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African stars in Europe’s elite leagues
It was another excellent weekend for African stars in Europe’s elite leagues with goals, assists and cleansheets aplenty. We round up the action from some of the best performers.
SAID BENRAHMA (WEST HAM & ALGERIA)
Benrahma is a player with incredible skill but also the ability to delight and disappoint in equal measure. If he were to perform consistently at his best, he would be some player. But he showed a neat piece of skill and vision to help West Ham score their equaliser against Southampton on Sunday in the 1-1 draw at St Mary’s, playing a one-two with Declan Rice before the latter curled the ball into the net.
Egyptian striker Salah has proven plenty of times before that he is the man for the big occasion and he loves a goal against Manchester City too. He looked as though he had blown his big chance when he shot wide in a one-on-one with City goalkeeper Ederson but, given a second opportunity, he did not disappoint. He turned City defender Joao Cancelo after a long punt up field from Liverpool goalkeeper Allison and faced with Ederson again, this time he buried it to keep The Reds’ title hopes alive with a 1-0 win.
M'BALA NZOLA (SPEZIA & ANGOLA)
Nzola was back on the scoresheet for Spezia this weekend as he netted in a 2-2 home draw with Cremonese. It is his fourth goal of the campaign, already two more than he managed in Serie A last season, as he blasted the ball into the roof of the net from the edge of the box with an excellent first time shot. It has been a fine season so far the 26-year-old Angolan.
CYRIL DESSERS (CREMONESE & NIGERIA)
Before Nzola was on the scoresheet, Dessers had given Cremonese the lead with what will surely be the easiest goal of his career. He had to only tap the ball over the line from a foot out without an opposition player in sight, but he will no doubt say it is all about being in the right place at the right time! It was his second goal in as many games, having also netted against Napoli the previous weekend.
VICTOR OSIMHEN (NAPOLI & NIGERIA)
Osimhen showed all his predatory instincts as he scored Napoli’s third goal in their 3-2 victory over Bologna at the weekend, which followed his midweek strike against Ajax Amsterdam in the Champions League. He used his pace to get in behind the Bologna defence and when faced with the keeper, kept his cool to slide it past the gloveman. He is starting to find his groove this campaign.
MUSA BARROW (BOLOGNA & GAMBIA)
There was a fair bit of luck about this strike, but Barrow won’t mind as he netted for the second time in the campaign. It was an ambitious shot from all of 35-yards that should have been stopped by Napoli goalkeeper Alex Meret, but the gloveman let it squirm past him and into the net. Barrow won’t mind how they come, as long as he can keep on putting the ball in the back of the net.
FRANK ONYEKA (NIGERIA & BRENTFORD)
Onyeka has been used mostly off the bench this season but marked his first Premier League start with an assist in Brentford’s first goal against Brighton & Hove Albion. He was played into some space on the right-hand side of the box by Bryan Mbeumo, and his low cross was backheeled into the net by Ivan Toney in The Bees’ 2-0 home win. Onyeka will now hope to get his name on the scoresheet, having not netted for Brentford since he joined the club at the start of the 2021-22 season.
YASSINE BOUNOU (SEVILLA & MOROCCO)
Bounou has been warming up for the World Cup in Qatar with some excellent performances for Sevilla in LaLiga this season, even if the side have been struggling in the table. He kept a cleansheet against Mallorca this weekend in a vital 1-0 away win for the Seville side, who climbed to 14th in the table with the three points. He will hope to do the same when they host Valencia on Tuesday.
ADEMOLA LOOKMAN (ATALANTA & NIGERIA)
Lookman has been in excellent scoring form for Atalanta this season with four goals in six Serie A starts, the latest coming early in the second half against Sassuolo. It was in fact the third game in a row in which the Nigeria international has found the back of the net as he raced onto a through-pass, turned one defender inside out and then fired the ball into the net. It was a very typical Lookman goal.
EL BILAL TOURÉ (ALMERIA & MALI)
The Mali attacker has not featured all that much for Almeria in LaLiga this season, but finished off a fine team move to bring them level at 1-1 with Real Betis this weekend. They went on to lose 3-1, but the 21-year-old left his mark on the game having been teed-up by Gonzalo Melero to score for the second week running after his strike against Rayo Vallecano.
REINILDO MANDAVA (ATLETICO MADRID & MOZAMBIQUE)
Mozambique star Reinildo has played every minute of the campaign for Atletico Madrid so far and helped them to a clean sheet in the 1-0 win at Athletic Bilbao. The Madrid side have let in only seven goals in their nine games and have risen to third in the table on the back of that stout defensive effort. Reinildo had played his part and is the only ever-present in the squad this season.
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