The rain of goals from Nigerian players continued over the past 48 hours, as David Okereke made hay for Club Brugge of Belgium, Taiwo Awoniyi was on song for Union Berlin of Germany and Olarewaju Kayode struck one for Sivasspor of Turkey, megasportsarena.com reports.
While Awoniyi, Kayode and Okereke made the marks among popular Nigerian lads, Faustino Anjorin twinkled for Chelsea in England’s youth league, as Folarin Balogun and Miguel Azeez led a combination of three Nigerian-born players in setting tongues wagging at Arsenal.
Leading the spray of goals was Okereke, who was on target as Club Brugge registered a comprehensive 3-0 victory over KV Mechelen at AFAS Stadion, as the Belgian champions’ coach, Philippe Clement made an injury enforced substitution eight minutes before half time.
With Okereke sent on as a replacement for Noa Lang after a goalless first half, Club Brugge were two goals to the good in the space of five minutes after the restart through his presence, with a brace from Krépin Diatta.
A minute to the end of the game, Okereke made the score more emphatic when he blasted the ball into the roof of the net from close range after a through ball from Mats Rits; making it the first goal the former Spezia of Italy star in an away game for more than a year, as his last of such was against Zulte Waregem on October 30, 2019.
In Germany, Awoniyi made it four goals in his last six German Bundesliga appearances, as he netted for Union Berlin in their 2-1 home win over Borussia Dortmund at Stadion An der Alten Försterei.
Awoniyi finished off a corner kick to make it 1-0 in the 57th minute but the home team’s lead lasted three minutes with Moukoko equalising for Borussia Dortmund and the Nigerian former youth international made way eight minutes after Friedrich.
Before bowing out, Awoniyi had already netted the winning goal with a stunning header, which meant he scored at home for the first time since his Bundesliga debut, as all of his four previous sizzlers against FC Cologne (a brace), Hertha BSC and VfB Stuttgart were in away matches.
In Turkey, 27-year-old Kayode scored his first goal in domestic action for Sivasspor and helped his side beat Giresunspor 1-0 in the Turkish Cup, as the former youth international of loan from Shakhtar Donetsk of Ukraine replicated the form he has shown in the UEFA Europa League group stage of the Europa League.
His continental prowess saw him score in four consecutive matches before the last group game away at Maccabi Tel Aviv of Israel, but he had been on a barren run in the Turkish Super Lig, as he failed to score in seven matches and his only goal impact was an assist against Kayserispor.
Against Giresunspor, Kayode entered the game as a substitute in the 59th minute and ended his goal drought in domestic competitions when he struck in the second minute of stoppage time.
In England, Arsenal had the Nigerian-born quartet of Folarin Balogun, Miguel Azeez, Ryan Alebiosu, Tim Akinola and goalkeeper Arthur Okonkwomade in their squad that pulled off The Gunners’ fourth consecutive wins in the Premier League 2 after beating Leicester City 2-1.
Calum Chambers opened scoring for the home side after tucking home a rebound off Balogun’s effort in the 16th minute, but The Foxes managed to find a route back into the game when O’Connor headed past Okonkwo just before half time.
Around the hour, Moller thought he had put the north London team 2-1 up but the goal was disallowed as Azeez was offside when he made the pass, but he amended that later when he played the ball to Alebiosu, who crossed for Balogun and the striker put Arsenal back in front.
While Balogun scores his seventh goal for Arsenal this season, two Nigerian-born goalkeepers, Ovie Ejeheri and Chituru Odunze were unused substitutes for The Gunners and Leicester City respectively.
On the other hand, Anjorin put up a best player performance for Chelsea in their 6-1 demolition of Manchester United in a Premier League 2 fixture in which the 19-year-old was one of two players of Nigerian descent on show, as The Rd Devils also had Shola Shoretire in their attack.
It took Chelsea less than two minutes to open scoring through Marcel Lewis, with Anjorin on the assist, before Soonsup-Bell made it 2-0 with his first goal at U23 level barely a minute later, and the home team were 3-0 up at the end of the first half.
Anjorin smashed home for his first goal of the afternoon in the 34th minute and returned in the 51st by converting a penalty to make it 4-0, then set up Chelsea’s sixth goal that was netted by Charlie Brown.
While Anjorin took his season’s tally to two goals and two assists, Shoretire was shown a yellow card for committing a foul in the 88th minute, four minutes after The Red Devils got their consolation goal, but he could not add one of his own to the tally.
