Kelechi Iheanacho, Henry Onyekuru and Simy Nwankwo led the way as Nigerian players shone for their respective clubs across Europe.
It was a beautiful weekend for the Nigerian stars as the banged in goals in hat-trick, braces and decisive goals across Europe over the weekend.
Below is a recap of how they faired:
5. Paul Onuachu (Genk, Belgium)
Paul Onuachu pushed Genk into the Belgian Cup final with his perfect cup display on Sunday.
The former Midtjylland striker who was playing in his second cup game made it 100% game to goal ratio with his strike in Genk’s 2-1 win against Anderlecht.
Paul Onuachu opened the scoring for Genk at the Lotto Park in the 17th minute of the game.
In the 59th minute of the game Chelsea defender on-loan at Anderlecht Matt Maizga scored an own goal to increase Genk’s tally to two.
Genk were reduced to 10 when Jhon Lucumi was sent off in the 73rd minutes of the game.
Adrien Trebel reduced the deficit for Anderlecht with his strike but it was not enough as the game ended 2-1 im favour of Genk.
With the win Genk moved into the Belgian Cup final and Paul Onuachu also have scored in his last four games.
He has 2 goals in 2 Cup games and has 27 goals in all competitions.
4. Simon Moses (Nantes, France)
Simon Moses was the hero has his side Nantes secured a 2-1 win at Paris Saint-Germain in a French League game on Sunday.
As expected by fans who love betting on football the Parisians took the lead at the Parc de Prince through Julian Draxler in the 42nd minutes of the game.
But the visitors pulled one back in 59th minutes 0f the game through Randal Kolo Muani.
Then, Simon Moses who was Nantes last year’s player of the season did the unthinkable with a simple tap in.
His 71st minutes strike was enough to hand the visitors a 2-1 win against Maurico Pochettino side.
The win was the first for Nantes against Paris Saint-Germain at Parc de Princ since they won on same venue in 2002.
Incidentally, Mauricio Pochettino was one of Paris Saint-Germain player the last time Nantes defeated the Parisians in 2002, he was also the manager when they were beaten 2-1.
Simon Moses, Desire Oparanozie, Asisat Oshoala, Victor Moses, Paul Onuachu and Iyayi Atiemwen were other players who
3. Simy Nwankwo (Crotone, Italy)
Simy Nwankwo scored all the goals as Crotone suffered a 3-2 loss to Lazio in a Serie A game on Friday.
The home team took the lead through top Premier League clubs long term target Sergej Milinkovic-Savic.
But Simy equalised for his side in the 29th minutes of the game 15 minutes after Lazio took the lead.
Luis Alberto assisted by his captain Ciro Immobile gave Lazio the lead again in the 39th minute.
But Simy restored parity for Crotone from the spot kick in the 50th minute of the game.
Six minutes to the end of the game, former Manchester City striker Felipe Caicedo scored the winner for Lazio.
Simy Nwankwo who scored his 5th goal in his last three Serie A games was on the pitch for the entire duration of the game.
He has now scored a total of 12 goals in 27 Serie A games – no Nigerian player has ever reached that goal tally in Italian top flight league.
2. Henry Onyekuru (Galatasaray, Turkey)
Henry Onyekuru scored a brace for Galatasaray as they defeated Kayserispor by three goals to nil in their Turkish Super Lig match on Saturday.
Galatasaray took the lead in the 44th minute through Colombian striker, Radamel Falcao before Onyekuru was introduced into the fray after 68 minutes of the game.
The 24 year old made it 2-0 to his side when he was on hand to stab home the rebound after a shot from Falcao had come off the woodwork in the 81st minute.
He completed his brace in the 89th minute when he faces through to meet Sofiane Feghouli’s perfect through ball and calmly finished one on one by tucking the ball under the keeper to make it 3-0 for his side.
Onyekuru, who was placed on the standby list for the Super Eagles AFCON 2021 Qualifiers later this month has now scored 5 goals in 9 appearances since he returned to Galatasaray on loan.
1. Kelechi Iheanacho (Leicester City, England)
In-form Super Eagles striker Kelechi Iheanacho scored three goals to help Leicester City to a 5-0 win against Sheffield United in a Premier League game on Sunday.
The former Manchester City striker scored his first ever hat-trick in English topflight football when he fired home in the 39th, 69th and 78th minutes of the game.
Kelechi Iheanacho who has been in top form after bagging a goal each in his previous games against Burnley and Brighton scored against Sheffield United today to score at least a goal in his last three Premier League games.
It was the first time ever in his career that he was scoring a goal each in three consecutive games and he went a much farther by scoring three goals to join other Nigerian strikers in achieving such feat.
He became just the fifth Nigerian player after Efan Ekoku 1x, Kanu Nwankwo 1x, Yakubu Aiyegbeni 4x and Osaze Odemwingie on the exclusive list of Nigerians who have scored a hat-trick in the Premier League.
His compatriot, Wilfred Ndidi played a crucial role in the victory as expected, in-fact, he assisted Kelechi Iheanacho’s third goal.
Notable mention are Desire Oparanozie, Asisat Oshoala, Victor Moses, and Iyayi Atiemwen who were also on target for their club side over the weekend.
