Nigerians Abroad: Boniface, Orban, Akpom, Onyedika score goals In Europe

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Nigerian footballers Victor Boniface, Gift Orban, Chuba Akpom and Raphael Onyedika scored goals for their respective clubs in Europe’s club competitions on November 30.

BONIFACE HITS 12TH GOAL OF THE SEASON

Victor Boniface scored his twelveth goal of the season as Bayer Leverkusen defeated Hacken 2-0 in Sweden on matchday five of the 2023/2024 UEFA Europa League.

The Nigerian striker opened the scoring for his side in the 14th minute, when he headed home a Josip Stanisic cross.

While Boniface was taken off after the first half, compatriot Nathan Tella also got 64 minutes of action for Leverkusen. Tella’s replacement Patrik Shick sealed the win for Bayer Leverkusen in the 74th minute.

That result shoots Leverkusen to the Europa League last-16 with a game to spare.

ORBAN LEADS THE WAY IN THE CONFERENCE LEAGUE

Gift Orban leads the UEFA Conference League goal-scorers chart after scoring his fifth goal in the competition this season.

The Nigerian footballer was on target as Gent secured a 4-1 win over Ukrainian club Zorya Luhansk.

Orban’s Gent were favourites, and made no mistake as Malick Fofana and Arseniy Batagov(OG) served a two-goal lead after 49 minutes.

He will now hope to follow in the footsteps of Super Eagles striker, Cyriel Dessers who won the UEFA Conference League top-scorer award in the 2021/2022 season.

AKPOM SCORES AGAIN

Chuba Akpom came off the bench to score for Ajax again in their 4-3 Europa league loss at Olympique Marseille on Thursday, November 30, 2023.

Ajax coach Van’t Schip opted to name in-form Akpom on the bench for the match despite his return of five goals in his last five matches for the Dutch club this season.

Gabonese striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang put Marseille in front in the 9th minute but Ajax responded thrugh Brian Brobbey a minute later for 1-1.

Chancel Mbemba stole the lead again for Marseille in the 26th minute, but Brobbey scored again in the 30th minute to level the score again.

Two minutes into the second-half, former Arsenal forward Aubameyang scored Marseille’s third with Ajax suffering further setback when Steven Berghuis was red-carded in the 62nd minute.

With Ajax trailing 3-2 and a man-less, Akpom was introduced from the bench in the 77th minute, and made instant impact when he rose high to meet a cross from Kristian Hlynsson with a header to make it 3-3 for his side.

Unfortunately for the former Dutch champions, Aubameyang scored in stoppage time to win the game 4-3 for Marseille, the loss effectively knocking Ajax out of the Europa League.

ONYEDIKA OPENS GOAL ACCOUNT

Super Eagles midfielder , Raphael Onyedika opened his goal account for Belgian outfit Club Brugge in a 5-star win over Besiktas in Turkey.

His first Club Brugge goal arrived in the 50th minute to put his team 0-4 up in the UEFA Conference League clash vs Besiktas.

Brugge flourished in a strange land, a 0-5 win to maintain grip on top-spot in their group.