“We needed to win” – Nigeria’s top goalscorer in Europe pleased with crucial brace

No Nigerian player has scored more goals in the European football circuit than Union Berlin’s Taiwo Awoniyi and KRC Genk’s Paul Onuachu, except Slovan’s Nigerian import, Henty

Slovan Bratislava forward Ezekiel Henty has expressed his pleasure at scoring the goals that powered the Slovakian giants to a thrilling 3-2 away win at Trencin on Sunday.

Henty netted a brace to help the reigning champions come from behind and record their tenth league victory of the campaign in only 13 games.

The 28-year-old equalised for the Sky Blues five minutes after the break, as Kadak had given the hosts the lead shortly before the interval.

And with the scores tied at 2-2 after both teams traded further goals, Henty then popped up with the winning goal, seven minutes from time.

The latest double is the AC Milan academy product’s seventh and eighth goals of the league season, which takes him to the top of the scorers’ chart in the Super Liga.

And Henty insists the goals bring him joy as they help secure all the three points at stake and prepare his side for future challenges.

“Both goals were very important to me,” Henty told the Slovan official website.

“The first we returned to the match and equalised to 1: 1, the second was the winner. In this extremely important match for us, we needed to win, both for the development of the league but also towards Thursday.

“We wanted to increase our self-confidence before the European duel. I am very happy that we managed it today.”

Two-time Slovakian league title winner Henty already has 14 goals in all competitions this term.

Aside from his eight in the Fortuna Liga, the former Lokomotiv Moscow ace has two goals in three Conference League games, two goals in the Champions League qualifiers, and another two in the Europa League qualifying series.

Henty is currently Nigeria’s leading goalscorer in Europe, with his haul better than Taiwo Awoniyi’s twelve, Paul Onuachu’s twelve, Stephen Odey’s ten, and Victor Osimhen’s nine.