It was a fine Saturday for a few Nigerian players in Europe with the trio of Kelechi Iheanacho, Jamilu Collins and Semi Ajayi on the winning side in England and Germany.
Iheanacho scored the only goal of the encounter at the Griffin Park as Leicester City knocked Championship side Brentford out of this season’s FA Cup.
In the absence of injured former England international Jamie Vardy, the Nigeria international stepped up to fire home what proved to be the winner, just four minutes after kick-off.
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The 23-year-old former Manchester City striker now has seven goals and three assists in 12 appearances for the Foxes this season.
Compatriot Wilfred Ndidi was left out completely from the matchday squad as he continues his rehabilitation following surgery.
At the Olympic Stadium, Semi Ajayi and his West Bromwich Albion teammates shocked home side, West Ham, by the narrowest of margins to advance to the next stage of the competition.
English defender Conor Townsend got the winner for Slaven Bilic’s side within the first ten minutes of the tie.
A stubborn Albion defence marshalled by Ajayi repelled everything the hosts threw at them to keep their FA Cup dream alive.
However, the Super Eagles defender received a red card midway into the second half for a second bookable offence.
A similar story played out in the German Bundesliga where SC Paderborn secured a rare 2-0 victory at Freiburg, but Nigeria international full-back, Jamilu Collins was also sent off.
Collins was dismissed on the hour mark – after being shown a second yellow card – with Paderborn leading thanks to a Christopher Antwi-Adjei strike. The visitors, down to ten men, held on brilliantly and even grabbed a late clincher courtesy of an Abdelhamid Sabiri penalty goal.
The win momentarily lifts Steffen Baumgart’s men off the foot of the table and puts them just three points away from safety.
