It was joy for Super Eagles trio of Leon Balogun, Joe Aribo and Calvin Bassey, as their Scottish team, Rangers, edged out Portuguese side, Braga, 3-1 (3-2 on aggregate) to progress to the semifinals of the 2021/2022 Europa League.
Midfielder Aribo was particularly in fine form as he produced an assist in the nervy second leg win on Thursday night.
It was the Nigerian international’s sublime pass to team captain James Tavernier for Rangers opening goal in the second minute before he was substituted in the 106th minute for Zambian striker, Fashion Sakala.
The duo of centre back Leon Balogun and left back Calvin Bassey were also in action, producing a solid defensive shift to prevent Braga from causing any more damage than the one goal they got.
While Balogun came on for Borna Barisic and gave a good account of himself, Bassey played the full 120 minutes and showed why coach Giovanni van Bronckhorst sees him as one of Rangers’ most important players.
This will be Rangers’ first continental semi-final in 14 years, and a huge boost to Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s men ahead of Sunday’s Scottish Cup semi-final with Premiership leaders Celtic at Hampden.
Kelechi Iheanacho
In the UEFA Conference League, the duo of Kelechi Iheanacho and Ademola Lookman helped Leicester City come from a goal down to defeat PSV of Netherlands 2-1 and qualify for the semi-finals of the newest UEFA competition.
With the feat, Leicester have now qualified for their first ever European football semi-final.
Iheanacho was in the starting eleven before being substituted on 65 minutes while Lookman came on for Harvey Barnes at the start of the second half and had a hand in Leicester’s winner.
Ademola Lookman
Leicester’s reward for taking out PSV is a meeting with the winner of the tie between Bodo/Glimt and Serie A giants, AS Roma, in the semi-finals.
Samuel Chukwueze celebrating his goal against Bayern Munich
On Tuesday night, Nigeria’s Samuel Chukwueze was the hero as he scored the decisive goal for his Spanish side Villarreal, which knocked out Bayern Munich of Germany to take the Yellow Submarine into the semi finals of the UEFA Champions League.