It turned out to be another fine evening for Nigerian stars abroad as this weekend’s round of matches kicked off with games in Italy, Norway, and Turkey.
In the Serie B, Simy Tochukwu Nwankwo fired in a fantastic hat-trick to hand second-placed Crotone a highly impressive 3-0 victory over promoted Benevento at the Stadio Ezio Scida on Friday night.
The Super Eagles striker, who last played for Nigeria in the 2-1 last-gasp defeat to Argentina at the 2018 World Cup, scored twice in the first half before adding a third after the break.
Nwankwo has now claimed 16 goals in 31 games this term for Crotone with the 28-year-old looking good to guide Giovanni Stroppa’s men back to the Serie A.
In Game Week 1 of Norway’s Division 1, Peter Michael kicked off his season with two superb goals, but it was not enough as Oygarden fell 4-3 at Sandnes Ulf.
The 22-year-old attacker, on loan from Valerenga, opened the scoring on the night before his second made it 2-1 for his side.
But the hosts scored three second-half goals to condemn Bryant Lazaro’s side to their first loss of the campaign.
At the Denizli Atatürk Stadyumu in Turkey, Nigerian forward Olanrewanju Kayode was impressive as his Gaziantep side squeezed a 1-0 victory out of Denizlispor.
Kayode could not add to the ten goals he has managed this term as Guray Vural’s first-half strike was all the visitors needed to claim all the three points at stake.
The home side introduced Ogenyi Onazi in the 86th minute of the encounter, but it was a little too late for the Super Eagles midfielder to have any meaningful impact.
The vital win propels Gaziantep into the top half of the Super Lig table while Denizlispor continue their struggle to pull away from the relegation zone.
