It was another good day at the office for several Nigerian stars as the major European Leagues enter the busy festive period
Moses Simon scored his second league goal of the season as Nantes played out a 1-1 draw against Dijon in their Ligue 1 encounter at the Stade de la Beaujoire.
The former Levante winger put Les Canaries ahead from the penalty spot in the 24th minute. Simon was a menace to Dijon’s defence and could have had a hat-trick, but was denied on two occasions by Anthony Racioppi in Dijon’s goal.
But despite Simon’s strike, the points were shared after Moussa Konaté levelled scores for the away side in the 54th minute.
Meanwhile, in Belgium, Emmanuel Dennis was an unused substitute, while David Okereke came on 11 minutes from time as Club Brugge beat Royal Antwerp 2-0 at the Bosuilstadion.
Dennis has not featured much for Club since he was fined for storming off the team’s bus ahead of their champions league encounter against Germany.
However, Okekere, who scored his second goal of the season last weekend, played for 11 minutes as goals from Krepin Diatta and Mats Rits secured the three points for the Belgian champions.
In Russia, Chidera Ejuke played for 77 minutes as CSKA Moscow lost ground on leaders Zenith St Petersburg following a disappointing 2-2 draw against Ural at home.
It was a below-par performance from Ejuke, who has just two goals in 13 league appearances for the Red-Blues this season.
Ilya Shkurin put the home side ahead in the 12th minute, but Andrey Egorychev restored parity for Ural in the 31st minute.
Nikola Vlasic penalty in the 61st minute appeared to have won it for CSKA, but Igor Kalinin strike in the 89th minute earned a point for Ural.
In another Eastern European league, Peter Olayinka scored his third goal of the season in the Czech top division as champions, Slavia Prague earned a comfortable win over Slovan Liberec.
The lanky striker also has two goals in the Europa League and one in Champions League qualifying. Slavia took the lead in the 21st minute courtesy of a strike from Abdallah Sima.
Olayinka then made it two in the added minute of the first half before Sima scored his second and Slavia’s third 15 minutes from time.
Finally, in England, both Ola Aina and Wilfred Ndidi played a vital role as Fulham, and Leicester City secured impressive results in their respective matches.
Ola Aina was solid at the back in what was his ninth league appearance as Fulham held Liverpool to a 1-1 draw at Craven Cottage.
Bobby Reid gave Scott Parker’s side the lead after 25 minutes, firing home a shot from the edge of the box.
Fulham held their own against the champions, and the Reds had to rely on a Mohamed Salah penalty to salvage a point.
Meanwhile, at the King Power Stadium, Wilfred Ndidi made his first league start since returning from injury as Leicester moved up to third on the Premier League table following a 3-0 victory over Brighton.
Ndidi was on the pitch for 80 minutes, and during this period, he made two successful tackle, two interceptions while he also had two shots.
A brace from James Maddison and Jamie Vardy was enough to propel Brendan Rodgers men to victory. Ndidi’s international teammate, Kelechi Iheanacho, was an unused substitute.
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