Former favourite has Getafe in his sights

The Copa del Rey quarter-final meeting between Villarreal CF and Getafe CF will be especially significant for one of the men involved: the Nigerian striker Ikechukwu Uche. The African now togs out in yellow, but he once wore the Coliseum Alfonso Pérez’s colours in the Liga BBVA.

Uche turned 31-years-old at the beginning of January and has spent nearly half of his life in Spain. He had his first taste of Spanish football as a very young man moving between teams in the regional divisions, but his talent soon saw him make the step up to the Liga Adelante when he joined Racing Club de Ferrol in the 2000/01 season.

RC Recreativo set their sights on him in 2003/04 and it was while in Huelva that the Nigerian international started to show signs of what he could truly do. He found the back of the net 42 times during this first three seasons in the Estadio Nuevo Colombino and achieved promotion with the club, which he followed up with eight Liga BBVA goals during the 2006/07 season. It was then that Getafe stepped in to express their keen interest in signing him.

Getafe reached the final at the 2006/07 edition of the tournament with Uche 

The team from the south of Madrid went on a great Copa del Rey run during his first season with the club. Getafe finished runners-up in the 2006/07 edition of the tournament (losing to Sevilla FC in the final) and managed to reach the final again the following season, with Uche making up part of the squad. The Nigerian did not feature in the 2007/08 final which his side lost 3-1 to Valencia CF in the Vicente Calderón.

Despite this, he continued to develop the following year, bagging 7 Liga BBVA goals for himself, which led to Real Zaragoza calling on his services in 2009/10. Unfortunately for Uche, his move to the Aragon outfit coincided with injury.

He ruptured the cruciate ligament in his left knee in a game against Sevilla on 9 September 2009 which kept him sidelined for six months. He then fractured the meniscus in the same knee just three months after returning to action. His three seasons with the La Romareda team were spent largely on the physio’s bench.

It was during this dark period of the Nigerian's career that Villarreal showed faith in him. The Castellón outfit signed him in the summer of 2011 and immediately loaned him out to Granada CF. Uche got back into the swing of playing football in Los Cármenes, featuring in 34 games and scoring three goals. Villarreal were relegated that season and the El Madrigal fans counted on Uche to get them back into the topflight. And he did not let them down.

The Nigerian striker has never scored in the torunament with Villarreal and he will try to do it agains his ex team

The African forward played 32 games and scored 14 goals for Marcelino García Toral’s team during the 2012/13 Liga Adelante campaign. He was also part of Nigeria’s African Cup of Nations winning side that year. Villarreal returned to life in the Liga BBVA and since then Uche has not stopped putting in good performances in front of goal in the championship.

However, he is still yet to get on the scoresheet for Villarreal in the Copa del Rey. He will have a chance to rectify that at home on Wednesday night against his former team, and will have another bite of the cherry in the return leg in the Coliseum. He will undoubtedly be one of the players to watch, both sets of supporters know what he is capable of.