Ademola Lookman is the headline performer overseas for Nigeria this past week after he followed up his historic hat-trick in the Europa League Final with his 10th goal in Serie A this season.
5.Peter Olayinka
The Super Eagles forward played the entire game for Red Star Belgrade to win the cup and complete a league and cup double in Serbia. It was a most eventful campaign for Olayinka, who netted 11 goals and delivered four assists in 35 league matches. He will hope to extend such form in the coming season so as to be recalled by the Super Eagles after he was last involved with the national team two years ago at the delayed 2021 AFCON in Cameroon.
4.Raphael Onyedika
The defensive midfielder was on from start to finish as Club Brugge held Cercle Brugge in a derby to be crowned champions of Belgium since 2016. It was his first winners’ medal in Belgium after he was also crowned a champion in Denmark with FC Midtjylland. Club Brugge lagged behind in the regular season, but were simply unplayable in the Championship Playoffs with Onyedika delivering three goals during the series.
3.Joe Aribo
The midfielder is back in the Premier League with Southampton after relegation the previous season as they pipped Leeds United 1-0 in the promotion playoffs final at Wembley. Aribo played the full duration and will be fighting in the Premier League in the new season to force his way back to the Super Eagles after he was overlooked by new coach Finidi George for the forthcoming World Cup qualifiers.
2.Maduka Okoye
The goalkeeper celebrated his recall to the Super Eagles with another outstanding display as he kept a clean sheet and made several big saves at Frosinone to finally ensure Udinese are not relegated from the Italian Serie A. He was simply huge in this Great Escape.
1.Ademola Lookman
There is simply no stopping this Super Eagles striker – he scored again in a comfortable home win over Torino in Serie A after he had inspired Atalanta to their first European trophy, the UEFA Europa League, with a sensational hat-trick. He has now scored 10 goals with a game to play in Serie A, three goals short of last season’s tally. Who will bet against him grabbing another hat-trick against Fiorentina in a final game of Serie A on June 2? ‘Mola’ has also netted five goals and made an assist in the Europa League to go on to make the official Team of the Season of the competition. Add that to his Man of the Match in the final and the match ball after he became the first player to grab a treble in the Europa League final. Hopefully, he brings his blistering form to the World Cup qualifying ties against South Africa and Benin in the new month.
In case you travelled to the moon🌒 or suffered a power outage⚡️
— Oluwashina Okeleji (@oluwashina) May 23, 2024
Ademola Lookman~ first African to score twice/thrice in the final of a major UEFA competition.
First player to score a hattrick in the UEFA Cup/#UELFinal
A great season for club & country.pic.twitter.com/cy9kCGAtja
