SCORENigeria Top 5: Dessers, Ejuke, Ndidi come big when it matters most

Super Eagles stars Cyriel Dessers, Chidera Ejuke and Wilfred Ndidi were huge for their respective teams on a weekend that a lot was at stake.

5.Tolu Arokodare

The big striker shut up the boo boys when he opened scoring for Genk to beat Anderlecht in a crucial Championship Playoff tie. Anderlecht fans have not forgiven Arokodare after he snubbed their darling club at the last minute to sign for Genk. He has now netted 11 goals in the league this season. This Genk victory has now put them back in contention for the league title in Belgium as they are now fourth in the standings with 34 points, just two points outside second-placed Club Brugge with six matches still to play.

4.Chidera Ejuke

The dribbling wizard was the match winner for Antwerp to record their first win of the Belgian Championship Playoffs and end a run of four games without victory. It was an individual effort by the CSKA Moscow loanee, whose recent displays have put him on the shop window as he is at the end of his contract with his parent Russian club. Antwerp in the meantime will be thankful for his magic as they still have six games to snatch a ticket for European football next season.

3.Cyriel Dessers

The Super Eagles striker scored twice for Rangers to set up a Scottish Cup Final against bitter city rivals Celtic for the first time in 22 years. Dessers has been criticised for been wasteful in front of goal, but he got the job done against Hearts with two well-taken goals in the semifinal of the cup competition. He has now scored 19 goals in all competitions in his first season at Rangers. Not a shabby tally for a striker who has had to endure some harsh criticisms.

#Nigeria international Cyriel Dessers fired Rangers into a first Scottish Cup final against Celtic since 2002, with a goal either side of half-time at Hampden seeing off Hearts. pic.twitter.com/S3qLXjajZp

— Oluwashina Okeleji (@oluwashina) April 21, 2024

2.Ademola Lookman

The forward appeared to have slowed down a superb outing with the Super Eagles at the recent AFCON. However, he is gradually getting back to the groove after he provided two assists for Atalanta to win 2-1 and Monza. This road win has consolidated their sixth position in Serie A, which guarantees them a UEFA Europa Conference League slot. However, they could even dream of fifth place, which will hand them UEFA Champions League ticket.

1.Wilfred Ndidi

The midfielder justified a more offensive role this season by scoring the opening goal against West Bormwich Albion as Leicester City recorded an important 2-1 home win. Ndidi has now scored three goals in the English Championship and ‘The Foxes’ are back at the top of the Championship on 91 points from 43 matches, two points ahead of nearest rivals Ipswich. There are three rounds of matches to the end of the regular season and the two automatic promotion slots to the Premier League are still wide open.