Super Eagles star in a race against time to be fit for historic Europa League clash vs Juventus

The Nigeria international is presently nursing a thigh injury but he will have his eyes trained on the midweek clash with the Italian Serie A giants

Super Eagles winger Moses Simon is in a race against time to be fit and available for Nantes ahead of the club’s crucial Europa League meeting with former Serie A and UEFA Champions League winners, Juventus.

Simon has been out injured since suffering thigh trouble in the second half of Nantes’ 2-0 defeat at home to Marseille on the first of February.

The Nigerian forward missed the Yellow Submarines’ subsequent victory away to Ajaccio in Ligue 1 and their penalty shootout win over Angers in the Coupe de France.

The 27-year-old attacker is also certain to be unavailable for head coach Antoine Kombouaré when he sets his charges against visiting Lorient on Sunday.

However, according to L’Equipe, Moses Simon could be back in the Nantes’ fold for the crunch first leg of their Europa League knockout round encounter with Juventus at the Allianz Stadium in Turin on Thursday.

If Simon needs any other motivation to push to be fit for this tasty clash apart from helping Nantes record a historic win in their first-ever meeting with Juventus, it will be to end his poor goal record in European competitions.

After appearing in five UEFA Champions League matches and 14 Europa League games, Simon is still without a goal in the continent’s biggest club competitions.

The former KAA Gent and Levante star however has three goals during the qualifying rounds of the Europa League.

While he may have dropped off in the last few weeks, Simon remains one of Nantes’ most influential attacking players with five goals and two assists in 19 Ligue 1 games this term.