Nigerian performances that inspired us at the weekend

 

The Genk frontman missed a penalty after 34 minutes but didn’t let his head drop to score a stunning hat-trick in seven minutes (excluding stoppage time) in the Smurfs’ 4-0 success over Seraing.

Onuachu’s now scored in five straight games on the spin, racking up eight goals in that period.

He’s now netted nine goals in eight appearances, with seven being starts.

Victor Osimhen

The red-hot Napoli striker scored for the fourth game running and also won the penalty as Luciano Spalletti’s team defeated Cagliari 2-0.

Walter Mazzarri’s team couldn’t live with Osimhen’s powerful running and intelligent movement for the majority of the game and couldn’t live with him.

“Osimhen is phenomenal because he runs alone at five players and gets through. If you look at genuine scoring opportunities, compared to the number Napoli created lately, I didn’t see that many,” the Cagliari boss told DAZN as quoted by Football Italia.

“We intentionally kept a deep defensive line, because if we pushed higher like the other teams, we’d concede four or five like they did with Osimhen able to run into space. Obviously, Napoli had more possession and attacked more, but this was an intentional approach.”

Spalletti’s in-form attacker has found the back of the net six times in four appearances.

Joe Aribo

Rangers midfielder Aribo spared the Premiership defending champions any embarrassment at bottom Dundee FC with the only goal in a 1-0 success.

Furthermore, the 25-year-old completed two dribbles from three attempts, won 10 total duels and got stuck in with tackles from time to time.

He’s now up to two goals and an assist after seven league fixtures as Steven Gerrard’s team returned to winning ways with a clean sheet after last week’s draw with Motherwell.