It was yet another productive weekend for Nigeria born players in Europe as goals and assists from all corners were smashed into the back of the net in England, Belgium, France, Bulgaria among others.
Soccernet Nigeria brings you a detailed report of the heroics and otherwise of Nigeria stars abroad over the weekend.
Belgium
Emmanuel Dennis, David Okereke: Club Brugge 4-0 Gent
It was the All Africa Show in Belgium as the trio of Nigeria’s Emmanuel Dennis, and Senegal’s duo of Krepin Diatta and Mbaye Diagne found the back of the net as Club Brugge handed a crushing 4-0 defeat to Gent in Sunday’s Belgian First Division A encounter.
Emmanuel Dennis continued his incredible hot form in front of goal as he grabbed the Bruges’ third goal of the evening, a few days after netting a brace to help the Belgian giants hold Real Madrid to a 2-2 draw.
Philippe Clement’s men were the better side from kick off and it was no surprise that they led 2-0 into the break courtesy of goals from Hanaken and Diatta.
Shortly after the restart, Real Madrid’s nightmare Nigeria’s Dennis made it three, before substitute Diagne completed the damage on the dot of 90 minutes.
Another Nigerian, David Okereke, who joined Brugge over the summer from Spezia in Italy, came in for Dennis in the 69th minute and it was he who provided the assist for Diagne’s late goal.
The convincing victory sees Club Brugge sit atop the Jupiler Lig with 23 points after nine matches.
France
Victor Osimhen, Lille 2-2 Nimes
Victor Osimhen kept up his incredible scoring run by finding the back of the net yet again as Lille were held to a 2-2 draw by Nimes on Sunday afternoon at the Stade Pierre Mauroy.
It was Osimhen’s seventh goal in the Ligue 1 this season and eighth in all competitions after scoring in the Champions League loss to Chelsea last Wednesday.
Prior to the kickoff, the Super Eagles striker was presented with Lille’s player of the month of September.
Lille trailed the visitors heading into the game’s last quarter after Loic Remy had seen his 12th minute opener overturned by Renaud Ripart penalty and a Denkey finish. However, Osimhen rose to save Les Dogues blushes by restoring parity in the 80th minute of the encounter.
The win places Christopher Galtier side in fifth position with 15 points, six behind leaders PSG, while Nimes are in 14th position with nine points.
Moses Simon, Nantes 1-0 Nice
A closely fought encounter was decided by a late Moses Simon goal as Nantes edged Nice in the Ligue 1 Saturday evening.
The Nigeria international swept home a close range finish to claim just his second goal of the season in the French topflight. It would be recalled that Simon scored his first goal for Nantes since joining on loan from Leganes in Spain in Les Canaris win over Amiens earlier this season.
His goal took Nantes to the second position on the Log 1 table, two points behind leaders, Paris Saint Germain.
Samuel Kalu, Josh Maja: Toulouse 1-3 Bordeaux
The Nigerian duo of Samuel Kalu and Josh Maja were surprisingly missing in Bordeaux 3-1 win at Toulouse.
Kalu who has been a regular for Les Girondins this season was not in the squad for Saturday’a game, while Josh Maja was on the bench for the whole 90 minutes.
England
Oghenekaro Etebo, Swansea 1-2 Stoke City
After a seemingly endless six months wait, Oghenekaro Etebo and Stoke City finally picked up a win as the Potters eked out a narrow victory over Swansea on Saturday.
Nigerian midfield powerhouse Oghenekaro Etebo helped Stoke City, who are currently at the root of the Championship table after match day 11, produce a spirited efforts to beat Swansea City at the Liberty Stadium on Saturday.
Stoke started poorly and were behind within the game’s first 60 seconds, no thanks to Ghana international André Ayew’s fine strike. The visitors however equalized in the 22nd minute through Sam Clucas before a Scott Hogan’s goal deep in stoppage time secured all three points for the Potters.
Stock City will look to sustain the momentum when they welcome Fulham to bet 365 stadium next Saturday.
Semi Ajayi, West Brom 4-2 Cardiff City
Super Eagles defender Ajayi was on from start to finish as West Brom emerged the winner of an exciting goal-fest on Saturday.
