For all its supposed superiority in prestige and importance, the Champions League didn’t produce the most gripping African tale in Europe this week.
Of course, Mohamed Salah did what he tends to do — score decisive goals — despite not matching the level of previous performances this season in Liverpool’s 3-2 win over Atletico Madrid, Sebastien Haller continues to sparkle in his maiden Champions League campaign and Samuel Chukwueze netted on his CL debut minutes after coming on against Young Boys.
No player in Europe’s premier club competition has scored more than the Ivory Coast frontman’s six strikes in three games, while his pair of assists in Ajax’s 4-0 demolition of Borussia Dortmund means he now outranks every player in goal involvements.
Chukwueze has had to be patient through rehabilitation from a thigh injury that kept him out of what would have been the biggest game of his career at the backend of last season.
Stretchered off in Villarreal’s Europa League semi-final second-leg success over Arsenal, the Super Eagle missed the final against Manchester United—this obviously rankled.
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The wide attacker has had to bide his time, watching on from the sidelines as his team faced Chelsea in the European Super Cup in August and returned to the Champions League for the first time in 10 years.
It’d be remiss to overlook Leon Balogun and Joe Aribo flourishing in Rangers’ impressive 2-0 defeat of Brondby on Thursday — the former powering a header past Thomas Mikkelsen while the midfield man’s guile and creativity deserved an assist — as well as Victor Osimhen coming on to score in Napoli’s 3-0 success over Legia Warsaw to match Dries Mertens’ record of netting in three successive European games in this century.
How about Karl Toko Ekambi, who continued his dominance of this year’s Europa League to score twice and set up Lucas Paqueta impressively as Olympique Lyonnais roared from 2-0 down to defeat Sparta Prague 4-3?
The Cameroon star has outscored everyone in Europe’s secondary club competition, although the Napoli frontman and Patson Daka are on his tail with four strikes at the halfway point of the group stage.
Be that as it may, Daka owned this week’s action in European competition, aided by Kelechi Iheanacho in this double act that could light up the East Midlands for years to come.
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Many observers without any allegiance to Leicester City might have been unaware of Wednesday’s EL action against Spartak Moscow while it was ongoing, but the story of the Zambia star netting four times in Russia made a splash by day’s end.
Down 2-0 in Moscow, the headlines were already writing themselves. Having dropped two points from a seemingly unassailable position against Napoli — a 2-2 draw that preceded match-day two’s defeat by Legia Warsaw — this was something of a must-win to avoid facing the prospect of an early exit.
Had Daka not risen to the occasion, the post-match headlines were bound to focus on the Foxes’ continental malaise away from the King Power Stadium. Three wins in 14 matches on their travels in Europe was a stand-out stat before kick-off, and another disappointment in their 15th game was going to upset committed supporters.
Scoring four times not only saw him become Zambia’s first-ever hat-trick hero in European competition, but he also becomes Leicester’s joint-top scorer in Europe and matched Derek Hines’ 1958 feat of scoring a quartet in a single game.
Particularly pleasing is how the Central African hasn’t let his head drop in what has obviously been a somewhat difficult start to life in English football. The former Red Bull Salzburg marksman has seen little game time in the Premier League and Europe wasn’t being kind to him either.
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A disallowed goal against Napoli on his Europa League debut for the club diluted the cacophonous celebration at the King Power and another blank in Poland against Legia after a shot-happy outing must have played on his mind.
After enduring a frustrating time on Wednesday until his first goal — where he snatched at a half-volley in the opening 10 minutes and felt he should have won a penalty minutes after the hosts opened the scoring — the night ended in elation.
Without a doubt, five goals in two games have announced the Central African and offer a glimpse into the future when the ageless Jamie Vardy calls time on his storied Leicester career.
Again, it would be inattentive to ignore Iheanacho’s role in Moscow as his pair of assists for the Zambian aided the Foxes’ comeback.
Like Daka, the Super Eagle surprisingly found himself out of the team at the start of the season, albeit with a few mitigating factors. However, Brendan Rodgers has bowed to common sense and is reaping the rewards of the Nigerian’s final-third output.
The first assist saw him look up and release his strike partner after some quick thinking and the second was a display of selflessness and presence of mind to pick out a better-placed teammate.
Rodgers praised the embryonic signs of understanding between the duo after a pre-season friendly against Queens Park Rangers in the summer, but this was different. When the stakes were higher, the African pair came up trumps magnificently in challenging circumstances.
The Europa League may not carry the appeal of the continent’s esteemed club competition but Daka and Iheanacho lit up Europe this week, and it’s likely a fool’s errand picking out a more adorable African tale.
