Nigerian players are making waves for their respective clubs in Europe and as the season winds up in most European major leagues, here is a round up of their exploits at the home stretch writes TUNDE LIADI.
ITALY
With the league title already won with Juventus as Champions for a record ninth season, Victor Moses and Inter Milan will be out to end the season in second position as they visit at Gewiss Stadium to face in-form Atalanta who are currently in the third position with a point behind. At least a draw for Antonio Conte’s men will keep them in second spot at the end of the season but Atalanta will leapfrog them if they are beaten.
Elsewhere, Lecce stopped Udinese’s two match winning streak with a 2-1 victory at Dacia Arena- Stadio Friuli midweek but the Little Zebras with Super Eagles’ William Troost Ekong must put that disappointment behind them as they travel to Stadio Mapei- Cittadel Tricolore to trade tackles with Sassuolo on Sunday.
BELGIUM
Nigerian duo of David Okereke and Emmanuel Dennis will strive to make it a double for Club Brugge today when they square up with Royal Antwerp in the final of the Belgian Cup after they were crowned Belgian League champions some months ago.
Club Brugge had unassailable less at the top of the league before the Coronavirus pandemic halted the league season in February and the Belgian Football authorities opted against playing the Championship playoffs because of the scourge. They named Club Brugge which parade the two Nigerians as league winners.
Okereke who only moved to Club Brugge from Spezia at the beginning of the season for €8 million, was involved in 22 league games with nine goals and two yellow cards. The 22-year-old has contributed two goals too in the Belgian Cup. He will hope to crown his first season in Belgium with a double if they overpower Royal Antwerp today.
Emmanuel Dennis is another player doing the country proud in Belgium with Club Brugge and he also will be eyeing the Belgian Cup having won the league already.
PORTUGAL
Obiora Nwankwo was not listed by Boavista for their concluding game of the season against Rio Ave which they lost 2-0 at home.
Boavista have been quite erratic since the season restarted in June and were unable to pick up any win in the month of July. They however survived the relegation zone as they finished the season in 12th position out of 18 teams. Obiora played 23 matches with nine yellow cards in the just concluded season.
Another Super Eagles player in the Portuguese top-flight is Mikel Agu who just guided Vitoria Guimaraes to the seventh position on the league table with 50 points.
Guimaraes with Agu playing all 90 minutes ended the season with a face-saving 2-2 draw away to Santa Clara who paraded another unknown Nigerian, Zaidu Sanusi in their fold.
The former Porto midfielder was fielded in 16 games and he scored a goal with five yellow cards to his credit in his first season with Vitoria Guimaraes.
TURKEY
Predictably, Former Under 23 skipper, Azubuike Okechukwu was not listed in Istanbul Basaksehir 3-2 away loss to Kasimpasa last weekend in the final game of the Super Lig season but it didn’t stop Basaksehir from being crowned the league champions for the first time in their history.
Okechukwu was used 17 times by coach Okan Buruk in a season he also made his move from his parents club, Pyramids of Egypt permanent at the Turkey capital city based club. He will play in the Champions League with the club next season.
Anthony Nwakaeme and Trabzonspor wiped off the tears of their narrow Super Lig title loss to Istanbul Basaksehir with their 2-0 victory over Alanyaspor in the final of the Turkish Cup on Wednesday.
Nwakaeme who played 29 games in the league with 11 goals and three yellow cards returned back from a knock and he was only good enough for the bench in the cup final.
Ogenyi Onazi last involvement in the league for Denizlispor was against his former club, Trabzonspor which he helped his new team to beat 2-1 on July 13. It is unclear what has kept him out of their remaining games of the season including their 1-0 loss at home to Ankaragucu last weekend.
Onazi featured in nine games for Denizlispor since he joined the team in January after he found game time hard to get at Trabzonspor at the beginning of the season. He was unfortunate with injury issues too. The 27-year-old helped his team to the 14th spot on the league table with 35 points.
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