SSC Napoli of Italy striker, Victor Osimhen has been hit with a fresh injury scare, as he had to bow out with pain the head after scoring his eighth goal of the season in the Italian Serie A, while Umar Sadiq was on song in Spain and Moses Simon followed suit in France.
Megasportsaena.com reports that former Super Eagles’ assistant captain, Eddy Ogenyi Onazi was also on song at his new base in Lithuania, while largely unpopular youngster, Abdussalam Magashy scored his first goal of the season in Sweden.
In Italy, Osimhen’s goal in the 13th minute of play failed to help Napoli to victory, as they shared points with visiting Cagliari in a 1-1 draw at Diego Armando Maradona Stadium, where the Super Eagles’ ace struck with a left-footed shot after a lobbed pass from Lorenzo Insigne.
Osimhen has been back in top form since March, scoring six goals and providing an assist in ten league matches, but Napoli’s coach, Gennaro Gattuso was forced to replace him in the 76th match after the striker suffered an injury in a clash of heads with Cagliari center back, Luca Ceppitelli.
In Spain, Sadiq was back among the goals with a brace for UD Almeria, but his 19th and 20th goals of the second-tier league were only good enough to help his side eke out a 2-2 draw with Real Oviedo, against which he opened scoring in the 20th minute from the penalty spot.
Sadiq then doubled his team’s lead after half an hour of action, but the visitors fought back to salvage a draw, which spoiled the fun of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games’ bronze medalist’s haul of 18 goals in the Segunda Division.
While the former AS Roma of Italy, Glasgow Rangers of Scotland and Partizan Belgrade of Serbia tall lad has also netted two goals in the FA Cup and has three assists to boot so far this season, Almeria have faltered in the race for promotion as they are now eights adrift of Mallorca, who occupy the second automatic promotion spot.
In France, Simon returned with a goal after a five-game barren spell and his effort helped FC Nantes to a 4-1 win over Brest at Stade Francis le Ble, where the Super Eagles’ winger was one of the standout performers for the visitors.
Simon reacted first on the loose ball to open the scoring on 15 minutes, after Imran Louza’s long range shot was parried back into play by goalkeeper Gautier Larsonneur, following which Louza made it 3-0 ten minutes after the restart with the Nigerian winger providing the assist.
In Lithuania, Onazi scored his first goal for Zalgiris Vilnius and helped the defending champions to a 5-1 win against bottom placed Dainava, as he opened scoring with a header in the 15th minute to help his side back to winning ways.
The Jos-born midfielder, who has previously played for My People FC of Lagos, SS Lazio of Italy as well as Trabzonspor and Denizlispor of Turkey, lasted 82 minutes on the pitch before he was replaced.
His efforts were, however, enough to provide a breath of fresh air for Zalgiris, who had gone three games without a win before Saturday’s victory and they are now fourth on the table with 18 points from nine matches, seven behind league leaders Suduva.
In Sweden, Magashy’s goal helped Varnamo maintain a flying start to the season in the Swedish Superettan, as the 23-year-old midfielder opened scoring in the 45th minute of the game, as the division’s newcomers battled away to Falkenberg.
While Magashy was on from the start, former Flying Eagles striker Alhaji Gero was a late sub for Varnamo, who have now won three straight matches, following defeat in their opening game of the campaign, are now top of the standings with nine points, two clear of their nearest rivals.
