10 November 2014 11:45
Southampton’s Senegal striker Sadio Mane celebrated his inclusion on the 25-man shortlist for African Footballer of the Year, but was unable to get among the goals for his club this weekend.
Goals were thin on the ground for African players in the European Leagues in general.
But there were strikes from Malaga’s Moroccan striker Nordin Amrabat, from the penalty spot, Bordeaux’s Malian striker Cheick Diabate, Algerian defender Aissa Mandi for Reims and Nigeria’s Anthony Ujah for Cologne.
ENGLAND
SADIO MANE (Southampton)
The Senegal winger made a bright start against Leicester, firing just over the top over from a tight angle. Early in the second half, his cross nearly led to a goal for Graziano Pelle and moments later Mane turned in Ryan Bertrand’s cross but his effort was ruled out for offside. He was substituted in the 67th minute and then saw his replacement, Shane Long, score the two goals that gave Saints a 2-0 home win and remain second in the table.
VICTOR WANYAMA (Southampton)
No wonder goals this weekend from the Kenyan to follow his 35-yard stunner in the 1-0 win over Hull last time out but his precise, chipped pass set up Long for his second goal.
DIAFRA SAKHO (West Ham)
After a record-equaling six goals in his first six starts in the Premier League after his move from France’s Metz, the Senegal striker drew a blank in the Hammers’ goalless draw at home to Aston Villa. He did have his chances, notably when he headed wide after Villa goalkeeper Brad Guzan, in a rare error, came to punch a cross and missed.
MAME BIRAM DIOUF (Stoke)
The Senegal forward is becoming an increasingly influential figure for the Potters and it was from his cross that Jonathan Walters scored Stoke’s second goal in a 2-1 win away to Tottenham Hotspur that took Mark Hughes’s men into the top half of the table.
YAYA TOURE (Manchester City)
The Ivorian midfielder was a rare performer for the English champions in their lacklustre 2-2 draw at strugglers Queens Park Rangers. He revived City’s interest in the match with a curling shot that flashed just over and, after Sergio Aguero had levelled, nearly made it 2-1 when he was inches away from turning in Samir Nasri’s cross in the opening moments of the second half.
Toure set up Aguero’s second goal, seven minutes from time, with a clipped pass as Manuel Pellegrini’s men came away from their visit to London with a point.
SPAIN
NORDIN AMRABAT (Malaga)
Moroccan striker Amrabat scored his third goal in four games in the last minute from the penalty spot against Eibar to hand Malaga a fifth consecutive win. The 2-1 victory lifted the Andalusians to sixth, just two points off Atletico Madrid in fourth ahead of their clash with the champions when league action resumes in two weeks.
ITALY
GERVINHO (Roma)
Gervinho had the ball in the net for Roma in the second half of a 3-0 home win over Torino but was ruled offside. Nevertheless, the Ivorian was a thorn in the side of the visitors’ defence — his pacy, thoughtful running down the wing and through the middle helping to create space for fellow forwards Francesco Totti and Adem Ljajic, who scored the goal of the night.
KHOUMA BABACAR (Fiorentina)
Babacar and Fiorentina lost 1-0 to Napoli and dropped to 11th, but the Senegalese centre-forward had few real chances and was sluggish at the end.
MICHAEL ESSIEN (Milan)
Like other veterans at Milan, Essien’s golden years seem to be firmly behind him. Slow on the ball and lacking the movement that characterised his time at Chelsea, the Ghanaian was barely efficient in a 2-2 draw at Sampdoria that earned Milan a precious point to sit seventh.
FRANCE
CHEICK DIABATE (Bordeaux)
The 26-year-old Mali striker scored Bordeaux’s second goal just before half-time in the 2-1 win over Lens. He celebrated by running over to hug coach Willy Sagnol, a gesture which left the manager wiping tears from his eyes. Sagnol had been embroiled in a racism row last week after he was accused of making disparaging comments about African players.
AISSA MANDI (Reims)
One of the revelations of Algeria’s shock run to the last-16 of the World Cup, the France-born defender hit the second goal in his team’s 2-0 win over Lille. Reims, two-time European Cup runners-up back in the 1950s, are comfortably in mid-table in Ligue 1.
GERMANY
ANTHONY UJAH (Cologne)
The Nigerian striker claimed his third league goal of the season in a seven-goal thriller as Cologne held on for a 4-3 win over Hoffenheim which moved them up to 10th. The 24-year-old put the guests 3-1 ahead when he pounced on a pass from Poland international Pawel Olkowski on 35 minutes before picking up a second-half yellow card.
Confederation of African Football (CAF) News
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