"Everyone loves Mr. Brightside, but I hear it about 490 million times a year" - Eminem utilised in Nathan Aspinall's walk-on ahead of scintillating performance

Nathan Aspinall stated that he was pushed hard by Maximilian Czerwinski in a 6-3 victory. The Asp averaged almost 104 and hit 60% of his doubles enroute to sealing his place in the second-round of the German Darts Championship.

The two-time major winner exploded out of the blocks, with him pinning a 180 to start affairs before taking out 160 for a 12 darter and a slander advantage. Czerwinski levelled up but Aspinall followed this up with checkouts of 84 and 116 to keep his nose in front. He was broken straight back by the German but wasted no time in restoring that advantage, taking out a tricky 99. He followed that with a 90 outshot, and two legs later wrapped up victory with another combination shot, this time pinning 85.

It was a sublime performance from the former Matchplay champion, who will face a much harder challenge in the form of Ross Smith in the second-round. Despite his impressive display, Aspinall revealed that Czerwinski pushed him throughout, gaining his respect as he showed elements of grit and determination, something synonymous with Aspinall.

"Tonight was the first time I’ve met Max — and what a lovely guy. He said he hasn’t been playing very well this year, but he played bloody well then," Aspinall said after the match. "Fair play to him — he played a fantastic game of darts and never gave in. Even when I started off really strong, he just kept fighting, kept coming back at me. And I respect players like that — that’s what I’m about. It was a great game of darts, and he made me work."

Something else synonymous with Aspinall is his walk-out song Mr. Brightside. Hugely popular with the fans wherever the darts go, it is a sight to behold when thousands of fans are singing the chorus directed by Aspinall on stage. However, he decided to mix things up in Hildesheim, choosing 'Lose Yourself' by Eminem as the intro before Mr. Brightside was blasted around Halle 39.

The Asp was welcomed to the change, which pumped him up before his match. "It really did! Obviously, everyone loves Mr. Brightside, but I hear it about 490 million times a year," he said. "I’m a massive Eminem fan, and I wanted to add something a bit different at the start. The DJs were amazing on the Euro Tour, so who knows — we might introduce it to Sky and ITV as well."