Africans Abroad: Youssef En-Nesyri, Brahim Diaz and Ihlas Bebou at the double
England
Cameroon international Bryan Mbeumo and Congolese forward Yoane Wissa were on song as Brentford recorded a 2-1 away victory over Bournemouth in a keenly contested Premier League fixture.
The hosts thought they had gone ahead in the 27th minute, but Dominic Solanke’s effort was chalked off by VAR.
With the game at the Vitality Stadium looking destined to end with no winner, the visitors took the lead in the 86th minute courtesy of Mbeumo.
Three minutes later, Bournemouth levelled matters through Solanke – who beat goalkeeper Mark Flekken having profited from a Marcos Senesi assist. In the closing seconds of the fixture, Wissa had the final say by netting home the winner to the anguish of Andoni Iraola’s Cherries.
At Goodison Park, Abdoulaye Doucoure was the hero as Everton secured a hard-fought 1-0 win against Sheffield United.
The Mali international’s first-half effort was all the Toffees needed to hand Sean Dyche’s men the points in their last home match of the 2023-24 campaign.
In the 31st minute, Dwight McNeil sent a pass through to Dominic Calvert-Lewin who rounded Wes Foderingham and teed up Doucoure for an easy close-range conversion into an unguarded goal.
Elsewhere, Ghana international Mohammed Kudus contributed an assist as West Ham United overcame Luton Town 3-1 at the London Stadium.
Despite an early setback following Albert Sambi Lokonga’s sixth-minute opener for the visitors, the Hammers clawed back to take the lead through second-half goals from James Ward-Prowse and Tomas Soucek.
Super-sub George Earthy put the icing on the cake for David Moyes’ men with a third with Kudus supplying him.
Nigeria prospect Michael Olise was among the goalscorers as Crystal Palace picked up a 3-1 away win at Wolverhampton Wanderers.
The 22-year-old opened the scoring for the Eagles after 26 minutes thanks to Adam Wharton’s assist.
He also contributed an assist by setting up Eberechi Eze for Crystal Palace’s third goal of day in the 73rd minute; seven minutes after Wolves pulled a goal back through Matheus Cunha.
After putting in an impressive shift at Molineux, Olise was substituted for Ghana’s Jeffrey Schlupp with two minutes left on the clock.
Liverpool settled for a 3-3 draw with Aston Villa with Ghana prospect Jarell Quansah scoring his first goal for the Reds at Villa Park.
Making his 12th start of the ongoing campaign, the centre-back turned home a Harvey Elliott cross for Liverpool’s third goal in the six-goal thriller.
Spain
Youssef En-Nesyri continued with his rich scoring form with a brace, although Sevilla fell 3-2 to Villarreal.
The Morocco international went to the Estadio de la Ceramica in good spirits thanks to his strike against Granada last time out.
En-Nesyri opened scoring for Los Nervionenses before completing his brace in the 44th minute with Jesus Navas providing the assist.
In the process, he became one of the top five foreign goalscorers in Sevilla’s history. Despite this personal achievement, he could not prevent Quique Sanchez Flores’ side from succumbing to their 14th defeat of the season.
Brahim Diaz emulated his compatriot by finding the net twice in Real Madrid’s 4-0 decimation of Granada.
Fran Garcia and Arda Guler had given Los Blancos a two-goal lead in the first half before the African added to the Nasrids’ woes at the Estadio Nuevo Los Carmenes with the third and fourth strikes.
Inaki Williams followed up on his brace against Getafe on May 3 with a goal as Athletic Bilbao ground out a 2-2 draw with Osasuna.
Needing a win to boost their European chances next season, the Lions started the game like a house on fire. Nonetheless, it was the visitors who took a 40th-minute lead through Raul Garcia.
Things got worse for Ernesto Valverde’s men in the 47th minute as Ruben Garcia doubled Osasuna’s advantage with a cool finish.
Looking dead and buried, Athletic fought to grab a point with Ghana international launching the comeback with a 58th-minute effort before Asier Villalibre’s last-gasp goal.
Italy
Ismael Bennacer got a goal and an assist as AC Milan pummeled Cagliari 5-1 at San Siro.
First, the Algeria international was cautioned by referee Simone Sozza in the 28th minute for a foul on Alessandro Deiola. Seven minutes later, he opened the floodgates for Milan.
He then set up Rafael Leao for Milan’s fourth goal as they returned home with heads bowed low.
Germany
Guinea international Serhou Guirassy propelled VfB Stuttgart to a 1-0 win at Augsburg.
The striker got the lone goal in the 48th minute after powering the ball past goalkeeper Tomas Koubek at the WWK Arena.
The win saw them occupy third spot in the Bundesliga and they could overtake Bayern Munich on the final day if the Bavarians falter at Hoffenheim and they claim all points against Borussia Monchengladbach.
In another thrilling encounter, Ihlas Bebou scored twice and provided an assist as Hoffenheim hit Darmstadt for six.
Apart from scoring the first and last goal at the Merck-Stadion am Boellenfalltor, the Togo international turned provider for Maximilian Beier’s first-half finish.
That brace took Bebou’s tally in the 2023/24 German topflight campaign to seven from 31 appearances.
Completing the roll call of Africa’s top performers in Germany is Victor Boniface who was on song as champions-elect Bayer Leverkusen decimated Bochum 5-0 at the Vonovia Ruhrstadion.
