African players in Europe: Mane reaches 20-goal mark again

It was the third straight campaign in which the Senegal forward and reigning African Footballer of the Year has bagged at least 20 goals for the Merseysiders.

The other African on target in the Premier League at the weekend was Nigeria’s Kelechi Iheanacho, whose goal set Leicester City up for a 3-0 home victory over Crystal Palace.

ENGLAND

SADIO MANE (Liverpool)

Jurgen Klopp’s side found it hard work breaking down struggling Villa, but Mane had the answer when he fired home from close-range after running onto Guinea midfielder Naby Keita’s pass. With five games left, Liverpool have 89 points and remain in the hunt to break Manchester City’s Premier League record of 100 points established last season.

KELECHI IHEANACHO (Leicester)

The striker bagged his 10th goal of the season as he broke the deadlock in the 49th minute, side-footing home a low left-wing cross from Youri Tielemans to claim his second goal in as many games. Leicester’s first win since the coronavirus hiatus was sealed by the 100th and 101st Premier League goals of Jamie Vardy’s career, leaving the Foxes in third place and on course to qualify for the Champions League.

PIERRE-EMERICK AUBAMEYANG (Arsenal)

The Gabon forward failed to score for the fourth time in five matches since the Premier League restart, but the Gunners still won 2-0 at Wolves. Amid speculation that he will ask to leave Arsenal in the close-season, Aubameyang’s only goals since February came in the 4-0 win over Norwich on July 1. But he made a crucial contribution against Wolves with a clever pass to Kieran Tierney, who went on to set up Bukayo Saka’s 43rd-minute opener. Suitably inspired, Arsenal clinched their fourth successive win in all competitions to remain in the hunt for European qualification.

SPAIN

ANSU FATI (Barcelona)

Fati came off the bench to score his seventh goal of the season in Barcelona’s 4-1 victory over Villarreal. The Guinea-Bissau-born 17-year-old cut in from the left and drove the ball inside the near post to continue a remarkable breakthrough season for him at Camp Nou. Fati’s goal helped Barca reduce the gap at the top of La Liga to four points, with Real Madrid still in pole position with four games to play,

ZOUHAIR FEDDAL (Real Betis)

Moroccan defender Feddal rescued a point for Betis by scoring a late equaliser in their 1-1 draw against Celta Vigo. He was left free at the back post, where he controlled and finished for his first goal of the season in La Liga. It earned a valuable point for Betis, who have been sliding closer to the bottom three. They sit nine points clear of the relegation zone with four rounds left.

ITALY

MUSA JUWARA/MUSA BARROW (Bologna)

The pair of Gambian forwards combined to deal a potentially fatal blow to Inter Milan’s Serie A title hopes as Bologna fought back to beat Antonio Conte’s side 2-1 at the San Siro. The 18-year-old Juwara came off the bench to drill in a 74th-minute equaliser before Barrow capped a flowing counter-attack late on with a low finish to score a dramatic winner.

GERMANY

EDMOND TAPSOBA (Bayer Leverkusen)

When Leverkusen’s Burkina Faso defender Tapsoba clattered Robert Lewandowski, who went onto score twice, early in the German Cup final, David Alaba swung in the resulting free-kick to give Bayern Munich the lead in a 4-2 victory at Berlin’s Olympic Stadium. After Alaba and Serge Gnabry scored in the first half for Bayern, Lewandowski netted twice after the break to leave him with a total of 51 goals this season while Sven Bender and Kai Havertz bagged consolation goals for Leverkusen.