Kenyan international Esse Akida marked her debut for PAOK FC with a hat-trick in the 6-0 whitewash of Moldovan outfit Anenii Noi in the UEFA Women’s Champions League qualifiers.The former Thika Queens forward was introduced at the start of the second half for Antigoni Papadopoulou and turned on the style as she grabbed a 45-minute hat-trick.Akida becomes the first Kenyan woman to bag a hat-trick in the UEFA Women’s Champions League after making her debut in the competition for Besiktas back in 2020.🚨JUST IN🚨🇰🇪Kenyan international @akida_14 marked her PAOK FC debut with a hat-trick in the UEFA Women’s Champions League in the 6-0 rout of Anenii Noi.What a way to announce yourself to the PAOK fans. Keep flying the Kenyan flag high.#FFP pic.twitter.com/v3gtAPqfVe— Friends of Football (@friendsofutball) August 18, 2021 Anenii Noi suffered the worst possible start to the game as they went behind in the third minute through Olga Baxevanou who broke the deadlock to maximize on their strong start.Antigoni Papadopoulou doubled PAOK’s lead 14 minutes later after Portuguese midfielder Marlene Barbosa put the ball on a plate for her.PAOK went into the halftime break with a commanding lead after Maria Mitkou scored their insurance goal in the 38th minute, heading into the interval with a 3-0 lead.It only took six minutes for Akida to announce herself to the PAOK faithful as he notched her first goal in the Greek outfit’s colours barely a week after joining them. Esse Akida scored a second half hatrick as Paok dismantled Anenii Noi 6-0 in the Champions league.What a debut, what a performance.Congratulations Esse#TheGamePlan pic.twitter.com/94pOYnuRMo— Carol Radull (@CarolRadull) August 18, 2021 A late flurry of goals saw Akida bag her second in the 89th minute and completed her hat-trick in the third minute of stoppage time as she went home with the matchday ball. PAOK will next face Norwegian club Valerenga in the Champions League qualifiers as they look to make it into the group stages of the tournament.
