African ALL Stars: Stunning Sarr and sensational Salah

Ismaila Sarr put in a stunning display for Crystal Palace and there was the obligatory assist for Mo Salah this past weekend as Africa’s leading stars continue to prove invaluable for their clubs in Europe’s top leagues.

Here is a round-up of the best performers from the weekend.

ISMAILA SARR (SENEGAL & CRYSTAL PALACE)

Crystal Palace have found this season a struggle so far, but showed their potential with an excellent 3-1 away win over Brighton & Hove Albion, led by their excellent Senegalese winger Sarr. He scored two goals and provided the assist for the third in an all-action display that will live long in the memory. He laid on his side’s opener for Trevoh Chalobah, though he did not know all that much about it as the ball bounced about in the penalty-area. He then got his first goal with a header at the back post, before showing his pace to break free of the Palace defence late on and finish. That is now three goals and two assists for the winger this season.

NICOLAS JACKSON (SENEGAL & CHELSEA)

Chelsea have emerged as potentially the most credible challengers to Liverpool’s title march, and they managed another win with a 2-1 home success over Brentford, with Jackson on target again. It was a good solo run where he took on Brentford’s Nigeria defender Ethan Pinnock before firing low into the back of the net. That made it 2-0 and while The Bees pulled a goal back, Chelsea hung on. Jackson now has nine goals and three assists in 15 Premier League games this season and will be odds on to beat his goals tally of 14 in the last campaign.

BRYAN MBEUMO (CAMEROON & BRENTFORD)

Brentford ended up with nothing from their visit to Stamford Bridge, but the brilliant Bryan Mbeumo at least came away with another goal. Brentford have been such an enigma this season, the best home record of any club in the division (22 points) and joint worst on their travels (1 point). Cameroon star Mbeumo was on the end of a lightning counter-attack as he was played in behind the Chelsea defence, raced clear and then slotted low into the back of the net. It was goal number 10 to go with two assists, making him one of the most potent attackers in the Premier League this campaign.

AMAD DIALLO (IVORY COAST & MANCHESTER UNITED)

Manchester United stages a stunning comeback to compound more misery on neighbours Manchester City with a 2-1 victory in their local derby at the Etihad Stadium. City have now lost eight of their last 11 games in all competitions, an almost unbelievable collapse, and have fallen outside of the top four in the Premier League. They led until the 88th minute when Bruno Fernandes converted a penalty, before Diallo found some space on the left-hand side of the box and cooly slotted the ball into the net two minutes later. He has been outstanding in recent weeks and now has two goals and six assists in nine starts in the league this season.

PAPE SARR (SENEGAL & TOTTENHAM)

Southampton have been desperately poor at the back this season but were put to the sword by Tottenham Hotspur, who netted five times in the opening half. Once of those was from the boot of Sarr, as he scored his first league goal since February. Sarr showed brilliant feet to dance through several defenders in the box before powering the ball into the back of the net from 10 yards. The 22-year-old continues to develop into a top midfielder, and also has two assists this campaign.

MOHAMED SALAH (EGYPT & LIVERPOOL)

Salah was not on the scoresheet for once, but almost inevitably did provide an assist for Cody Gakpo to score as Liverpool twice had to come from behind to rescue a 2-2 draw at home to Fulham. It takes his goals contribution in the Premier League this season to an incredible 22 in 15 games (13 goals, nine assists), which makes it even more perplexing why Liverpool are stalling on offering him a new contract. It was Salah’s deep cross to the back post that took out the Fulham defence and allowed Gakpo to head into the goal for 1-1.

ABDUL MUMIN (GHANA & RAYO VALLECANO)

Mumin helped Rayo Vallecano earn an incredible 3-3 draw at home to Real Madrid, a game where his side led 2-0, then found themselves 3-2 down before fighting back to earn a point. The defender does not score many, in fact he has four league goals in his entire 178-game career for club and country dating back to the 2016/17 season. He now does have two goals this season alone though, to go with one assist. He used his height and power to head in from a corner and put his side 2-0 up, and while they could not hold on for the win, they will be delighted with the battling display.

ANUAR TUHAMI (MOROCCO & VALLADOLID)

Tuhami scored the only goal of the game as Real Valladolid claimed a 1-0 win over struggling Valencia to put some daylight between themselves and the bottom three. The 29-year-old netted a second of the season as he ran at the Valencia defence and with a little bit of luck from the bounce of the ball, beat the goalkeeper, who got a hand to the shot but could not keep it out. The Moroccan has been in and out of the side this season, so will hope this strike gets him an extended run.

ABDE EZZALZOULI (MOROCCO & REAL BETIS)

Real Betis got one of their best wins of the season when they won 2-1 away at high-flying Villarreal, with Ezzalzouli providing the assist for their opener by Vitor Roque. It was his perfect cross from the left-hand side of the box that was headed into the net from inside the six-yard box to give Betis a lead they kept to the end of the game. It was Ezzalzouli’s first assist of the campaign to go with a single goal.

ABDOU HARROUI (MOROCCO & HELLAS VERONA)

Verona moved out of the Serie A relegation zone thanks to their 3-2 win at Parma, with Harroui playing an instrumental role following his two assists. They were his first assists of the season to go with a single goal, so it is fair to say it was his best display of the campaign. His first was a pinpoint cross from a short corner on the left that was headed into the net by Diego Coppola. His second was a beautiful low ball into the box from the right for Amin Sarr to slide the ball home. One with the right foot, one with the left, same outcome!

ANDRE-FRANK ZAMBO ANGUISSA (CAMEROON & NAPOLI)

Napoli returned to winning ways with a 3-1 victory over Udinese, assisted in part by a goal for Anguissa, his team’s third of the game. He showed great strength to hold off two defenders and burst into the box, before providing a low, calm finish to seal the three points. Napoli are up to second in the table, two points behind leaders Atalanta, and was a second goal to go with one assist for Anguissa this season. He has started all 16 of Napoli’s games so far.