Ndidi Gets Assist, Ighalo Scores, As Nigerian Players Get Low Marks In Europe

Leicester City of England midfielder, Wilfred Onyinyen Ndidi’s assist against Liverpool turned out to be the biggest talking point among Europe-based Nigerian players on Saturday, but Odion Jude Ighalo made a difference in Asia. BSNSports.com.ng reports that Ighalo netted his first goal since moving to Al-Shabab of Saudi Arabia, with his opening salvo in the Middle East coming on an evening several Nigerian players failed to rain goals in their respective leagues all across Europe. With many of the players hitting blanks and getting into the headlines for all the wrong reasons, Ndidi’s assist and a 3-1 victory for his side served as a huge Nigerian consolation, even as Egypt’s Mohamed Salah scored Liverpool’s lone goal in Saturday’s English Premier League cracker. Salah broke the deadlock in the 67th minute after receiving a back heeled pass from Roberto Firmino, while Ndidi, who got his second consecutive start since overcoming a thigh muscle strain, starred in front of a back four formation featuring Daniel Amartey, Jonny Evans, Caglar Soyuncu and Ricardo Pereira. The Egypt international has now scored 10 away goals in the Premier League this season, making him the first player to achieve the feat, but James Maddison leveled proceedings for Leicester in the 78th minute before Vardy made amends for his earlier miss by scoring three minutes later. Ndidi then orchestrated the third goal for Leicester with five minutes left before the end of the game when he set up Harvey Barnes to seal the victory, while the Super Eagles’ star featured for the duration of the game while his compatriot Kelechi Iheanacho was an unused substitute. Ndidi was happy to help The Foxes romp back from a from a goal down to beat Liverpool 3-1 at King Power Stadium and, for the first time in seven games across all competitions, the holding midfielder put in a full shift. The former Racing Genk of Belgium ace was so impressive that he was voted Leicester’s Man of the Match, as The Foxes inflicted on Jurgen Klopp a third consecutive defeat for the first time as Liverpool manager, and Ndidi posted afterwards on social media: “King power stays blue 💙🦊.” In England’s youth league, Shola Shoretire was in action for Manchester United, while Arthur Okonkwo manned the goal for Arsenal, but could not save his side from losing 3-0 in a Premier League 2 clash at Leigh Sports Village Stadium. Despite the defeat, Okonkwo was very impressive, pulling off several stunning saves and a penalty kick, in a game that saw the 19-year-old shot-stopper among six players of Nigerian descent that started the game. Folarin Balogun, Ryan Alebiosu, Daniel Oyegoke and Tim Akinola also started for Arsenal, who also had Mazeed Ogungbo off the bench in the 83rd minute, while Shoretire was on from the first blast with The Red Devils and was involved in the build-up to his side’s opener, playing Hugill through and his cross found Neville who finished well midway through the first half. Arsenal played with ten men for at least 82 minutes, following the dismissal of Oyegoke in the eighth and, from the resultant penalty, Okonkwo produced a brilliant save to deny Joe Hugill from opening scoring. On 56 minutes Okonkwo made another big save to deny Stanley before Hugill doubled on the hour and Shoretire wrapped up scoring when he dusted himself down to covert a penalty for United after he was fouled in the area a minute from time. There was also a Nigerian goal in the teenage ranks, as Tai Sodje, nephew of former Super Eagles center backs, Efe Sodje and Sam Sodje, got a brace for Manchester City, but his side lost their derby 4-2 to Manchester United in an U18 Premier League match at AON Training Complex. While Tai Sodje was in City’s starting line-up, his fellow-Nigerian-born teammate, Adedire Mebude was a non-playing substitute, but Maximilano Oyedele got his debut with Man United’s under-18 squad. Four minutes before half-time, Sodje capitalised on a back pass to make it 2-1 and got his second of the afternoon three minutes after the restart, tapping in at the back post after a low ball from Carlos Borges, before McNeill added a fourth for The Red Devils in injury time. In England’s lower division, Stoke City of England midfielder, John Mikel Obi’s missed sitter early in the encounter against Norwich City accounted for a heavy loss for his side on Saturday, while their hosts soared top of the English Championship table, megasportsarena.com reports. Mikel could have opened scoring under two minutes of kick-off, but his miss gave power to The Canaries, who moved back to the top of the table, after putting a four-match winless run behind them by beating the struggling Potters 4-1 at Carrow Road. While Mikel was left sulking, Teemu Pukki scored twice in what was The Canaries’ biggest win of the season so far, with Todd Cantwell and Emi Buendia also on target, thereby taking Daniel Farke’s side a point clear of Brentford. In Turkey, Anthony Nwakaeme got sent off on Saturday, just five days after he was the hero with a goal for his Turkish Super Lig outfit, Trabzonspor, as he received his second booking in the 90th minute after he was first booked in the 56th minute. Despite seeing the former Hapoel Be’er Sheva of Israel hitman go for an early shower, Trabzonspor stayed among the front runners, with memory still replete with how Nwakaeme scored a brilliant individual goal in a 2-0 win away to Yeni Malatyaspor on Monday. Trabzonspor thus consolidated fourth place with 45 points from 24 matches, three points behind leaders Galatasaray, but they are bound to miss Nwakaeme, who has netted six Super Lig goals this season, as he will be absent from his team’s next game at Istanbul Basaksehir on Friday. In Saudi Arabia, Ighalo scored in only his second game for Al-Shabab, with which he made his competitive debut as a sub for the last seven minutes of the Saudi Arabian Pro League table-toppers’ 4-1 win over Al-Raed. On Saturday, Ighalo again appeared as a substitute in the Riyadh derby against Ahmed Musa’s former club, Al-Nassr, replacing Fabio Martins in the 63rd minute and wrapped up the scoring in the second minute of stoppage time. The 31-year-old Ighalo, who lasted 34 minutes on the pitch across the two matches before his first goal in Al-Shabab colours, slotted the ball past goalkeeper Bradley Jones to make it 4-0, after Ever Banega intercepted an Al-Nassr pass and laid the ball open on goal for him. Ighalo’s effort helped Al-Shabab open a four-point gap at the top of the standings, with more goals now expected from the former Julius Berger FC of Lagos, Prime FC of Osogbo, Lyn Oslo of Norway, Udinese and Cesena of Italy, Granada of Spain, Watford and Manchester United of England as well as ex-Changchun Yatai and Shanghai Shenhua of China hitman. In Belgium, Germinal Beerschot striker, Blessing Eleke gained support from one of his teammates, Frederic Frans, despite going without a goal in 14 appearances, following his arrival at the club in August. The 24-year-old Eleke, who has previously played in Slovenia, Switzerland and Israel, could have broken his duck Thursday against KV Mechelen in a Belgian Cup tie, but he failed to put away the two chances that fell his way. However, Frans is sticking with his pal, as he centre back declared: “Eleke is doing well in the group, he is a player with many qualities. He has not had many chances yet, but he played a good second half. “As a striker they rate you on your goals, but if he had put away one of those two chances, he would have got his goal.”