Nigerians abroad: Dessers dazzling for crumbling Cremonese; Nwankwo, Mba on target

A few Nigerian players were in action for their respective European clubs on Monday, 6 March 2023, and Soccernet.ng brings the top stories from the involvement.

Cyriel Dessers was Cremonese’s best player on the night, even as the struggling side succumbed to a heartbreaking 3-2 defeat away to Sassuolo in a Serie A fixture.

Sassuolo led two-nil at the break, but Dessers came off the bench to score twice in the 62nd and 83rd minute to drag Cremonese back on levelled terms.

But when the visitors thought a point was at least safe in the bag, Bajrami netted the winner for the home side deep into stoppage time.

Dessers now has five Serie A goals this term, but Cremonese remain with only one win – that unbelievable 2-1 triumph over Roma last weekend – in the league.

In the Albanian Superliga, Christian Mba got his first goal of the season for Partizani Tirana in the club’s 2-0 victory over Tirana.

Benin City-born Godswill Ekpolor and Ezekiel Henty both featured for Apollon in their 2-0 win at AEL as the first round of the Cyprus First Division came to an end.

In the Greece Super League 1, former Kwara United man Afeez Nosiru was a late introduction for Panaitolikos in their 2-0 defeat against title-chasing Panathinaikos at the Stadio Apóstolos Nikolaidis in Athens.

In the India I-League, Francis Nwankwo opened the scoring for Kenkre at The Cooperage Ground, but visiting Trau fought back brilliantly to claim a memorable 4-2 win.

Super Eagles winger Godwin Saviour starred for Casa Pia as the club came from a goal down to claim a 2-1 home win over Paços Ferreira in the Portuguese Primeira Lig.

Newly-promoted Casa Pia are now five points away from fifth-place Vitoria Guimaraes in the last European spot.