To begin with England, there was plenty of African flavor in the EPL starting with Chelsea’s title win where Nigeria’s Victor Moses was part of the 2016/17 season winners.
The 26-year-old has been quite phenomenal for Antonio Conte this season, becoming one of the club’s best performers and raking up a total 33 cameos, 28 of which came from the starting lineup. The Super Eagles attacker-turned full-back featured in the 1-0 win over West Bromwich Albion.
In another schedule, Aruona Kone of Ivory Coast was brought on four minutes from time while Senegal’s Gana Gueye started in Everton’s 1-0 triumph over Watford.
Yaya Toure was an unmistakable presence in Man City’s midfield as Pep Guadiola’s men beat deposed champions Leicester City 2-1. African quartet; Wilfred Ndidi, Ryad Mahrez, Daniel Amartey, and Islam Slimani all got minutes for The Foxes.
Ivory Coast’s Max-Alain Gradel was forced to take a spectator role on the bench in AFC Bournemouth’s 2-1 victory over Burnley.
Morocco’s Soufiane Boufal was part of the Southampton side to heap further woes on Middlesbrough, at home to the Riverside Stadium outfit.
Ghana’s striker Jordan Ayew, fared for the Swans as the Wales side beat Sunderland 2-0 at the Stadium of Light while Nigeria’s Alex Iwobi got overlooked for the second time in a row by Wenger as a four-star Arsenal trounced Stoke City.
At the Selhurst Park, Ivory Coast’s Wilfred Zaha started the rout in Palace’s 4-0 humbling of Hull City.
Joel Job Matip and Liverpool prevailed over Andre Ayew’s West Ham United.
At the White Hart Lane, Kenya’s Victor Wanyama opened the scoring as Spurs beat Manchester United 2-1.
Germany
Salomon Kalou was the sole African to score in the German Bundesliga. The 32-year-old slapped home the opening goal before teammate Torounarigha doubled the lead for Hertha BSC.
Cameroon’s Marvin Matip has been a symbol of consistency for Ingolstadt. The 32-year-old was key in gaffer Walpurgist’s experimental back-three which secured them a draw against Freiburg.
Naby Deco Keita of Guinea was a mainstay in midfield but second-placed RB Leipzig would suffer a 5-4 defeat in a nine-goal-thrilling duel against Bayern.
Algeria’s Nabil Bentaleb took part in Schalke’s one-all tie with Hamburg which saw Gambia’s Bakary Jatta get his first start in the Bundesliga.
Leo-Aderemi Balogun of Nigeria was crucial in the back-four as Mainz breezed past Eintracht Frankfurt 4-2.
Former Nigeria U-17 sensation Victor James Osimhen, got handed his maiden Bundesliga appearance in Wolfsburg’s 1-1 stalemate against Ibrahima Troare’s Borussia M’gladbach.
Pierre Aubameyang was assisted by Kagawa to equalise for Dortmund against Augsburg – a goal which puts him one shy of equaling leading scorer Lwandowski’s 30 goals.
Senegal’s Lamine Sane formed part of Werder Bremen’s defense that got shipped five goals by Hoffenheim. Even though Bremen responded, scoring on three occasions, it wasn’t enough to capture any points.
Italy
Senegal duo Khouma Elhadji Babacar and Diao Balde Keita each scored when their teams met on Saturday but it was the former’s Fiorentina who sashayed over Lazio 3-2.
Ivory Coast’s Frank Yannick Kessie featured in Atlanta’s 1-1 affair with AC Milan. The same also occurred for Gabon’s Serge Gakpe who was on show for Chievo Verona.
Teranga Lions’ pair El Hadji and Mame Baba Thiam raked up minutes for Empoli but ended up losing to Cagliari while Isaac Cofie impotently watched from the bench as Genoa got downed 1-0 by Palermo.
Algeria’s Farouzi Ghoulam and Senegal’s Kalidou Koulibally sealed the post as five-star Napoli administered footballing lessons on Torino to close the gap on Juventus who lost to Roma 3-1.
Ghana’s Godfred Donsah, Algeria’s Saphir Sliti Taider and Senegal’s Ibrahima M’baye all partook in Bolgna’s 3-1 rubbishing of Pescara.
It was a bitter pill to swallow for Udinese and Ghana’s Ageymang-Badu after Crotone clutched all points.
Spain
Victorien Angban, Aly Malle, and Ugbo Uche from Ivory Coast, Mali and Nigeria had a day to forget in office along with club side Granada upon losing to CA Osasuna.
Cameroon’s Idriss Carlos Kameni stood on guard between the posts as Malaga drew Real Sociedad 2-2.
Kevin-Prince Boateng and Las Palmas produced sorry figures after losing to an all rampaging Barcelona outfit.
Lacina Traore was deemed only good for the bench in strugglers Sporting Gijon’s 1-0 win over Eibar.
Ghana’s Thomas Partey came on in the second-half with only 15 minutes to go as Atletico Madrid got held by Real Betis.
Morocco’s Zouhir Feddal was the sole scoring African over the weekend in the La Liga.
Netherlands
Serge Wilfred Cannon was a rare scorer in Ado Den Haag’s 4-1 hammering of Excelsior in the Eredivisie, Sunday afternoon.
Elsewhere, Zakaria Labyad netted his third of the season in fourth-placed Utrecht’s slender triumph over AZ.
Atlas Lions’ El Ahmed provided the killer passes which culminated to leaders Feyenoord putting Heracles to the sword in a 3-1 win.
Youngster Taiwo Micheal Awoniyi of Nigeria secured his second goal of the campaign in nine starts, poking in the last of NEC’s two goals against Heereveen.
Betrand Traore joined the fray in the second period to help Ajax blast three past Willem II.
Zimbabwe’s Marvelous Nakamba stayed on from start to finish as Vitesse made light work of Roda JC.
Turkey
Larrys Mabiala Destin of DR Congo notched in his third of the ongoing season before teammate Nigeria-born, Raheem Adewole Lawal slammed in the second to gift Keyseriospor the spoils against Konyaspor.
South Africa’s Tokela Anthony Rantie’s early effort was more of a consolation for Genclerbirligi in the side’s loss to table-topping Istanbul Basaksehir.
Khaly Iyane Thiam of Senegal found the back of the net but Gaziantepspor still fell behind Galatarsary.
Mali’s Mustapha Yatabare climbed off the substitutes’ bench to give Karabukspor a lifeline but a late come-from-behind by Alanyaspor turned the tables around as final result ticked 4-2.
Portugal
Algeria’s Yacine Ibrahim was the sole African to score in the Portuguese top tier as Porto punished Pacos de Ferriera 4-1 on Sunday.
Featured photo: Getty Images
