Goal-poacher ba rescues chelsea again

Senegalese Demba Ba rescued Chelsea for the second time within five days when he scored the weekend English Premier League winner at Swansea. The striker, a fringe player for much of the season, struck on 68 minutes and the 1-0 victory kept the London club two points behind leaders Liverpool. Substitute Ba snatched the late midweek goal that took Chelsea to the Champions League semi-finals at the expense of Paris Saint-Germain.

ENGLAND

DEMBA BA (Chelsea)
The Senegal striker scored the only goal in the 68th minute at the Liberty Stadium when, despite the close proximity of Ashley Williams, he beat goalkeeper Michel Vorm from 20 yards.

YAYA TOURE (Manchester City)
Losing 3-2 to title rivals Liverpool was bad enough for City, but their defeat at Anfield was made all the worse by the sight of their key midfielder limping off in the first half shortly after ballooning a shot over the bar in an exit that raised questions about his fitness for the run-in.

YANNICK SAGBO (Hull City)
The Ivory Coast striker was on target for the Tigers in their thrilling 5-3 FA Cup semi-final win over Sheffield United at Wembley with a 42nd-minute goal that levelled the match at 1-1 when, unmarked, he scored from 10 yards.

STEPHANE SESSEGNON (West Bromwich Albion)
The Benin midfielder must have thought he’d given the Baggies a desperately-needed victory when he put them 3-0 up at home to Tottenham Hotspur just past the half-hour mark at The Hawthorns after getting on the end of a long ball to beat Spurs and France keeper Hugo Lloris. But Tottenham fought back to secure a 3-3 draw.

SPAIN

YACINE BRAHIMI (Granada)
Algerian Brahimi scored just his third goal of the season to hand Granada a sensational 1-0 win over Barcelona. Victory moved the Andalusians to the brink of survival as they are six points above the relegation zone with five rounds left.

ITALY

GERVINHO (Roma)
For the second successive week, Gervinho was one of Roma’s most inspirational players — although this time the Ivorian got his name on the scoresheet with Roma’s third goal in a comfortable 3-1 win over Atalanta. Having launched the counter-attack which led to Roma’s opener, Gervinho sprung the offside trap to win his one-on-one with Andrea Consigli to beat the Atalanta ‘keeper just after the hour.

ADEL TAARABT (Milan)
On-loan Fulham forward Taarabt is battling to secure a permanent move to Milan and after last week’s stunning strike in a 2-1 win at Genoa the Moroccan is on track. Taarabt had four shots on goal but proved less incisive during a precious 1-0 win at home to Catania.

OGENYI ONAZI (Lazio)
With Lazio already a man down and trailing 3-1 at the San Paolo, Nigerian Onazi provided some cheer and late hope for the Biancocelesti’s travelling support at Napoli with a well-taken individual effort which reduced arrears to 3-2 with eight minutes remaining. Napoli, however, hung on for a 4-2 win after Gonzalo Higuain scored his third in a hat-trick in the fourth minute of injury time.

FRANCE

JORDAN AYEW (Sochaux)
Ghana’s Ayew scored for the second weekend running to boost struggling Sochaux’s survival prospects. The brother of Andre, on loan from Marseille, bagged Sochaux’s 15th-minute opener in their 2-0 win over Toulouse. That left 2012 Africa Cup of Nations-winning coach Herve Renard’s side third from bottom, five points from safety with five matches remaining.

VINCENT ABOUBAKAR (Lorient)
The Cameroon striker played a decisive role in Lorient’s 2-1 win at Nice, the game heading for a draw until his decisive goal two minutes into injury time grabbed the points.

GERMANY

DOMI KUMBELA (Eintracht Braunschweig)
With his side battling to avoid relegation, the Democratic Republic of Congo-born striker could miss the last four games of the season after suffering a suspected torn groin in bottom-side Braunschweig’s 2-0 defeat at Freiburg. The 29-year-old came off after just 26 minutes of his side’s defeat and is their top scorer with nine goals, seven of which have come in the second half of the season.

DIDIER YA KONAN (Hanover 96)
The Ivory Coast striker scored his first Bundesliga goal since August when he netted the 86th-minute winner in the 2-1 home victory over Hamburg. After Lars Stindl’s first-half header was cancelled out by a stunning free-kick from Hakan Calhanoglu just after the break, Ya Konan slammed home the winner which kept Hanover away from the relegation places. With time running out, the 29-year-old followed up a shot from Hanover forward Artjoms Rudnevs and when Hamburg’s Johan Djourou back-heeled the ball, Ya Konan fired home.

RUSSIA

AHMED MUSA (CSKA Moscow)
The Nigerian forward scored the 17th-minute goal that earned a 1-0 home win over Ural Yekaterinburg when he received a pass from Ivorian Seydou Doumbia and beat goalkeeper Nikolai Zabolotny from close range.

DAME N’DOYE (Lokomotiv Moscow)
The Senegalese striker missed several scoring chances in each half and hit the woodwork as hosts Lokomotiv were held 0-0 by Anzhi Makhachkala.

Confederation of African Football (CAF) News