PAOK Saloniki of Greece striker, Chuba Akpom hit home another goal in the Greek Super League last weekend, while Simeon Tochukwu Nwankwo (Simy) was in top form with Crotone in Italy and Denzilispor of Turkey midfielder, Eddy Ogenyi Onazi returned to training after he faced yet another injury scare at the start of last week, megasportsarena.com gathered.
While the battling midfielder will now hope to cut short a diagnosis that stated he would be out for at least three weeks, ‘Simy’ kept going strong in the same country where Onazi used to ply his trade with SS Lazio and former Arsenal youth team player, Akpom continued his impressive campaign with PAOK, as he scored his eighth goal of the campaign in a 3-1 win over OFI Crete.
Akpom got his 11th start of the season, in a game that also had former Super Eagles’ invitee, Anderson Esiti in PAOK’s midfield, but their team failed to make the most of their dominance in the first period and they were stunned five minutes into the second period when Juan Angel Neira gave the visitors a 1-0 lead.
However, the hosts turned to the tide moments later, when Christos Tzolis equalized just three minutes after going on to make it 1-1, after which Akpom finished off the turnaround with a well taken penalty in stoppage time and Omar El Kaddouri sealed their 3-1 comeback win.
In Italy, Simy was the star man for promotion chasing Crotone, as he excelled in their 1-1 draw at home to Chievo Verona and kept his side on course for automatic promotion to the top-flight Italian Serie A.
Although Simy could not add to his current haul of 13 league goals so far this season, the leggy top striker led the line for the hosts, while the visitors had former Inter Milan and AS Torino ace midfielder, Joel Chukwuma Obi on from the start, as they battled to remain in the playoffs zone.
Crotone took the lead against the run of play on 21 minutes, when Ahmed Benali fed Salvatore Molina to net his first league goal of the campaign, after which Obi, who was equally impressive in the middle of the park for the visitors, got a yellow card before the hour mark.
Obi was later replaced by Hervin Ongenda and his side were rewarded two minutes from time, when Damil Ceter struck the equalizer that ensured both teams shared the points, even as Simy emerged his side’s best player, with a rating of 7.6 over ten.
Simy also completed two key passes, got 100% from his tackles, won 12 duels and put up a high rate display, while Obi got a rating of 7.1, achieved 86% of his passes, made one key pass, won 11 duels and got six big tackles in the match, which sees Crotone remain in second position with 50 points and Chievo 8th with 42 points.
In Turkey, Onazi insists he will be back in training this week, after bowing out of his team’s last game at Sivasspor last weekend and was told by doctors that he will need at least three weeks to fully recover from the knock.
He has, however, defied that verdict and declared that he will quickly resume normal training with his side, with which the former Lazio of Italy and Trabzonspor of Italy star was pulled out just 13 minutes after he went on as a substitute.
Although Onazi admitted he had to call on the coach to replace him, he interjected that it was merely to avoid any serious injury; even as he confessed that he did not warm-up enough before being stepping onto the pitch, only to be affected by heavy cold during the match in Sivas.
He now hopes to quickly return to action with Denzilispor, who are currently 12th on the Turkish Super Lig log, as the Denzili-based team felt his absence this past weekend, when they crumbled 5-1 at home versus Besiktas.
Onazi doused all worries about his status, saying t was just a minor injury, and he concluded: “I think I may not have warmed up very well, and I felt some kind of discomfort when I got in. I had to call to go out of the game to avoid straining or tearing my muscle.”
