
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Following the victory, PSG are second in Group C with six points from four matches, one point behind leaders Ajax Women.
Bayern Munich and Roma are third and fourth with five and four points, respectively.
Scorchers coach Lovemore Fazili said Tabitha’s European exploits are quite exciting.
“I am impressed with Tabitha. This is enough proof that she is a great player. She appears to have settled down very well in France and I believe there is a lot more to come from her,’’ Fazili said.
Tabitha is on loan from Chinese champions Wuhan Jiangda and was recently named in the Caf Fifpro best XI.
She was also named player of the year in Italy and the best forward of the year.
The deadly striker also made history as the first African female player to win the golden boot award in Italy after scoring 23 goals in 21 matches.
