African talents shine in Europe: Mbeumo scores in Uniteds shock win over Arsenal
Manchester United forward Bryan Mbeumo along with Bournemouth playmaker Amine Adli featured among eight African goal scorers across the Premier League during the recent matches.
The Cameroon star Mbeumo opened the scoring for United in an exciting 3-2 triumph against the league topping Arsenal.
Moroccos Adli delivered the decisive strike right at the end of stoppage time securing a thrilling 3-2 home success for Bournemouth against Liverpool.
AFP Sport spotlights the key African performers from the top European competitions:
ENGLAND
BRYAN MBEUMO (Man Utd)
Mbeumo netted for the second match running since coming back from the Africa Cup of Nations helping United to upset Arsenal. He stayed composed to capitalise on a mistake by Martin Zubimendi go around David Raya and fire in his ninth strike since moving to the Red Devils.
AMINE ADLI (Bournemouth)
Adli overlooked for Moroccos AFCON team grabbed what was almost the final touch of the match to hand Bournemouth a stunning victory versus Liverpool. The ex Bayer Leverkusen wide player kept pushing to blast the ball in from a tight position on his second effort for only his second goal in Bournemouth colours.
ANTOINE SEMENYO (Man City)
Semenyo has found the net in three separate tournaments for City shortly after his transfer from Bournemouth to the Etihad. The Ghanaian slotted away his debut Premier League effort in the blue shirt during a 2-0 defeat of Wolves following goals in the FA Cup and League Cup on his initial outings for City. The other City strike was by Egyptian Omar Marmoush.
TAIWO AWONIYI (Nottingham Forest)
Awoniyi broke his season duck with a goal that clinched a vital result for Forest in their fight against the drop. The Nigerian had seen limited action just over 200 minutes in the Premier League due to injuries dropping him lower in the lineup at the City Ground. Yet Awoniyi displayed his power and finishing touch to lock in a 2-0 success at Brentford boosting Sean Dyches side five points away from danger.
LYLE FOSTER (Burnley)
South Africas Foster set Burnley up for their first league victory since October with his third goal of the campaign giving the Clarets a late 2-1 advantage over Tottenham. However Scott Parkers team failed to defend it as a stoppage time Spurs leveller kept Burnley 10 points from safety.
SPAIN
AKOR ADAMS (Sevilla)
Sevilla attacker Adams converted a second half spot kick to earn his side a 2-1 success against Athletic Bilbao. The Nigerian striker deceived Unai Simon from 12 yards for his sixth La Liga effort this term and third across his past two fixtures.
PATHE CISS (Rayo Vallecano)
A Senegal Africa Cup of Nations winner Ciss experienced a bittersweet return with Rayo Vallecano. The central midfielder nodded in during the second period of a 3-1 home loss to Osasuna. Post match he sparked debate by reposting social media content from someone else that slammed Rayo for ignoring his AFCON successes prior to kick off.
GERMANY
MOHAMED AMOURA (Wolfsburg)
Amoura continued to stand out amid Wolfsburgs tough campaign bagging the lone goal in a 1-3 reversal at Mainz. Just three minutes in Amoura was ideally positioned in the packed box to nod home Sael Kumbedis delivery. The Algerian boasts seven goals and two assists in 17 Bundesliga outings so far.
FRANCE
AMINE GOUIRI (Marseille)
Algeria international Gouiri born in France tallied a brace as fourth placed Marseille triumphed 3-1 over Lens who sit just above them in Ligue 1. Gouiri shrugged off multiple markers using his physicality to score after merely three minutes. His 75th minute close range finish made it three nil.