Kenyan international Marjolene Nekesa made her UEFA Women Champions League debut for her new Slavia Prague side on Thursday night as she was introduced in the second half of their group opening match against Italian outfit AS Roma staged at the Stadio Domenico Francioni.The Harambee Starlets ace was however unfortunate not to emerge victorious on her first start in the prestigious competition as the Italian side, who were making their first ever European adventure, resolutely held onto their narrow 1-0 lead to deny the visiting team.The only goal that separated the two sides in the encounter came in the second half and on the 62nd minute after Norwegian international Emilie Haavi did all the hard work in beating the goalkeeper with a smart dinked attempt that Valentina Giacinti poked into an empty net.Six minutes after going down, Nekesa, who joined the eight-time Czech League champions as a free agent after an impressive campaign with Belarusian side FC Minsk, was subbed on in the game in a bid to effect the scoreboard.Odada’s Philadelphia book MLS Cup finals slotThat decision almost paid off as Nekesa came close to finding the equalizer with eight minutes left on the clock but her goal bound effort ricocheted off the top of the crossbar, sparing Roma’s blushes who got their campaign off to a perfect night as it left head coach Karel Pitak feeling hard done by the score line.”We are very disappointed. We played a good match here, it can be said that we didn’t let AS Roma have more chances. We were able to turn away their dangerous set pieces and at the end of the half, unfortunately, we were unable to convert a huge chance.##NAJAVA_MECA_6745602##The second half went the same way, there were no chances, then there was one mistake and we got a goal from it. Then we pushed for an equalizer, we had the crossbar, but it wasn’t meant to be, it was a match that should have ended in a draw,” he said.Nekesa, who played for the Kenya U20 side during the 2017 World Cup qualifiers, had an impressive record in front of goal in Belarus as he scored 31 goals in 15 matches.Kenyan international Marjolene Nekesa made her UEFA Champions League debut for her new Slavia Prague side on Thursday night as her team went down to a 1-0 defeat against AS Roma.The 23 year old had a chance of scoring on debut but her shot came off the crossbar.#StarsAbroad pic.twitter.com/fs5JziAVz2— Ochieng’ Stephen (@soo_ochieng) October 21, 2022
