NIGERIAN stars Gift Orban and Victor Boniface were on target last night as the group stages of the UEFA Europa League and the UEFA Europa Conference League entered the fourth round of games across Europe, while there were unexpected defeats for Liverpool and last year’s losing finalists AS Roma.
Orban was the star of the night across both competitions as he netted a hat-trick to help Belgian side Gent to a come-from-behind 3-2 victory over Breidablik in Iceland.
The 21-year-old Super Eagles striker scored once in the first half and twice more in the second half as Gent recovered from going 2-1 down to claim the win and retain top spot in Group B of the Conference League with 10 points from four matches.
Orban has now shaken off poor form to score an impressive 11 goals in 18 games across all competitions this season.
Remarkably, last night’s hat-trick is Orban’s fifth in the last 10 months, more than any young player in Europe’s top leagues in that period.
Boniface netted a stoppage time penalty for Bayer Leverkusen in the 1-0 Europa League victory at Qarabag to maintain the German Bundesliga leaders’ 100 percent record in Group H.
The 22-year-old Nigeria international, who is in the squad for next week’s World Cup qualifiers against Lesotho and Zimbabwe, has registered 11 goals and six assists in his 15 appearances since joining Bayer Leverkusen from Union St Gilloise in August.
In games involving other Super Eagles stars last night, Ademola Lookman featured for 62 minutes to help Atalanta beat Sturm Graz 1-0 in the Europa League, while Bright Osayi-Samuel played the whole game for Fenerbahce in their 2-0 defeat at Ludogorets in the Conference League.
The biggest shock of the night was in France, where Liverpool were beaten 3-2 by Toulouse in the Europa League.
The struggling Ligue 1 side produced their best performance of the season, with Aron Donnum, Thijs Dallinga and substitute Frank Magri scoring in their stunning victory.
Liverpool benefitted from a Cristian Casseres Jr own goal and a Diogo Jota strike one minute from time but had a late goal controversially disallowed for handball as they slumped to their first defeat in Group E.
Last year’s beaten finalists Roma lost for the first time in this season’s competition when Slavia Prague beat them 2-0 in the Czech Republic.
Lukas Masopust and Vaclav Jurecka struck for Slavia Prague, who had Nigerian centre-back Ogbu Igoh in their line-up, as they overtook Roma on goal difference to the top of Group G.
In other notable ties in the Europa League, Brighton defeated Ajax 2-0 in Amsterdam to stay second in Group B behind Marseille, Rangers beat Sparta Prague 2-1 in Group C with Nigeria striker Cyriel Dessers coming on as a late substitute, and Conference League champions West Ham overcame Olympiacos 1-0 in Group A.
PHOTO: Gift Orban (right) celebrating one of his three goals last night.
