It was a night to remember for football lovers across Tanzania as one of their most talented and successful player Mbwana Samatta made a historic debut for Premier League side Aston Villa in a Carabao Cup match against Leicester City at Villa Park.
The night was even more special for Mbagala, a neighborhood in Dar Es Salaam, the capital of Tanzania, where the 27-year-old striker was born as a big crowd gathered to share the great moment on a huge screen mounted outside in an open area.
Mbagala, Dar was breathless as homeboy Samatta made his Villa debut last night. This game is powerful.
Video/ @cloudsdigital1 pic.twitter.com/SUhcGAfY6l
— Bonface Osano (@bonfaceosano) January 29, 2020
Samatta became the first Tanzanian player to join an English Premier League club after signing a long term deal with Aston Villa from Genk of Belgium. His debut was thus highly anticipated.
The Taifa Stars skipper was on the field for 77 minutes before being replaced by Keinan Davis.
He came close to scoring in the 64th minute when Jack Grealish floated a ball into the box, but Samatta failed to make contact.
Samatta could make his first Premier League appearance on Saturday at Bournemouth and maybe deliver the much awaited Samagoal.