Europe Round-Up: Excellent Ejuke Off The Mark In Moscow, Onyekuru Inspires Monaco Win, Nwakaeme Caged By Besiktas :: Nigerian Football News

In the French Ligue 1, Henry Onyekuru’s intelligence on the ball proved crucial as Monaco handed Moses Simon’s Nantes their first defeat of the season following a 2-1 triumph at the Stade Louis II.

Diop gave the hosts a fifth-minute lead, but Simon, who started for the visitors, and his teammates celebrated Blas’ equalizer with an hour of football played.

Monaco boss Niko Kovac responded instantly by sending on Onyekuru and Willem Geubbels in a double change, and it yielded fruit almost immediately.

The Nigerian forward released his fellow substitute with a gorgeous through ball, and the latter made no mistake to restore the home side’s lead. It stayed that way till the end of the match.

65' GOOOOOOOOOAAAAAL signé GEUBBELS !

Onyekuru lance Geubbels qui permet aux 🔴⚪ de reprendre l'avantage !

2⃣-1⃣ #ASMFCN pic.twitter.com/3bXrJmKTOg

— AS Monaco 🇲🇨 (@AS_Monaco) September 13, 2020

It was another clash of Nigerian brothers in Spain, but there was to be no victor, no vanquished as Samuel Chukwueze‘s Villarreal battled to a 1-1 draw with Kelechi Nwakali‘s Huesca.

Newly promoted Huesca drew first blood at the Estadio de la Ceramica through Pablo Maffeo in the first half of the tie.

But Gerard Moreno equalized from the penalty spot midway through the second half after VAR spotted a Maffeo handball in the area. Nwakali was introduced in the 62nd minute to make his La Liga debut.

Meanwhile, Chidera Ejuke opened his goalscoring account in Russia as the Nigerian forward helped power CSKA Moscow to a come-from-behind 3-1 win over bitter city rivals Spartak Moscow at the VEB Arena on Sunday.

Ponce’s 11th-minute strike handed the visitors an early advantage, but Magnusson and Vlasic turned the tie in CSKA’s favour before the break.

Former Heerenveen man Ejuke, who was a 65th-minute substitute, then made sure the three points were firmly secured with a 90th-minute finish.

Chidera Ejuke has arrived. First CSKA goal under his belt to seal the Moscow Derby. pic.twitter.com/677GHYg3MI

— David Sansun (@RFN_David) September 13, 2020

Trabzonspor began their hunt for the Turkish Super Lig title on the worst possible note, with the 10-man hosts falling to a 3-1 defeat to Besiktas at the Senol Gunes Akyazi Stadyumu despite the best efforts of Anthony Nwakaeme.

Nwakaeme, one of Trabzonspor’s most productive stars last term, saw every minute of action, but he could not prevent the visitors from bagging all the points at stake on Sunday.

Eddie Newton’s side had midfielder Flavio sent off just past the hour-mark when the scoreline still stood at 0-1, and it was all downhill from there.