Nigerians abroad: Kante shines as Ighalo tastes first defeat; Ikwuemesi makes positive Serie A bow

Soccernet.ng brings you an exhilarating roundup of Nigerian football stars who illuminated European and Asian clubs on Monday. 

In the Italian Serie A, exciting Nigerian forward Chukwubuikem Ikwuemesi made his Serie A debut as Salernitana forced Udinese to a 1-1 draw.

Ikwuemesi, who only joined Salernitana 11 days ago from Slovenia’s Celje for €1.8 million, started on the bench at the Stadio Arechi in Salerno.

On the substitutes bench for Udinese were the Super Eagles duo of Isaac Success and goalkeeper Maduka Okoye, who completed his switch from Watford a few days ago.

The visitors took the lead thanks to Lazar Samardžić in the 57th minute before Boulaye Dia equalised for Salernitana 15 minutes later.

Success came on for Lucca in the 75th minute while Ikwuemesi was introduced to the fray six minutes from time, but their presence on the pitch did not alter the scoreline.

In the Armenian Premier League, Yusuf Otubanjo was the hero for Pyunik as he bagged a brace in their 3 – 0 victory over West Armenia.

Otubanjo got his goals in the second half as the win sent Pyunik to the top of the standings with 11 points from their first five games of the campaign.

In the Portuguese Primeira Liga, Zaidu Sanusi featured for Porto as they battled back from going behind to beating their hosts Rio Ave 2-1.

Over to Saudi Arabia, where Henry Onyekuru continued to search for his first league goal in the colours of Al Fayha.

The Super Eagles forward featured for 83 minutes as his side were beaten 2-1 by Abha at the Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz Sports City Stadium.

At the King Abdulaziz Sports City Stadium in Mecca, Odion Ighalo and Al Wehda were battered 0 – 3 by Karim Benzema’s league-leading Al Ittihad.

Injury forced off Benzema in the first half but Jota, who replaced him, netted Al Ittihad’s second goal of the evening in the 67th minute.

Former Chelsea man N’golo Kante had assisted Romarinho’s opener for the visitors four minutes earlier. Igor Coronado rounded up the scoring for the winners in the 73rd minute.