Samuel Chukwueze played for 69 minute as Villarreal claim a slim 1-0 win over Getafe as they continue their push up the La Liga table.

Chukwueze thought he has given his side the lead in the first half but his effort was correctly ruled out by the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) denying him the chance to add to his goal count this season.

He has four goals this season with three coming in 2021 thanks to his brace against Levante and another against Barcelona.

His performance earned him a nomination for the La Liga player of the month award in a season where he has been pivotal to Unai Emery side in all competitions.

On Thursday, he is expected to be in action again when they take on Arsenal in the Europa League where they will be hoping to make the best use of their first leg 2-1 win.

English Premier League side Leicester City are presently in the market for a defensive midfielder with Wilfred Ndidi courting interest from PSG, Real Madrid and Manchester United.

According to Fichajes.net, Leicester City see Ndidi as the next big sale they will make after selling the likes of N’golo Kante, Danny Drinkwater, Riyad Mahrez, Harry Maguire and Ben Chilwel.

Leicester City’s policy is to make one big sale every summer to generate fund for strengthening several areas of the team as it is the surest way for them to compete in England.

The Spanish website reports that Ndidi is viewed in the region of nothing less than £60 million with the trio of Real Madrid, PSG and Manchester United all interested in the 24 year old.

This news is coming hot on the heels of report linking the 3rd place English Premier League side with a move for Lille defensive midfield hard man Boubacar Soumare.

Moses Simon bagged another goal contribution scoring the opening goal to hand Nantes a 4-1 win over Brest as they continue their quest to beat the drop from the Ligue 1.

Simon was quickest to react to a rebound in the box by tapping home in the 15th minute for what was his sixth goal of the season despite the struggles of Nantes this season.

He was on hand again to set up Blais for their third goal and in the process picked up his third assist of the season further proving his worth to the team he joined on a permanent deal in the summer.

Nantes as a team were rampant with Ludovic Blais, Imran Louza and Kalifa Coulibaly finding the back of the net to hand them their biggest league win of the season.

Despite the big win Nantes are still not out of the drop zone as they currently occupy the 18th position on the log. A position which they are desperately to improve on with three games left to play this season.

Napoli’s record signing Victor Osimhen scored in the 13th minute which looked like the winner until four minutes into time added when Cagliari scored to draw 1-1 in the Serie A.

The Nigerian showed good body strength and composure to net what was his third consecutive goal as Napoli bid to keep their hope of finishing in the UEFA Champions League spot alive.

Osimhen has been pivotal in that as the goal was his eighth of the season but more impressive is the fact that it was his fifth in seven games. He is finally proving his worth after a poor start to life at the club.

However Napoli will be sweating over his health in the next few days as he was substituted with 15 minutes left to play in the game following a head injury sustained in a collision with Luca Ceppitelli.

His departure wasn’t their only problem of the game as Cagliari struck late in the game to get a point with Nahitan Nandez scoring in the final minute of time added on.

Sadiq Umar confirmed his rating as one of the hottest property in Spanish football with a brace for Almeria who were unfortunate to throw away a two goal lead in a 2-2 against Oviedo.

The Nigerian scored the first from the spot in the 22nd minute before adding another eight minutes later to hand his team a comfortable two goal lead heading into the half time break.

His effort was however insufficient to hand all three points to his team as they capitulated in the second half to pick just a point from what looked like three sure points until seven minutes to the end of the game.

Almeria remained 3rd on the log with promotion still in sight as they are in the playoff zone largely due to the Nigerian striker who has 18 league goals this season.

He has two goals in the Cup and in all competitions he has three assists proving right the decision of the club to sign him from Serbian side Partizan Belgrade in the summer.

Genk of Belgium and Nigeria international striker Paul Onuachu has tied the knot with his girlfriend Tracy Acheampong, Owngoalnigeria.com understands.

The duo have been dating for three years with Tracy who hails from Ghana but lives in Amsterdam unaware that he is a professional footballer until his move to Genk two seasons ago.

They will have an elaborate wedding ceremony at the end of the season in Amsterdam and Nigeria respectively with the 26 year old heavily linked with a transfer to a top five European League.

Onuachu has come of age this season with 30 goals to his name for Genk and it has caught the attention of elite teams in Europe who are queuing up to sign the Nigerian in the summer.

Genk have already said they are opened to letting the striker leave the team in June and a fee in the region of €25 million has been quoted by several sources as what they will be demanding.

Out of favour Nigeria international striker Simy Nwankwo says he is not bothered over the fact that he has not been rewarded with a recall to the senior national team of Nigeria despite scoring 19 Serie A goals this season for basement team Crotone.

Simy last played for Nigeria in 2018 with coach Gernot Rohr not finding a spot for the 28 year old in his team with the likes of Victor Osimhen, Paul Onuachu and a resurgent Kelechi Iheanacho ahead of him.

