Radamel Falcao, Angel Di Maria and other Premier League rejects who have scored in Champions League
Despite not being wanted by teams in the Premier League, these 11 are still banging in goals in Europe's No1 competition
THE likes of Andriy Shevchenko and Juan Sebastian Veron showed that, no matter how good you are, sometimes you just can’t adapt to the Premier League.
Both had been sensational in Serie A before securing big moves to England, where they seriously struggled.
But they’re not alone. There are many players out there who tried their luck in the Premier League before settling elsewhere.
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Many are still plying their trade at top European clubs — playing on the grandest stage of all.
And here are 11 former Premier League rejects who have scored in this season’s Champions League.
Radamel Falcao — Monaco
CAME to the Premier League with a fierce reputation, but flopped — twice.
It didn’t work out for him at Manchester United or Chelsea, so he returned to Monaco.
And Falcao has rediscovered his scoring touch, finding the back of the net twice against CSKA Moscow.
Andreas Cornelius — F.C. Copenhagen
DANE joined Cardiff for a world-record fee of £8million when they were promoted to the Premier League in 2013.
But he failed to score in his eight appearances for the Welsh club and returned to F.C. Copenhagen in January 2014.
Cornelius scored the equaliser during the 1-1 draw with Porto in his side’s Champions League opener.
Lacina Traore — CSKA Moscow
EVERTON beat West Ham to the loan signing of the Ivorian.
Traore scored on his debut, in a FA Cup win over Swansea, but played on one league match due to injury.
Returned to Monaco, but was sent out on loan to CSKA Moscow — and duly scored the opener in a 1-1 draw against his parent club.
Luuk De Jong — PSV Eindhoven
ALAN PARDEW signed the Dutch striker on loan in January 2014.
But he returned to Borussia Monchengladbach at the end of the season after failing to score in his 12 appearances.
Now at PSV and the second equaliser in his side’s disappointing 2-2 draw at Rostov.
Angel Di Maria — Paris Saint Germain
BECAME the most expensive player in Premier League history when United signed him for £59m in 2014.
But he was a shadow of the superstar winger we saw at Benfica and Real Madrid.
Di Maria joined PSG a year later for £44m. Scored in the 3-0 win over Basel.
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Bryan Ruiz — Sporting Lisbon
SHOWED glimpses of his undoubted class at Fulham, but he was too often a passenger.
Ruiz was part of the Cottagers side which was relegated in 2014, but still scored the winner for Costa Rica against Italy in that summer’s World Cup.
Scored in Sporting’s 2-0 victory over Legia Warsaw.
Juan Cuadrado — Juventus
A SURPRISE flop at Chelsea, as he looked every bit the world class player for Fiorentina.
And has carried that on in two loan spells with Juventus.
Cuadrado failed to score in 13 Premier League appearances, but netted the Italian champions’ late winner in Lyon.
Andre Schurrle — Borussia Dortmund
DISCARDED by Jose Mourinho at Chelsea and joined Wolfsburg for £22m, before moving on to Dortmund.
Certainly not a ‘flop’, but his style didn’t fit in with the Special One’s — he netted 11 times in 44 appearances.
Schurrle scored his side’s late equaliser against Real Madrid.
Javier Hernandez — Bayer Leverkusen
LIKE Schurrle, he wasn’t a flop — he just wasn’t up to the level required.
Enjoy two good goal scoring seasons in four with United, before being loaned to Real Madrid and then sold to Leverkusen.
Hernandez scored against Monaco and only a sensational Hugo Lloris save prevented a goal against Tottenham.
Ricardo Quaresma — Besiktas
‘THE original Cristiano Ronaldo’ has reinvented himself since failed spells at Barcelona, Inter Milan and — briefly — Chelsea.
He was signed by Luiz Felipe Scolari in 2009 and played just four times.
However, Quaresma shone at Euro 2016 as Portugal claimed their maiden honour, and has scored twice for Besiktas in this season’s Champions League campaign.
Samir Nasri — Sevilla
TWO-TIME Premier League winner with Manchester City, on the back of a stunning spell with Arsenal.
But Pep Guardiola just didn’t fancy him and shipped to Sevilla on loan.
Nasri is now enjoying his football and scored this side’s winner away to Dinamo Zagreb.
Other notables
FORMER West Ham loanee Emmanuel Emenike scored all three of Fenerbahce’s goals as they went out 4-3 to Monaco on aggregate in the third qualifying round.
While the French side then saw off Villarreal 3-1 in play-offs — and the Spanish side’s goal was scored by ex-Chelsea striker, Alexandre Pato.
Meanwhile, Thorgan Hazard has been firing them in for Monchengladbach, but never made a Premier League appearance for the Blue.