Super Eagles trio of Moses Simon, Henry Onyekuru and Samuel Kalu were in superb form in Ligue 1 at the weekend. Simon is off the mark for the season in France after scoring his first-ever Ligue 1 goal on Saturday, while the duo of Onyekuru and Kalu grabbed brilliant assists.
EiE reviews their lovely performances alongside other national teammates in Europe at the weekend.
On loan from Levante, Simon led Nantes to their first win of the season as he came off the bench to net the winning goal in a 1-2 victory over Amiens at Stade Credit.
With the game tied at 1-1, Simon replaced Kader Bamba on 73 minutes before scoring the winner 10 minutes later.
He also hit the woodwork once, created one chance and completed 100% of his take-on in a brilliant 17-minute showing.
Samuel Kalu provided the killer pass as Bordeaux also registered their first win of the campaign with a 0-2 win at Dijon.
Ui-Jo Hwang latched on to a Kalu pass to open the scoring against Dijon, before Loris Benito sealed the win in first-half added time.
Kalu played for 80 minutes, creating two scoring chances and completed four of six attempted take-on.
Another Super Eagles star who impressed in France was Henry Onyekuru, who was in menacing form for AS Monaco.
Onyekuru grabbed his first assist of the season in Monaco’s disappointing 2-2 draw at home to Nimes.
He assisted Algeria’s Islam Slimani to open the scoring, before they went on to give up a two-goal lead to share the spoils.
Onyekuru created two chances and completed three take-on before making way on 72 minutes.
In England, Alex Iwobi hasn’t had much joy since his move to Everton this summer and that continued on Saturday when the Toffees lost 2-0 to Aston Villa.
Iwobi started on the bench before coming on to play for 29 minutes as Everton lost to the newly promoted team.
The playmaker was unfortunate not to get on the score sheet, though, as he hit the woodwork once. He also completed 100% of his take-ons.
There was a conspicuous omission at Bramall Lane where Leicester City came, saw and conquered another promoted side, Sheffield United 1-2.
The Foxes were without Wilfred Ndidi, who did nor even make the trip. Leicester were also without his compatriot, Kelechi Iheanacho.
Leon Balogun’s case remained the same at Brighton and Hove Albion, who once again left the center back out of their matchday squad.
Brighton were beaten 0-2 at home by visitors, Southampton.
For the contingents in the Sky Bet Championship, led by Semi Ajayi, it was a weekend to forget.
Ajayi’s West Brom Albion held their hosts, Derby County to a 1-1 draw with Ajayi featuring for the duration of the game while Stoke City and Oghenekaro Etebo suffered nightmares at home to Leeds United.
Recalled by the Potters to their starting team, Etebo featured for 90 minutes but saw his team receive a 0-3 hammering from Leeds.
Left-back, Collins Jamilu and Paderborn are finding life in Bundesliga very difficult following another defeat.
This time, they lost 1-3 at home to Freiburg, with Collins on from start to finish.
The Spanish LaLiga entered week two at the weekend with only Kenneth Omeruo seeing some action.
Having missed the opening weekend, Omeruo’s return to the Leganes XI ended in defeat as Atletico Madrid beat them 0-1 at home.
He was on for 74 minutes but fellow Nigerian, Chidozie Awaziem was not considered good enough for the bench.
Newly invited Joe Aribo saw 90 minutes action as Rangers defeated St. Mirren 0-1 in the Scottish first division.
Finally, in the Serie A, William Troost-Ekong was a wall as Udinese kicked off the 2019/2020 season with a 1-0 win over AC Milan.
With seven clearances and 100% of his tackles won, Troost-Ekong led his side to a deserved clean sheet.
