FC1. Union Berlin of Germany striker, Taiwo Awoniyi missed a chance to get his first goal with the club this past weekend, but the Nigerian-born pair of Chuba Akpom and Bright Osayi-Samuel were both on song during the same match in the English Championship, megasportsarena.com gathered.
While Akpom and Osayi-Samuel were Nigeria’s biggest celebrants on Sunday, Awoniyi was in full flight 24 hours earlier and, though he failed to score, he still had a happy ending to 58 minutes of action in the German Bundesliga, as he helped the side he joined earlier this month eke out a 1-1 draw away to Borussia Mönchengladbach.
The former youth international, who played for another Bundesliga side, SV Mainz 05 last season, was in resplendent form at Stadion Borussia-Park, where he was in his Berlin-based side’s starting line-up and, though he could not score in the encounter, he gained lofty words from the coach, Urs Fischer.
Awoniyi, who was in Nigeria’s winning squad to UAE 2013 FIFA U-17 World Cup and the third placed team at Rio 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil, was on for 58 minutes before making way for Ingvartsen, soon after he missed a chance to open scoring when his first-time volley narrowly went off target in the 15th minute.
He was again in the highlights just past the half-hour mark, when he attempted to knock home a rebound after one of his teammates struck the crossbar, and Mönchengladbach then took the lead two minutes before Awoniyi went off, but the visitors drew level in the 79th minute, much to the delight of the Nigerian youngster, who is on loan from Liverpool of England.
This is the seventh time Liverpool will loan out Awoniyi signing him in 2015, with Union Berlin his sixth club and third in Germany, having previously starred for lower division side, FSV Frankfurt and Mainz, while the 23-year-old striker has also seen time at NEC Nijmegen of Holland as well as Royal Excel Mouscron (twice) and KAA Gent of Belgium.
In England’s lower division, Michael Olise got a 90th minute yellow card in action for Reading, who won 2-1 away to Cardiff City, Fred Onyedinma also got an 11th minute booking and was replaced in the 69th minute with Wycombe Wanderers, who had Dennis Adeniran on for the entire duration, as they lost 2-0 at home against Swansea City.
Olise and Ovie Ejaria both got full minutes of action with Reading, who had Omatsone ‘Sone’ Aluko on their bench till the last whistle, while Sheyi Ojo was on for the duration for Cardiff City; but Bryan Mbeumo played all minutes for Brentford in a 1-1 draw away to Milwall.
Victor Adeboyejo was benched for all 90 minutes by Barnsley in their goalless draw at home with Coventry City; while Chiedozie Ogbene and Michael Ihiekwe both got full minutes under their boots with Rotherham United, as their team played 1-1 away to Birmingham City, who had Freddie Ladapo watching from the sidelines till the final whistle.
However, the biggest Nigerian drama in the English Championship came in a 1-1 draw between Queens Park Rangers and visiting Middlesbrough, as new signing, Chuba Akpom opened scoring for the visitors in the 19th minute and Bright Osayi-Samuel equalized for the hosts in the 28th – and both got 90 minutes for their respective teams, while Aramide Oteh was benched by QPR.
In the top-flight English Premier League, Kelechi Iheanacho got off the bench for Leicester City and helped them beat his former club, Manchester City 5-2 to go top of the log after winning their first three matches of the season on the trot.
‘Kelele’ entered the game at Etihad Stadium as a substitute with five minutes remaining after hat-trick hero, Jamie Vardy was forced off with a minor groin injury, but Wilfred Onyinyen Ndidi was absent due to surgery he went for a day before on an adductor injury.
In Scotland, Calvin Bassey was on from the start for Glasgow Rangers and helped the Scottish Premiership table-toppers thrash Motherwell 5-1 at Fir Park, where the left-footed summer signing from Leicester City of England got his first starting role, after three appearances as a substitute.
With The Gers’ choice left-back, Borna Barisic struggling with fitness concerns, Steven Gerrard opted for 20-year-old Bassey as the next plausible alternative, and the Nigerian-born lad put up a commendable performance, while Leon Aderemi Balogun played his first game after injury knocked him out on August 12, as he entered Sunday’s game as a substitute on the hour mark.
In Italy, Victor Osimhen got his first competitive start for Napoli and contributed an assist in their 6-0 demolition of visiting Genoa at Stadio San Paolo in Naples, but the ex-VfL Wolfsburg of Germany, Sporting Charleroi of Belgium and Lille Metropole of France striker failed to score in 90 minutes of action.
Osimhen got close to scoring as early as the sixth minute, but saw his effort saved by Genoa’s goalkeeper and his low rocket shot close to half time went slightly off target, only for him to make a little mark early in the second half with a back-heeled pass to Piotr Zielinski to double Napoli’s advantage, but the Nigerian youngster later got his first booking in the Italian Serie A when he was shown a yellow card in the 90th minute.
In Spain, Samuel Chukwueze came up for knocks from former Barcelona star, Albert Ferrer, who criticized the left-footed winger for failing to help his team’s defence in their 4-0 loss away to Barca, who, launched most of their attacks attack came from their left flank.
Despite starting in his third appearance of the season, Chukwueze made way for Takefusa Kubo in the 74th minute, as Villarreal’s coach, Unai Emery made tactical changes before the second half started and The Yellow Submarine managed to keep Barcelona at bay in the second period.
Ferrer told LaLiga TV: “Samuel Chukwueze didn’t get there, Coquelin and Parejo tried to get there but most of the times were late. Basically, Villarreal despite having a lot of players there the intensity was not good enough and Jordi Alba was flying through the left side.”