Semi Ajayi was part of the defensive set up that conceded twice at home to Cardiff City but they had their forward players to thank for outscoring their opponents and keeping their promotion hopes alive.
Matheus Pereira made it 1 – 0 for Slaven Bilic men with just 20 minutes into the game, before Grady Diangana doubled the advantage three minutes to the break.
Former Southampton forward Charlie Austin made it 3 – 0 in the 71st minutes, before Danny Ward bagged brace for visiting Cardiff City to peg back the Baggies.
However Romaine Sawyers scored West Bromwich Albion winner on the stroke of the 90 to send the crowd at the Hawthorns into wild jubilation.
Eberechi Eze, Bright Osayi-Samuel: QPE 4-2 Blackburn Rovers
The two Nigerian eligible youngsters scored for the hosts as QPR powered past Rovers on Saturday at the Kiyan Prince Foundation Stadium.
Queens Park Rangers returned to winning ways by thrashing Blackburn Rovers 4-2 , with Nigerian players involved in three goals scored by the Hoops.
Bright Osayi-Samuel headed a cross down to Wells to open the scoring for the home team in the 30th minute and it became 2-0 four minutes after the restart when Eberechi Eze beat his man and slotted home.
On the hour mark, Osayi-Samuel completed his brace when he shot low into the far corner to restore QPR’s two-goal advantage.
Alex Iwobi, Burnley 1-0 Everton
The visitors dominated the tie for the better part of the afternoon but spurned numerous goalscoring chances, notably from their Nigerian import.
Former Arsenal forward, Iwobi was guilty of missing the Toffees two best chances of the game as ten-man Everton suffered another defeat in the English Premier League to Burnley on Saturday.
The Super Eagles playmaker saw his shot deflect narrowly wide of the post via Ben Mee in the first half, before he wasted a better opportunity when Matt Lowton produced a last-ditch block from close range.
Burnley struck late in 72nd minutes through Jeff Hendrick’s to heap more pressure on Everton manager Marco Silva at Turf Moor.
Everton now has just one point from four away league games, and slipped to 17th place on the log, one point above the relegation zone.
Wilfred Ndidi, Kelechi Iheanacho; Liverpool 2-1 Leicester City
The Reds converted a late penalty to condemn the Foxes to just their second loss of the league season.
Ndidi was on for the entire match but he could not halt Liverpool’s march to three points after watching the Anfield giants claim a hard fought victory and go eight points clear at the top if the table.
Teammate Kelechi Iheanacho was not included in Brendan Rodgers 18 man squad for the tie.
Sadio Mane’s cool composed finish a few minutes before halftime separated the two teams at the break but the Foxes hit back with just over ten minutes to go through James Maddison.
However Liverpool were handed a lifeline deep in stoppage time after Mane was adjudged to have been brought down in the penalty area. James Milner stepped up and converted the spot kick to keep Liverpool’s 100% win run going..
Bulgaria
Stephen Eze, Locomotiv Plovdiv 5-0 Etar
Super Eagles defender, Stephen Eze scored twice in the home side’s 5-0 thrashing of Etar in the Bulgaria First Division match played at the Ivaylo Stadium on Saturday.
Bulgarian club side, PFC Lokomotiv Plovdiv hammered Etar by five unreplied goals with Stephen Eze grabbing the last two gials of the encounter.
PFC Lokomotiv Plovdiv led 3-0 at the break before Stephen made it 4-0 in the 71st minute and then added another with two minutes of regulation time left to ensure a resounding victory for the Bulgarian outfit.
Spain
Chidozie Awaziem, Kenneth Omeruo; Levante 1-2 Leganes
Levante failed to sparkle as the home side were stunned by the visitors who made away with all three points following a 2-1 triumph.
Nigeria international Chidozie Awaziem played the entire duration of the game which saw the visitors benefit from a controversial penalty call.
Super Eagles centre half and former Chelsea defender Kenneth Omeruo was not listed for the game due to injury.
Leganes are currently rocking the bottom of the La Liga table with just two points from eight games.
