Nigerian players were again among the widespread goals scorers in Europe this weekend, with Anthony Nwakaeme on song for Trabzonspor of Turkey, while Jordan Attah Kadiri netted a hat-trick in Sweden, Simeon Tochukwu Nwankwo (Simy) made hay for Crotone of Italy, Ike Ugbo hit one for Roda JC Kerkrade of Holland and Joshua Orobosa Zirkzee for Bayern Munich of Germany.
In Italy, Simy Nwankwo continued his fine form in the colors of Crotone as he helped the Serie A promotion seekers record back to back wins following his winning goal at Virtus Entella.
With a goal or assist in his last three Serie B league outings, the 27-year-old led the line for his team alongside Samuel Armenteros, but it was the Swedish striker who drew first blood when he put the visitors 1-0 up inside the opening 10 minutes.
Simy then scored what went on to be the winner just seven minutes from time when he finished off an assist from Salvatore Molina for 2-0 before the hosts pulled one back deep into additional time with Crotone holding on to claim their 13th win of the campaign.
The win momentarily moves Crotone back to second on the log with 43 points, level with 3rd place Frosinone having played one game more in their quest for automatic promotion and Simy, who has now scored 12 league goals this term, finished the game with an impressive rating of 7.1, winning 8 duels, making 1 key pass and also completing 65% of his passes.
In Sweden, Kadiri continued his impressive run for Swedish Club Östersunds as he scored his first professional hat-trick to guide the club to a comprehensive 4-0 win over GAIS Göteborg on the second match day of the Svenska Cup.
The former Nasarawa United striker needed just 20 minutes to net his second goal of the campaign when he headed home from close range before Simon Kron made it 2-0 from the spot on 35 minutes.
Kadiri got his second of the match with a header just before the break, as he converted Ludvig Fritzson’s cross to make it 3-0 to the hosts, after which the 20-year-old completed his hat-trick in the 52nd minute, before he was withdrawn to a standing ovation as Östersunds claimed back to back wins in Group 6.
In Turkey, Nwakaeme netted for Trabzonspor and helped his side stay top of the Turkish Super Lig with a 5-2 thrashing of Caykur Rizespor, against who the former Hapoel Be’er Sheva of Israel attacker got off the bench to hit the bull’s eye.
While former Super Eagles’ captain, John Mikel Obi started his 16th game of the Turkish Lig this season, Nwakeame was named on the bench of the hosts, with another Nigerian striker, Aminu Umar also starting for the visitors.
Unbeaten since December of last year, the hosts fell to a shock 1-0 half time lead before Nwakeame was sent on at half time in a bid to overturn the result in favour of Trabzonspor.
His introduction coincidentally let to the withdrawal of Umar after the hour through injury with Trabzonspor going on to find the equalizer almost immediately as Manuel Da Costa made it 1-1.
Caleb Ekuban then made it 2-1 on 71 minutes with Jose Sosa putting them 3-1 up from the spot before Mikel was cautioned moments later after arguing with the center referee.
Nwakaeme then made it 4-1 with a curling shot from the edge of the box before Mikel got his marching orders after appearing to handle the ball in the box as the hosts were given a slim hope from the penalty spot.
In Holland, Ike Ugbo’s most successful season in terms of goals scoring since turning professional continued on Friday night as he got on the scorers’ cards for Roda’s 5-0 victory over Dordrecht at Parkstad Limburg Stadion in Kerkrade.
In doing so, Ugbo, who is on loan from Chelsea of England, took his haul for the season to 13 goals in the Dutch Eerste Divisie, that’s more than triple his tally combined during his loan spells at Scunthorpe United, Milton Keynes Dons and Barnsley.
However, it took all of 67 minutes into the contest, Ugbo planted a header past the goalkeeper, assisted by Jordy Croux, to make it 3-0 And, with just 10 matches to end the regular season, Roda are 17th in the 20-team table with 22 points from 28 games.
Ugbo, who happens to be a former England U17 international, made way for Ivan Prtajin at minute 74 and, having hit in 37 percent of Roda’s goals in the Dutch second-tier, they will be banking on his goals to save them from relegation.
In Germany, Holland under-19 international, Zirkzee scored just 15 minutes into his full German Bundesliga debut, as Bayern Munich registered a 6-0 victory over TSG Hoffenheim on Saturday.
The 18-year-old striker was handed his first start by manager Hans-Dieter Flick following the injury suffered by the clinical Polish striker Robert Lewandowski in the Champions League tie at Chelsea earlier this week.
Prior to Saturday’s game, Zirkzee had already scored two goals off the bench against SC Freiburg and VfL Wolfsburg in December 2019, but added to that haul by putting Bayern 3-0 up when he controlled the ball and slotted past the opposing goalkeeper, Oliver Baumann.
