Nigerians abroad: Ighalo masterclass leaves Ronaldo chasing; Moses crashes; Dennis impresses
Nigerians abroad: Ighalo masterclass leaves Ronaldo chasing; Moses crashes; Dennis impresses
In the latest round of matches featuring Nigerian footballers abroad, there were mixed results as some players shone while others struggled.
Emmanuel Dennis continued his excellent form for Nottingham Forest in the English Premier League, assisting Orel Mangala's goal against Leeds United at Elland Road.
However, despite Forest taking the lead, Leeds fought back and secured a 2-1 victory, pushing the Tricky Trees closer to the relegation zone.
Meanwhile, in his first game in charge, new Leicester City boss Adam Sadler handed Wilfred Ndidi a starting role. However, Leicester City went down to ten men after Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall received a red card in the second half and ultimately lost 2-1 at home to Aston Villa.
Bertrand Traoré scored the winning goal for Villa in the 87th minute, leaving Leicester City heartbroken. Kelechi Iheanacho was an unused substitute in the match.
In the Czech Republic's FNL, Abdoullahi Tanko scored his second goal in as many games for Varnsdorf. However, it was not enough to secure a win as Varnsdorf suffered a 3-4 defeat at home to Dukla Praha.
Victor Moses, on the other hand, did not feature for Spartak Moscow as they crashed out of the Russian Cup with a 3-2 aggregate loss to Ural (1-1 on the night).
In Saudi Arabia, Odion Ighalo stole the show, scoring both goals in Al Hilal's 2-0 victory over Anthony Nwakaeme's Al Feyha.
With these goals, Ighalo moved to the top of the Saudi Arabia top scorer chart, surpassing Cristiano Ronaldo, who scored a brace for Al Nassr in their 5-0 win over Al Adalah.
Ronaldo has 11 goals in his first nine games in Saudi Arabia, while Ighalo still holds a healthy five-goal lead over the Portuguese superstar.
Ighalo has been in incredible form, scoring 14 goals in his last nine games across all competitions and finding the back of the net in each of his last five matches. Notably, he won the top scorer award in the league last year with 24 goals, which helped Al Hilal secure a record 18th league title.