League cup respite for Aribo’s Rangers; Up-and-down Pordenone debut for Napoli-owned Folorunsho

A couple of cup matches involving Nigerian footballers were played in Scotland and Italy on Friday night

Joe Aribo was one of Rangers’ better players as Steven Gerrard’s men put an end to a frustrating run of three games without a win courtesy of an excellent 5-0 victory over Dunfermline Athletic in a League Cup playoff clash at the Ibrox Stadium. 

The Gers had lost back-to-back Champions League matches to Swedish side Malmo to crash out at the third qualifying round.

Sandwiched between those consecutive 2-1 UCL defeats, the reigning Scottish Premiership champions suffered a surprising 1-0 loss at Dundee United in the league.

But goals from John Lundstram, Scott Wright, and Ianis Hagi within the opening 20 minutes helped the home side settle any nerves at the Ibrox. Nigerian descent Calvin Bassey provided the assists to two of those goals.

Super Eagles playmaker Aribo supplied the crucial last pass to Kemar Roofe’s goal in the 33rd minute, making it 4-0 to the Light Blues before Roofe’s penalty shortly after the halftime break sealed a fantastic win for the Gers.

In Italy, Michael Folorunsho made his debut for Pordenone days after completing his loan switch from Napoli. The 23-year-old featured in his side’s 3-1 Coppa Italia defeat to Serie A side Spezia inside the Stadio Guido Teghil.

Folorunsho showed his quality by netting a 51st-minute penalty for the home side. However, it only proved to be a mere consolation as first-half goals from Martin Erlic and Nikolaou, as well as Ebrima Colley’s 83rd-minute penalty, sealed the win for Spezia.