It wasn’t the best of weekends for African professionals in Europe, however, a couple of players played key roles in their teams’ victories.
On Saturday, Sadio Mane broke the deadlock for Liverpool after a barren first half to move his season’s tally to eight goals and 4th place on the EPL top scorer table.
When Ivorian Wilfried Zaha levelled for Crystal Palace in the 82nd minute it all seemed the Reds could end up with an unhealthy surprise at Selhurst Park, but Roberto Firmino restored their lead to claim maximum points.
The top of table clash between Manchester City and Chelsea was decided by Riyad Mahrez, who scored his side’s second goal following a 1-1 stalemate initiated by N’Golo Kante and Kevin De Bruyne.
In Spain, Morocco’s Youssef En-Nesyri could have emerged hero of the weekend in La Liga had his goal for Leganes against Barcelona stood unanswered but Luis Suarez and Arturo Vidal hit one each to hand their side a 2-1 win.
In France, Kalifa Coulibaly from Mali helped his team Nantes to snatch a crucial away draw (1-1) against Brest to move to 7th place in Ligue 1 table.
Oussama Idrissi of Morocco was Man of the Match, contributing one of the 3 goals of his side AZ Alkmaar’s away win over FC Utrecht.
Congolese striker Paul-Jose Mpoku struck one of the two goals for Standard Liege who defeated Eupen 2-1 in away fixture on Saturday.
