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Too Good, Too Bad: How African stars performed in Europe last weekend

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It was another weekend of scintillating football action as African football stars filed out for their respective clubsides in different leagues and competitions in Europe.

While some came out smiling, others had no reason to laugh due to poor individual performances or their team’s performance.

In the EPL, Riyad Mahrez missed a crucial penalty for Manchester City that would have seen them defeat West Ham and place the league title firmly in their hands.

For the African quartet in Liverpool, Sadio Mane, Naby Keita, Joel Matip, and Mohamed Salah, it was a collective joy as they lifted another trophy this season after beating Chelsea which had Edouard Mendy and Hakim Ziyech in the FA Cup.

We bring you a review of how African stars performed for their European clubs in the past weekend.

Too Good:

Victor Osimhen: Napoli

Super Eagles of Nigeria striker, Victor Osimhen, scored his 14th Serie A goal of the season when he fired Napoli to a 3-0 victory over Genoa.

The Lagos-born Osimhen got his club’s opener in the 32nd minute before Lorenzo Insigne and Stanislav Lobotka, also got on the score sheet to take the match out of Genoa’s reach.

Taiwo Awoniyi: Union Berlin

Taiwo Awoniyo was the hero for Union Berlin with a brace as his German club ran out 3-2 winners against Bochum in their last Bundesliga game of the season.

Awoniyi got Berlin’s second goal from the penalty spot in the 25th minute before netting the third in the 88th minute as they finished the season fifth on 57 points.

Jeffrey Schlupp, Marc Guehi: Crystal Palace

Jeffrey Schlupp and Marc Guehi were instrumental for the Eagles as they both combined to produce Palace’s equalizer against Aston Villa in the 81st minute after Steven Gerrard’s men had taken a 69th-minute lead.

Schlupp got the equaliser with an assist from Guehi just three minutes and 37 seconds after he came off the bench.

Schlupp has now scored five league goals as a substitute for Palace, with no player netting more such goals for the Eagles outside Dwight Gayle who also has five.

Too Bad:

Sadio Mane: Liverpool

Sadio Mané was on the ‘too bad’ list despite Liverpool winning the English FA Cup against Chelsea, as he missed his spot-kick in the shootout.

His national team mate Edouard Mendy managed to save Mane’s penalty but his blushes were saved as the Merseysiders went on to win the shoot-out contest by a 6-5 margin.

Salah was injured in the 33rd minute, while Keita was replaced as James Milner came on. Matip took Virgil van Dijk’s place when Jurgen Klopp made a 90th-minute change, while Mali-eligible Ibrahima Konate played from start to finish.

Edouard Mendy, Hakim Ziyech: Chelsea

Both Mendy and Ziyech were involved in the English FA Cup final loss to Liverpool.

They both played critical roles in the match as Mendy kept a clean sheet before the penalty shootout and stopped international teammate Mane from converting his penalty while Ziyech scored one of Chelsea’s penalties, but their efforts could not deny Liverpool the trophy at Wembley Stadium.

Samuel Kalu, Oghenekaro Etebo: Watford

Both Nigerian stars were involved as Watford confirmed their relegation from the EPL to the Championship when they suffered a 5-1 defeat at the hands of Leicester City at Vicarage Road.

While Kalu started and played the entire duration of the game, Etebo came on as a substitute as the Hornets suffered their 15th home league defeat of the season, the joint-most by any side in a single English top-flight campaign, level with Blackpool in 1966-67 and Stoke City in 1984-85.

Riyad Mahrez: Man City

The Algerian captain missed a penalty for Manchester City during their game against West Ham which ended in a 2-2 draw.

The Citizens had to fight back from 2-0 down, but Mahrez let them down with a missed penalty that would have given them the lead and kept the gap with Liverpool wider.

Mahrez has missed two penalties in all competitions for Manchester City, his first being against Liverpool in October 2018, and the miss against West Ham being the second. He has converted nine penalties since joining City from Leicester.

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Al Ahly, Esperance to clash in CAF Champions League final

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Two of Africa’s club giants, Egypt’s Al Ahly and Esperance of Tunisia, will do battle next month over two legs for the right to be crowned champions of the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League.

Title-holders Al Ahly and their long-standing rivals Esperance both booked their places in the final with dramatic semi-final victories over DR Congo”s TP Mazembe and Mamelodi Sundowns of South Africa respectively on Friday night.

While Al Ahly, winners of five of the last seven editions of the continent’s top draw tournament, with a record 11 in total, overcame TP Mazembe with a 3-0 aggregate victory in the semi-final second leg after a goalless first leg last Saturday, Esperance surprised Sundowns with a 1-0 victory in Pretoria to wrap up a 2-0 aggregate win.

The two-legged final will mark the third encounter between Ahly and Esperance in the Champions League final, with the Egyptians winning in 2012 and the Tunisians triumphing in 2018.

In 2023, the two clubs clashed in the semi-finals with Ahly emerging victorious home and away, securing a 4-0 aggregate triumph.

Esperance who are aiming for a fifth Champions League title, will host the first leg in Rades on May 18, with the return fixture scheduled in Cairo seven days later.

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Former Zambian captain Rainford Kalaba discharged from hospital after near-fatal accident

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Former Zambian national team captain, Rainford Kalaba, has been discharged from hospital weeks after he was involved in a near-fatal accident where he sustained serious injuries.

The accident which involved a head-on collision between a Mercedes-Benz car in which Kalaba was in, and a truck, had initially sparked fears for his life and has since been in the Intensive Care Unit of the Zambian University Teaching Hospital (UTH).

The good news on the footballer’s progress was released by the UTH Public Relations Officer, Nzeba Chanda, who informed that the Chipolopolo legend has been discharged after showing positive signs of recovery.

“Mr. Rainford Kalaba has been discharged from the UTH-Adult where he was admitted after being involved in a road traffic accident two weeks ago,” Chanda said, adding that Kalaba will continue his recovery at his family home.

According to local media reports, the 37-year-old was a passenger in a Mercedes Benz when it collided with an oncoming truck in the south-eastern Zambian town of Kafue a week and five days ago.

In his active playing days, Kalaba spent the majority of his club career at TP Mazembe of the Democratic Republic of Congo, winning the CAF Champions League with the club in 2015 and the CAF Confederation Cup in 2016.

He also had a spell with clubsides in Portugal including FC Braga, and was a major part of the Zambian squad that won the Africa Cup of Nations in 2012 under Frenchman, Herve Renard.

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