Super Eagles star Moffi’s brilliance powers Lorient past Ligue 1 champions Lille

The 22-year-old Nigerian attacker is yet to contribute a goal or an assist in three brief appearances for the Super Eagles, but he continues to deliver for Les Merlus

Just days after helping the Super Eagles beat Cape Verde in a World Cup qualifier, Nigerian forward Terem Moffi delivered a man-of-the-match performance to inspire Lorient to a 2-1 home win over reigning Ligue 1 champions Lille on Friday night.

Moffi fired blanks when featuring for the last 17 minutes against the Blue Sharks on Tuesday, but he was back in familiar French settings, providing the assist to the opening goal before scoring a late winner.  

Armand Lauriente gave Lorient a seventh-minute lead, but the goal was mostly Moffi’s doing.

Four Lille players were drawn to Moffi as he raced forward with the ball, and the Lorient number 13 somehow dribbled and bundled his way through. The Nigerian then squared it to Lauriente to touch and smash in to make it 1-0 to the home side.

Burak Yilmaz’s 25th-minute penalty goal, however, restored parity for the visitors.

Both sides went into the halftime break all square, but it could have been different had Moffi’s fine effort, when well placed, had not been blocked moments before the referee’s whistle went off. 

Reigning Ligue 1 champions, Lille cranked up the pressure in the second half, leaving Moffi with very few chances to work with, but the former Kortrijk ace kept working hard for Les Merlus.

He saw a headed pass in the danger area picked up by the opposing goalkeeper before he popped up in his box to help out with a clearance shortly later.

With the game dragging towards a draw, Lorient would have been pleased with a share of the points, considering the corresponding fixture last season ended in a 4-1 home defeat.

But Moffi was having none of that, and the Super Eagles striker sent the visitors packing empty-handed with a late finish.