Nigerian Stars Abroad and Super Eagles players were in fine form at the weekend led by Super Eagles main men Ademola Lookman and Victor Osimhen, alongside Cyriel Dessers and Paul Onuachu.
It was all goals for the players over the weekend with Dessers the standout performer with a one-man show for Scottish giants Rangers in the FA Cup.
After losing his place in the team, the 30-year-old was handed his start for the Gers since December 29 in the cup against Fraserburgh and he rewarded his manager with a fantastic hattrick.
Dessers opened the scoring in the 27th minute before he added two more goals in the second half to complete his hattrick. He has now scored 16 goals in 33 matches this season.
Ademola Lookman was another Super Eagles forward who enjoyed a good weekend, albeit on a personal note as Atalanta lost ground in the title race to Napoli.
Antonio Conte’s Napoli extended their lead at the top of the Serie A after a brilliant 3-2 win against Atalanta in Bergamo. Lookman scored a remarkable second for La Dea, levelling the score at 2-2.
Romelu Lukaku will seal all three points later for the visitors, but the goal was the 10th of the season in the league for Africa’s finest player, Lookman.
Nigerian midfielder Fisayo Dele-Bashiru was a second-half substitute as his Lazio dismantled Hellas Verona in another Serie A match.
In the Premier League, Paul Onuachu stole the headlines with his first goal for Southampton in the popular league.
However, in what seems to be the weekend theme, it was not enough for the Saints to get some respite from their relegation fears after a 3-2 defeat to fellow Nigerians Taiwo Awoniyi and Ola Aina’s Nottingham Forest.
In that game, Aina proved to be the ultimate difference maker after he assisted the third goal by Chris Wood and denied the Saints at least a point after coming from three goals down with a late goal-line clearance.
At the King Power, Alex Iwobi and Calvin Bassey played from start to finish as Fulham compounded the woes of Wilfred Ndidi-less Leicester City, who are looking sure bet to return to the Championship.
Osimhen and Moses Simon are other Super Eagles stars who were on target but it was not enough for their respective teams in Turkey and France.
Simon netted his fifth of the season in a 1-1 draw at Saint-Etienne, while Osimhen kicked off the weekend’s proceedings on Friday from 12 yards in Galatasaray’s shock 1-1 draw at Hatayspor.
In the Bundesliga, Nathan Tella helped Leverkusen extend their winning run to 11 matches while Frank Onyeka’s Augsburg picked three valuable points on the road against Werder Bremen.
