New signing at Al-Shabab of Saudi Arabia, Odion Jude Ighalo received a warm welcome to action with the oil rich club, as his efforts helped them to yet another victory,, while Sadiq Umar got yet another milestone to highlight his ongoing glorious days at UD Almeria of Spain.
Megasportsarena.com reports that, also smiling at the weekend was Galatasaray of Turkey returnee, Henry Onyekuru, whose side eke out victory against Fernebahce in the Istanbul derby, but the biggest talking point surely had to be in Asia, where Ighalo’s arrival in the Middle East began with aplomb.
That appeared to be the case, though Ighalo was a late sub on his debut, as Al-Shabab regained top spot in the Saudi Arabian Super League courtesy of a 4-1 win over Al-Raed, against which the former Super Eagles’ striker had his first feel of action in the Arabian nation on Saturday.
En route to helping Al-Shabab reclaim top spot on the Saudi Arabian log, Ighalo, who signed a two and a half years contract with the ambitious club just two days earlier, was introduced in the 84th minute and his new club moved to 35 points from 17 matches, two ahead of Al-Ahli.
It is expected that Ighalo will be more involved in next weekend’s fixture, ahead of which he should settle down fully at his new base and helped them improve their led atop the log, even as they will be guests of Al-Nassr, who last October released Super Eagles’ captain, Ahmed Musa.
In Spain, Umar was awarded the Spanish Liga 2 Best Player Award for January, as he had been quite outstanding in the month under review, scoring five of eight goals scored by his club and opened the year with a magnificent hat-trick in a 3-1 win against SD Ponferradina.
The Rio 2016 Olympic Games bronze medalist later scored one in Almería’s 2-2 goals with CE Sabadell and again in a 3-1 win over CD Castellón, as he helped Almeria achieve seven points out of a possible nine in the first month of the year.
The former AS Roma of Italy, Glasgow Rangers of Scotland and Partizan Belgrade of Serbia hitman’s efforts have helped Almeria up to in third place in La Segunda Liga, which keeps them in the play-off positions for promotion to the top-flight LaLiga.
In Turkey, Onyekuru ensured his side stole the shine over their eternal rivals, who had new signing, Bright Osayi-Samuel shining down the flanks but could not save his side from slumping to Galatasaray in the Istanbul derby for the second straight season.
Onyekuru, who started for ‘Gala’ and was denied a goal by the Fenerbahçe goalkeeper in the first half, was present for both scintillating victories for Galatasaray, who are now top of the Turkish Super Lig standings on a better goals difference, tied on 48 points with their bitter city rivals.
Onyekuru’s compatriot, Oghenekaro Etebo was later introduced for Galatasaray to defend their goal, in a bid for a comeback by Fenerbahçe, whose supporters will take delight from the hugely sparkling performance of Osayi-Samuel, who arrived from Queens Park Rangers of England last month.
