Nigerian Stars Make Brilliant Contributions In Europe

A lovely day for the beautiful game sees a few Nigerian footballers fly the country’s flag with pride across Europe

At the Medical Park Stadyumu in Trabzon, one-cap Super Eagles forward Anthony Nwakaeme grabbed a goal and supplied an assist to inspire Trabzonspor to a convincing 3-1 home win over Konyaspor in a game week 20 Super Lig clash.

Nwakaeme’s 21st-minute strike was all that separated the two sides at the break, and Flavio made it 2-0 to the hosts ten minutes after the interval thanks to the Nigerian striker who contributed the assist.

Djaniny Tavares sealed the home side’s victory on the hour-mark before Shengelia got a consolation goal for the sorry visitors in the 88th minute.

The victory takes Abdullah Avcı’s men to 7th on the league table on 30 points, three behind 4th-placed Galatasaray who occupy the last European spot.

At the Göztepe Gürsel Aksel Stadı, also in Turkey, Brown Ideye had a hand in Goztepe’s last goal as the hosts handed Genclerbirligi a 4-0 mauling.

Goztepe were already three goals to the good by the halftime break thanks to goals from Zulj, Ndiaye, and Akbunar.

But Ideye, brought on from the bench in the 69th minute, gave the pass that Akbunar converted for his brace moments after the Nigerian’s introduction.

In the Czech Republic, Peter Olayinka got his name on the scorer’s sheet as Slavia Prague advanced to the Round 16 of the FA Cup with a 4-1 thrashing of Dukla Prague.

The scoreline already read 3-1 in favour of Slavia before Olayinka was introduced in the 56th minute, with Hovorka, Lingr, and Hromada all netting for the reigning league champions in the first half.

Fabry pulled one back for Dukla in the 53rd minute, but Olayinka had the last laugh, rounding up the commanding victory deep in injury time at the Sinobo Stadium in Prague.