A good number of Nigerian players left their mark in some of the major leagues in Europe over the weekend, while for a few others, things did not go as planned. Check out how your favourite Naija ballers did over the last weekend of February.
Ademola Lookman
The reigning African Player of the Year showed his mentality remains elite by scoring two goals in Atalanta’s 5-0 demolition of Empoli, which keeps the club within three points of Serie A leaders, Inter Milan, in what is shaping to be a three-horse race in Italy.
Lookman shrugged off the controversy stirred by Atalanta coach Gian Piero Gasperini’s comments after the club’s Champions League exit last week to put in a Man of the Match display and surpass his goals tally in the league from last season (11) already – with 12 games still to play.
Gift Orban
The Hoffenheim man showed great composure after getting the ball from Andrei Kramaric to lose a defender before slamming high into the Stuttgart net to level the scores and ultimately earn a 1-1 draw for his club.
Promise David
The Nigerian forward, who has eight goals in 21 games this season, turned provider for both of Union SG’s goals — first setting up Israel’s Anan Khalaili in the 33rd minute before assisting Senegal’s Ousseynou Niang in the 70th minute.
Moses Simon
Another Nigerian who showed good composure in front of goal is Moses Simon with a calmly converted penalty on the hour mark to give FC Nantes a 2-0 win in what ended up being a 3-1 win over Lens as the club bounced back from a 7-1 loss at Monaco last time out in the league.
Simon had a hand in Nantes’ opening goal too, as Lens failed to deal with the Nigerian forward’s cross which eventually fell to teenager, Louis Leroux, to score on his first start for Nantes.
Igho Ogbu
The defender scored Slavia Prague’s third as the Czech top-flight leaders claimed a 3-1 win over Rafiu Durosimi’s second-placed Viktoria Plzen to widen the gap at the top of the league to 13 points, as the league title now appears set to be won by Ogbu’s team.
Calvin Bassey
The defender, along with Alex Iwobi, endured a forgettable afternoon as Fulham went down 2-0 at home to an efficient Crystal Palace side and drop to 10th on the Premier League standings with 39 points – a point away from the fabled 40-point safety mark.