Nigerians abroad: A brilliant start to the year for Super Eagles Stars

It was a brilliant start to the new year for some of the Nigerian stars that featured for their respective clubs as the 2020/2021 European league season continues

Taiwo Awoniyi, Joe Aribo and Samuel Chukwueze were some of the Super Eagles players that played a starring role for their teams on Saturday.

Awoniyi continued in the same vein he ended 2020 as he scored and created another to help Union Berlin to a comfortable 2-0 victory at Werder Bremen.

The 22-year-old career is starting to kick off at the capital club following a series of unsuccessful loan spells in previous seasons.

Awoniyi set up Sheraldo Becker for Union’s opener before scoring the second to help Urs Fishcher’s men continue their impressive form in the Bundesliga this season.

It was the former Golden Eaglets star’s fifth goal in 12 league appearances this season.

Meanwhile, in Scotland, Joe Aribo gave a man of the match performance to help Rangers complete a league double over Celtic.

The Gers had beaten their rivals 2-0 earlier this season before yesterday’s 1-0 win at the Ibrox. Aribo was instrumental to the victory as Callum McGregor diverted his header into his own net.

His Super Eagles teammate, Leon Balogun was also brilliant in the heart of defence as Steven Gerrard’s men kept a clean sheet.

In Spain, Samuel Chukwueze came off the bench to help Villarreal beat Levante 2-1 in their Spanish top-flight clash at the Estadio de la Cerámica.

Chukwueze has had an underwhelming campaign so far, but he impressed in his cameo on Saturday as he set up Gerard Moreno for Villarreal’s second.

In the Turkish top-flight, Okechukwu Azubuike made just his third appearance of the season, but he could not prevent Istanbul Basaksehir from losing 3-0 at Alanyaspor.

Azubuike started the encounter but was taken off at the beginning of the second half as goals from Adam Bareiro, Anastasios Bakasetas and Tayfur Bingol secured a comprehensive win for Alanyaspor.

Another Nigerian defender, Semi Ajayi, also had a bad start to the year as West Brom received a 4-0 thrashing from Arsenal at the Hawthorns.

Semi was on the pitch for the entire duration, and he is now part of a West Brom defence that have conceded nine goals in their last two games.