George Maluleka put in a Man of the Match performance in his return to action for Kaizer Chiefs, and the stats back up the decision to hand him the award last night.
The 29-year-old midfielder hadn’t played at all this season after picking up an injury prior to the first game, with his last game – until last night – coming back in May when the 2017/18 campaign came to an end, and he will have been pleased to pick up a 2-0 victory.
Statistically, no player on the field had more touches (92), made more passes (81), more accurate passes (71) or more shot assists (2) than the former Ajax Cape Town man, and the player himself says that he was happy to be back doing his thing.
He told the club’s official website, “It feels great to be back… I am glad to have contributed to the team’s good performance. I am satisfied with my performance, I’m very happy about receiving the Man of the Match award. It just shows that the guys had my back from the beginning.
“I can definitely still improve considering this is my first match in three months. I dedicate this award to the entire team. This win is very important… We were really eager to get the three points. We knew it was going to be a very difficult match, but we showed quality as a collective. I am happy we bagged the three points.”
Maluleka will now be hoping to follow up his return with another performance against AmaZulu this weekend, as the club look to win three consecutive Absa Premiership games for the first time since April 2017.
