When Sadat Bukari Met Mubarak Wakaso

It was an emotional reunion for Sadat Bukari and Mubarak Wakaso last Thursday in Romania when the two former Black Starlets teammates clashed on opposing sides in Europe's second tier club tournament. Bukari and Wakaso were members of the 2005 Ghana U-17 national team coached by outspoken David Duncan to the FIFA Junior World Cup in Peru. Their parts have hardly crossed since, Bukari then of Heart of Lions went on to a hugely succesful career in Tunisia before swutching to Romania whereas Wakaso has seen the best of Spain's La Liga at Villareal and Espanyol before moving to Russia's Rubin Kazan who still hold his rights though. This season however, Wakaso has been churning out his trade for Scottish giants, Glasgow Celtic on loan from Rubin Kazan. So it came to pass that Celtic and Astra Giurgiu of Romania for who Sadat Bukari plays were matched up in Group D of the 2014/15 UEFA Europa League along with Isaac Vorsah's Red Bull Salzburg and Croatian side, Dinamo Zagreb. Sadly, Sadat missed the first leg of their double header at Celtic Park on October 23 due to a groin injury, a game Wakaso only came on as a substitute after 67 minutes. "It would have been nice to play against my former teammate, Wakaso as well as playing against Celtic. It's a big team that has a great history. Too bad to miss out on such a game," Sadat told Allsports.com.gh back then. Sadat's Astra compatriot, Seidu Yahaya however played all 90 minutes in Glasgow and was once again in the line-up on Thursday when both Sadat Bukari and Mubarak Wakaso also started. Wakaso and Yahaya were both substituted by their respective sides in the 81st minute but Bukari lasted all game and even finished with the Astra captain's armband following the injury time sending of Vincent Laban. 1-1 it finished at the Stadionul Marin Anastasovici in Giurgiu as Astra came from a goal down at halftime to snatch their first point in their maiden European appearance. Astra who qualified to the group phase after scraping through three qualifying rounds, had lost all previous three group games and are already eliminated with two games left. Red Bull who have amassed 10 points from 4 games, have already qualified for the next round but Celtic just failed to also book their last 32 ticket courtesy the draw at Astra and have to get a point in their two remaining games to confirm their place.