By Dorcas Francis Koji
Nigerian forwards Tolu Arokodare, Chuba Akpom and Umar Sadiq were among the country’s standout performers in Europe at the weekend, with all three finding the net for their respective clubs.
Arokodare continued his impressive start to life at Ajax, scoring his first Eredivisie goal as the Dutch giants cruised to a 4-0 victory over Telstar on Sunday.
The Nigeria international came off the bench and made an immediate impact as Ajax took control in the second half.
Davy Klaassen opened the scoring in the 37th minute before Steven Berghuis doubled Ajax’s advantage 11 minutes after the restart.
Arokodare added the third in the 60th minute, finishing a move involving Berghuis, before substitute Marcos Leonardo completed the rout in the 78th minute.
The goal took Arokodare’s tally to four in six appearances since his arrival at Ajax, while he has also registered two assists during that period.
England
Alex Iwobi and Calvin Bassey both played the full 90 minutes for Fulham, but could not prevent their side from suffering a 1-0 home defeat to Sunderland in the Premier League.
Wilson Isidor scored the decisive goal in the 75th minute, handing Sunderland their first Premier League victory of the season.
Fulham manager Alvaro Arbeloa was left disappointed with his side’s attitude, commitment and desire following the defeat.
Meanwhile, Chuba Akpom scored his first Premier League goal for Ipswich Town despite their 5-2 defeat to Manchester United at Old Trafford.
Akpom, who joined Ipswich in May after a loan spell in the Championship, entered the game at half-time and scored late to open his league account for the club.
His goal came 12 years after he made his Premier League debut for Arsenal.
Bruno Fernandes scored a hat-trick as Manchester United recovered from Leif Davis’ early opener for Ipswich to secure a comfortable victory.
France
Moses Simon featured for 63 minutes as Paris FC recorded an impressive 3-0 victory over Nice at the Stade Jean-Bouin.
Lassine Sinayoko put the hosts ahead from the penalty spot before Samir Chergui doubled the advantage in the 51st minute.
Vincent Marchetti completed the scoring as Paris FC secured Liam Rosenior’s first Ligue 1 victory since taking charge of the club.
At Marseille, young Nigerian midfielder Tochukwu Nnadi was forced off with an injury during his side’s 2-0 defeat away to Monaco.
Nnadi came on at half-time for Himad Abdelli but was substituted again in the 74th minute after picking up a knock.
Spain
Umar Sadiq also opened his account for the season, scoring Valencia’s only goal in their 3-1 defeat to Deportivo La Coruña in LaLiga.
The Nigerian striker capitalised on a defensive error to pull one goal back after Deportivo had established a two-goal lead through César Tárrega’s own goal and a fine finish from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
Bil Nsongo restored Deportivo’s two-goal cushion after the break with a deflected effort, securing the promoted side’s first LaLiga victory of the season.
Scotland
Emmanuel Fernandez played the entire match as Rangers defeated Aberdeen 1-0 in the Scottish Premiership.
The defender has now made six appearances across all competitions this season and helped Rangers record another clean sheet.
Lawrence Shankland scored the only goal from the penalty spot in the 69th minute after Djeidi Gassama was brought down inside the box.
The victory gave Rangers their first league win of the campaign following their disappointing European exit.
For Aberdeen, Nigerian duo Aremu and Olusanya both featured and were booked for fouls as the hosts suffered defeat.
Aberdeen now have just one victory from their opening three Scottish Premiership matches.
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