Ahead of decisive 2025 AFCON qualifiers beginning this week, both Benin and Rwanda must be shaking in their boots going by the form that Victor Osimhen and Ademola Lookman have displayed this past week at their clubs in Europe.
5.Josh Maja
The one-cap Super Eagles striker has most certainly put behind him a nightmarish past season when injury sidelined him for most of the campaign after he netted his ninth goal in the English Championship Sunday. Qwest Bromwich Albion recorded an important 2-1 win at Hull City with Maja grabbing the second goal for the visitors. The road win has catapulted ‘The Baggies’ to fourth in the standings and they are very much within the promotion playoffs bracket.
4.George Ilenikhena
The Lagos-born striker has continued to impress for AS Monaco in the French Ligue 1 after he scored his first goal in the league in a 3-1 win at Strasbourg. Monaco are now second on the table with 23 points from 11 matches, six points adrift of leaders and defending champions PSG. The 18-year-old Ilenikhena has featured for France at age-grade levels, but he is still eligible to play for Nigeria by virtue of his parents.
3.Cyriel Dessers
The striker may have continued to be overlooked by the Super Eagles, but this has not stopped him from getting among the goals for Scottish giants Rangers. Earlier this past week, he rescued a vital point for Rangers in the Europa League with a late equaliser at Olympiacos, before he delivered the only goal for his club to beat Hearts at home. The 29-year-old Dessers has now netted four goals in the league. However, Rangers are nine points adrift of leaders and bitter rivals Celtic after 11 rounds of matches.
2.Ademola Lookman
‘Mola’ followed up on his five-star display at Napoli the previous week to score for Atalanta to win 2-0 at German Bundesliga club VfB Stuttgart in the UEFA Champions League earlier this past week. He has been consistent for his Italian club, who are now top of Serie A after a hard-fought home win over Udinese and Super Eagles goalkeeper Maduka Okoye.
1.Victor Osimhen
The standout star for the past week will be ‘Osi’ after his brace in both the Europa League and the Turkish Super Lig with Galatasaray. He scored his first goals in the Europa League for the Turkish champions in a 3-2 win over Premier League club Spurs. His exploits against Spurs enjoyed world-wide acclaim. He then scored twice for ‘Gala’ to beat closest rivals in the Turkish league Samsunspor 3-2. He showed class by dedicating his goals to rival Mauro Icardi, who suffered a long-term knee injury in the Europa League tie versus Spurs. He has now fired eight goals and made four assists in all competitions and his ambitious Turkish team are in top reckoning in both the Europa League and the league.
🇳🇬 Victor Osimhen, Nigerian is enjoying life at Galatasaray🔴⚪️
— G/A in all Competitions (@GoalsandAssist) November 10, 2024
🏟 9 Games
⚽️ 8 Goals
🅰️ 4 Assists
12 G/A in 9 Games 🤯📈 https://t.co/v1Dsv1kijg
