Forgotten Super Eagles player, Anthony Nwakaeme has continued his late push for a place in the AFCON2019 team with another solid performance at the weekend.
Eagles in Europe, EiE, recaps his excellent display in Turkey in the bonus section in a rather quiet weekend for other Super Eagles players in their respective clubs.
This week’s EiE kick-starts in one of the top five leagues, LaLiga, where Samuel Chukwueze and Kenneth Omeruo went head-to-head in Spain.
Villarreal picked all valuable three points at home to Leganes with both teams parading their Super Eagles stars.
While Omeruo lasted the 90, Chukwueze featured for 84 minutes as the yellow submarines left Omeruo and Leganes as they arrived, empty-handed after a 2-1 win.
Despite creating one chance, it was not the best of performance for the nimble-footed Chukwueze, who lost most possession and duels in the match.
On the other hand, Omeruo won the most tackles in the game (3), completed 85% of his passes, and won two (2) aerial duels before picking up a book at the death, his sixth of the season.
Still, in Spain, Levante was held to a 2-2 draw at home by Espanyol but they were without Moses Simon, who was an unused player.
In the Serie A, William Troost-Ekong and Udinese dropped points at home to Sassuolo with Troost-Ekong substituted on 76 minutes.
Torino’s successful trip to Genoa was with Ola Aina on the pitch from start to finish.
There was nothing to celebrate for the Premier League based quartet of Wilfred Ndidi, Kelechi Iheanacho, Leon Balogun and Alex Iwobi.
Ndidi’s Leicester City played a 2-2 draw with West Ham United, a game Ndidi completed the most passes and tackles (6) in.
He also created one chance, while Iheanacho played for just six minutes.
Leon Balogun was ignored by Brighton and Hove Albion in their goalless affair at Wolverhampton.
Alex Iwobi and Arsenal suffered their first defeat in ten matches at the Emirates as Crystal Palace won 3-2.
Iwobi played for 45 minutes after coming on at the start of the second half with Arsenal 1-0 down. He later was involved in the build-up to their equaliser, scored by Mesut Ozil.
In 45 minutes, he completed three dribbles.
Success Isaac was the only Super Eagles player in England who tasted victory. The forward played for 18 minutes as Watford defeated Huddersfield 2-1.
Moving to the lesser leagues in Europe, our first stop will be the English second division where John Obi Mikel and Middlesbrough have their promotion chase back on track.
It is now two wins in two for Boro, who was captained by Mikel, after a 1-0 defeat of Stoke City at home.
The visitors had Oghenekaro Etebo on the pitch for 90 minutes but it was Mikel who led his side to all three points.
Semi Ajayi’s Rotherham United lost 4-3 to Swansea City in Wales with Ajayi picking up a fourth yellow of the 2018/2019 campaign.
Elsewhere, Jamilu Collins put in a superb defensive display for his German second division side, Paderborn, but it was not enough to earn them a clean sheet.
Collins won the most tackles (4), two aerial duels, three interceptions and completed 100% of his dribbles in their 2-1 win at Holstein Kiel.
In Turkey, Henry Onyekuru was conspicuously missing as Galatasaray claimed a 3-1 home win over Kayserispor.
He was not listed for the tie.
Earlier on, Bursaspor was held to a 1-1 draw at home with Shehu Abdullahi on for just one minute.
Bonus
Anthony Nwakaeme is back here again following another impressive performance in Turkey for Trabzonspor.
A man of the match display saw him score one and assisted another in a 2-1 win over Yeni Malatyaspor.
He completed the most dribbles (7), and created the most chances (3) in the game.
The 30-year-old has now scored or assisted 17 goals in 22 matches this season for Trabzonspor.
