Super Eagles Star Simy Nwankwo Equals Aiyegbeni’s Decade-old Goalscoring Record

 

Simy Nwankwo, Super Eagles striker, on Saturday scored his 17th goal of the season to equal Yakubu Aiyegbeni’s 10-year-old goalscoring record — but his team, Crotone, lost 2-1 to Udinese.

Yakubu held the record for the most goals by a Nigerian in a single season in any of the top five leagues in Europe — English Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga, Série A, Ligue A. He scored 17 goals with Blackburn Rovers in the 2011/12 season.

Nwankwo’s Crotone entered the fixture rooted to the bottom of the table with relegation breathing down their neck.

The defensive frailty that has consigned them to the bottom spot reared its head 40 minutes into the game. The defense was sluggish to respond after Alex Cordaz, Crotone goalkeeper, stopped a shot from Roberto Pereyra with his leg.

Pereyra capitalised on the listlessness, accumulated the ball and laid it smooth for Rodrigo De Paul who curled it elegantly into the top right corner of Cordaz.

Nwankwo responded for the home team a few minutes later. Udinese’s Nahuel Molina handled the ball within his group’s 18-yard box and a penalty became given. The lanky Nigerian despatched Juan Musso, Udinese’s goalkeeper, the incorrect manner to attain his tenth purpose in seven consecutive fits.

In the 74th minute, Crotone had been split open via De Paul once again, but this time he passed more than one defenders earlier than slotting the ball past a incorrect-footed Cordaz.

Although Crotone continue to be the bottom-ranked group in the league with seven video games to move, their Nigerian striker can’t appear to stop scoring.

A couple of weeks ago, Nwankwo matched George Weah’s file as he became most effective the 0.33 African to score in 5 consecutive Serie A games.

The 28-yr-antique is the league’s fourth main goalscorer at the back of Cristiano Ronaldo, Romelu Lukaku and Luis Muriel.