Currently the highest scoring Nigeria in Europe top five leagues, Simy says he won’t be losing sleep if he doesn’t get any future invitation to the team.

“I won’t say I am bothered about the Super Eagles. As a Nigerian I am a fan of the national team, we are all born to be fans of the Super Eagles,” he told BBC Sport Africa.

“I share the same dream and ambition of every young footballer to one day represent the country. But it’s not in my hands, it’s not something I can control.

“I focus on the only thing that I can control, which is my my day-to-day performances, improvement, becoming better every day, working hard and doing the things I have to do for my club.

“That’s the only thing that I am able to control. What happens in the Super Eagles is out of my control.

“If it happens again, it happens and if not.. life goes on. I am not worried.”

African athletes around the world have been on a tear lately, with one spectacular showing after the other, none moreso than the Nigerians. From the MMA to soccer, good and bad, there has been so much to unpack. An encouraging sign for African sports, Nigerian athletes are positioning themselves as the brand ambassadors of the continent, and are well worth any Bet9ja bonus you might be in line for.

Starting with the bad, Turkish club Akhisarspor, fell victim to fraud, when a recently signed Nigerian player turned out to be anything but. The team, no stranger to Nigerian talent, haven signed players like Peter Nsima and Raheem Lawal, were convinced they had their next gem from the Super Eagles, only to find out that the Nigerian Football Federation had no records of 20-year old Martins Chisom. Surely this will put a dent in the team’s relationship with Nigerian academies and teams.

In this week’s roundup in Europe, Kelechi Iheancho is hitting his stride with Leicester and will be the man to watch out for in their last five games of the season as the Foxes push for a Champions League berth. In blistering form of late, the Nigerian is showing all his talent and will no doubt be on the radar of his parent club Manchester City, with Sergio Aguero set to make an exit in the off-season. Meanwhile, Victor Oshimen has not been able to find the form that earned him a mega transfer to Napoli. After getting derailed by COVID-19, the striker is still getting back to his best, with Napoli battling for Champions League football once again.

In the CAF Confederations Cup, Enyimba FC needed some dramatic late goal from Cyril Olisema to book their place in the next round in thrilling fashion. Bottom of the group before kick-off, the team known popularly as the People’s Elephant, started the game with intensity and purpose. Orlando Pirates had no strong response for the pressure but held their own until the 95th minute, when à cross from Anayo Iwuala was swept into the net by Olisema. The goal clinched the victory and shot Enyimba to the top of the group and into the next phase. Their next opponent will be any among Cameroon’s Coton Sport de Garoua, Tunisia’s Cs Sfaxien, or Pyramids from Egypt.

The biggest news, however, was the win of UFC fighter and champion Kamaru Usman, over challenger, Jorge Masvidal.
The Nigerian Nightmare was his devastating best in the night, taking down his opponent with a vicious knockout in the second round.

Masvidal was having his second shot at Usman’s title, and was more determined than ever to get the job done. Usman, fresh off a defence against Gilbert Burns, was the more composed of the two, but did want to put the Masvidal challenge down for good. The fight was a fitting main event for UFC 261, and Usman had another African champion, Ngannou in his corner. Ngannourecently became UFC heavyweight champion and hails from Cameroon.

Legendary Côte d’Ivoire midfielder Yaya Toure has backed the Super Eagles of Nigeria to pick one of the five slots allocated to Africa for the 2022 World Cup.

Nigeria will begin their qualifiers campaign on the 6th of June against Liberia in Lagos with Toure backing them to go all the way to the final round of qualifiers which will be in playoff format and subsequently qualifying for the World Cup.

He picked Nigeria, Senegal, Egypt, Côte d’Ivoire and Morocco as favorite to be at the 2022 World Cup from Africa and while explaining why he picked Nigeria he pointed out their talent base.

However he was quick to mention that what has always held the Nigerian team back is most times administrative as seen over the past few years “ They have talents and should be at the World Cup”, Toure said.

“ The major problem has always been the distractions they usually face through poor administration. That has been the problem with Nigeria for a while”.

Hot in demand Chelsea owned striker Ike Ugbo says he dream of representing Nigeria at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar as he awaits the green light from FIFA to represent the African nation.

Ugbo who represented England at various youth levels has already applied for a switch of nationality which he is hoping will be approved before the end of the World Cup qualifiers.

This season he has excelled for Cercle Brugge where he is on loan from Chelsea with as many as 17 goals to his name in all
competitions. A form which has led to interests from teams who want to sign him permanently.

Newly promoted English Premier League side Watford are the favourite to clinch his signing but the 22 year old has his sight fixed on the World Cup 2022 in Qatar.

“ It’s the dream of every player to play at the World Cup and it’s same for me. Hopefully my papers will come through and I will push for a spot in the team of Nigeria for the next World Cup”, he said.