Africa stars shake up Euro battlefield
GHANA’s Daniel Amartey struck late to salvage a draw for Premier League champions Leicester, and African Footballer of the Year Pierre Emerick Aubameyang’s 16th Bundesliga goal rescued a point for Bayern Munich. ENGLAND DANIEL AMARTEY (Leicester) The Ghana midfielder capped a thrilling Leicester fightback with the late equaliser that rescued a 2-2 draw at Stoke on Saturday. Amartey had gone 19 games without a goal as he struggled to make an impact with the Premier League champions following his pre-season move from F C Copenhagen. But the 21-year-old showed his class with a welltimed run to meet Christian Fuchs’ cross with a bullet header in the 88th minute. YAYA TOURE (Manchester City) The Ivory Coast midfielder gave a composed display as City fought back to claim a crucial 2-1 win over title rivals Arsenal at Eastlands on Sunday. It has been a difficult season for Toure after his drinkdriving charge and early difficulties with boss Pep Guardiola, but the veteran remains an influential figure and he dictated play as City recovered from Theo Walcott’s early opener to win with two second half goals from Leroy Sane and Raheem Sterling. VICTOR MOSES (Chelsea) The Nigeria wing-back maintained his remarkable renaissance this season with another polished performance as Chelsea consolidated first place in a 1-0 win at Crystal Palace. Just 12 months ago, Moses was on loan at West Ham and looked to have no future at Stamford Bridge, but he has managed an impressive return to relevance under new Chelsea manager Antonio Conte. DIEMERCI MBOKANI (Hull) The D R Congo striker’s luck was out as he was denied by the woodwork in Hull’s frustrating 1-0 defeat at fellow strugglers West Ham. Mbokani had returned from suspension to take his place in the Hull starting line-up in east London and he delivered a powerful display that should have given the Tigers a crucial three points. But instead Mbokani’s search for his first goal since joining on loan from Dynamo Kiev ended in more woe. He should have scored in the first half when he pounced on Aaron Cresswell’s poor backpass, but instead guided his shot against a post. Then he shot over from another good chance before the interval and was substituted in the 70th minute. GERMANY PIERRE-EMERICK Dortmund)
The Gabon striker – the German league’s top scorer – netted his 16th Bundesliga goal of the season to rescue a point for 10-man Borussia Dortmund in Friday’s 2-2 draw at Hoffenheim. With Hoffenheim 21 up at half-time after goals by Mark Uth and Sandro Wagner, while Dortmund’s Mario Goetze pulled one back, Aubameyang struck just after the break, finishing off a counter-attack following a final pass from winger Ousmane Dembele on 48 minutes. NABY KEITA (R B Leipzig) The Guinea international put Timo Werner into space to fire in R B Leipzig’s first goal in their 2-0 win AUBAMEYANG (Borussia over Hertha Berlin, which allowed them to replace Bayern Munich at the top of the Bundesliga table for 24 hours. FRANCE STEPHANE SESSEGNON (Montpellier) The Benin international returned from a threematch ban to score his first Montpellier goal in a 4-0 rout of Bordeaux. Sessegnon, who joined on a free transfer in September, tucked home his side’s second goal on 20 minutes after a flick-on from compatriot Steve Mounie. RACHID GHEZZAL (Lyon) The Algeria winger netted just his second goal of the season in a crucial 3-1 win at Monaco. Ghezzal swept home from the edge of the area to break the deadlock on 29 minutes. He then crossed for Mathieu Valbuena to volley in Lyon’s second as the visitors edged closer to the top three. ITALY MOHAMED SALEH (Roma) After he replaced Brazilian midfielder Gerson at half-time, Saleh was given few opportunities but, with Juventus leading 1-0, he produced some great footwork late on to squirm between two defenders and set up Diego Perotti for a tame shot that Gianluigi Buffon easily collected. Roma lost 1-0, and dropped to seven points in arrears. KEITA BALDE (Lazio) Keita hit the opener in an entertaining 3-1 win over Fiorentina that saw La Viola forward Josip Ilicic miss a penalty. Keita’s fifth league goal of the season saw the striker match his personal best. — AFP