Nigerians Abroad: Historic goal for Mikel; Onyekuru, Awoniyi, & Ighalo on target, Semi relegated, Chukwueze, Etebo star

Nigerian players including John Mikel Obi the ‘midfield man’ who scores when he wants, were on scoring chats for their respective clubs across Europe and Asia.

Here is a recap of how Nigeria players plying their trades abroad fared on Sunday.

Mikel John Obi (Middlesbrough)

Mikel Obi was on target as his playoffs hopeful side Middlesbrough beat Semi Ajayi Rotherham but the 2-1 win was not enough to secure a playoffs spot for Boro.

Mikel scored Boro’s second goal, it was his first goal in 5 years and 226 days after making his 267th appearances in English football.

Semi Ajayi (Rotherham)

Former Arsenal trainee, Semi Ajayi was unable to stop his side from going down. His goals in March were not enough as Rotherham lost at home to Boro in the last game of the season.

Henry Onyekuru (Galatasaray)

Henry Onyekuru was on target as Galatasaray overcame their fiercest rivals Besiktas in Istanbul derby on Sunday. Henry scored the first goal in the 2-0 win.

The goal was Henry’s 13th league goals of the season while the win took Galatasaray to the top of Turkish Super Lig.

Taiwo Awoniyi (Royal Excel Mouscron)

After 56 days without finding the back of the net, Liverpool loanee, Taiwo Awoniyi was on target in Mouscron 3-0 home win against Waregem.

Taiwo scored the first goal from the spot kick.

Odion Ighalo (Shanghai Shenhua)

Super Eagles striker, Odion Ighalo returned to winning ways to keep pressure on Zahavi and Pelle who sit top on the top scorer chat with 8 goals each.

Shanghai Shenhua were beaten 2-1 by Shenzhen on Sunday but Odion Ighalo scored his 7th league goal from the spot.

Samuel Chukwueze

Europe’s most coveted U20 player, Samuel Chukwueze was in action as Villarreal suffered a 3-2 loss to Real Madrid on Sunday.

Chukwueze was a constant torn in Madrid defence as his pace, direct and skills were too much for Zidane’s men.

He was on the pitch for the entire duration of the game.

Oghenekaro Etebo (Stoke City)

Super Eagles midfielder, Oghenekaro Etebo was on the pitch the whole time as Stoke City finished the season with a 2-2 draw against Sheffield United.