African players in europe: standing ovation for hobbling champion toure

Yaya Toure hobbled off in the latter stages to a standing ovation as Manchester City beat West Ham 2-0 at the weekend to seal the English Premier League title. The Ivory Coast midfielder and reigning African Footballer of the Year was a key figure in the second championship triumph by the ‘Citizens’ within three seasons. He scored a career-best 20 league goals — many from free-kicks – and created a lot of others through surges from midfield.

ENGLAND

YAYA TOURE (Manchester City)
Toure set up Samir Nasri’s opener as City beat West Ham United 2-0 to claim the title. After appearing to injure himself as he shot at goal in the latter stages, the Ivorian had to hobble off, but he was granted a standing ovation in recognition of his gargantuan contribution to the City cause.

WILFRIED BONY (Swansea City)
One of the signings of the season, Ivory Coast striker Bony took his goal tally for the campaign to 25 by sealing Swansea’s 3-1 win at Sunderland with a 54th-minute strike. The dreadlocked 25-year-old, a club-record £12 million ($20.2 million, 14.7 million euros) signing from Vitesse Arnhem last year, gathered a cut-back from Marvin Emnes and skirted a challenge from Phil Bardsley before scoring via the base of the far post.

EMMANUEL ADEBAYOR (Tottenham Hotspur)
Togolese striker Adebayor signed off on a season of personal redemption by scoring his 14th goal of the campaign from the penalty spot in a 3-0 win over Aston Villa that took Tottenham into the Europa League. Frozen out by former manager Andre Villas-Boas, who forced him to train with the club’s reserves, Adebayor has thrived under his successor, Tim Sherwood.

STEPHANE SESSEGNON (West Bromwich Albion)
Sessegnon found the net for the fifth time this season as West Brom went down 2-1 at home to Stoke City on the last day. Having earlier hit the bar, the Benin international midfielder equalised with an angled shot in the 56th minute, only for Charlie Adam to plunder an 87th-minute winner for Stoke.

SHOLA AMEOBI (Newcastle United)
Nigeria international Ameobi’s 14-year Newcastle career may have ended in ignominy after he was shown two yellow cards for dissent in a 2-1 loss at Liverpool. The 32-year-old, whose contract is due to expire, was booked for arguing with referee Phil Dowd after Daniel Sturridge put Liverpool ahead in the 65th minute and after continuing to berate the official, he was sent off.

SPAIN

IKECHUKWU UCHE (Villarreal)
Nigerian striker Uche scored his first La Liga goal for nearly four months to take his season tally to 13 as Villarreal celebrated securing their place in the Europa League with a 4-0 thrashing of Rayo Vallecano.

NOURREDINE AMRABAT (Malaga)
Moroccan winger Amrabat played for 90 minutes before being substituted as Malaga mathematically sealed survival by holding leaders Atletico Madrid to a 1-1 draw at the Vicente Calderon.

ITALY

KEVIN CONSTANT (AC Milan)
French-born Guinean international full-back Constant was at the centre of a racism storm on Sunday when bananas were thrown at him during Milan’s 2-1 defeat at Atalanta. Constant picked up a banana that was thrown at him and gave it to the referee, but as he did so another landed at the feet of his Dutch team-mate Nigel de Jong, who is of Surinamese-Indonesian descent. Milan coach Clarence Seedorf called for the perpetrators to be banned for life. The incident came two weeks after a banana was thrown at Barcelona’s Brazilian
full-back Dani Alves during a game in Spain.

EMMANUEL AGYEMANG-BADU (Udinese)
Ghana’s Agyemang-Badu came on as a late substitute in Udinese’s match away at Verona and scored a stoppage-time equaliser to earn his side a 2-2 draw. Udinese are set for a mid-table finish in Serie A, while the energetic midfielder is hoping to be named in Kwesi Appiah’s Ghana squad for the World Cup.

FRANCE

MAX-ALAIN GRADEL (Saint-Etienne)
The diminutive Ivorian winger has spent much of the season on the sidelines but is finally enjoying a spell in the side in the run-in, and his performances have helped Saint-Etienne on a run of eight games without defeat that keeps them in contention for a Champions League place. Gradel set up one goal and scored a penalty as Les Verts won 3-1 at Nantes.

EMMANUEL MAYUKA (Sochaux)
The Zambian influence has played its part in Sochaux’s recent revival. With his side drawing 1-1 in the 76th minute at Rennes, former Zambia coach Herve Renard sent on Mayuka. A minute later, the on-loan Southampton striker scored the winning goal, and a win for Sochaux at home to Evian this weekend will see them pull off a miraculous escape from the drop.

NABIL DIRAR (Monaco)
Moroccan international winger Dirar, 28, was a regular in the Monaco side that won promotion last season but a nasty knee injury suffered on the final day ruled him out for eight months. After a number of fleeting appearances as a substitute, he was handed his first Ligue 1 start at Valenciennes and rewarded coach Claudio Ranieri for his faith by scoring with a left-footed strike from 25 yards in the 87th minute to seal a 2-1 win.

GERMANY

PIERRE-EMERICK AUBAMEYANG (Borussia Dortmund)
Gabon forward Aubameyang came off the bench to help Dortmund end the Bundesliga campaign in style with a 4-0 win away to Hertha Berlin. TheFrench-born star scored a total of 13 league goals to help Jurgen Klopp’s side finish second in the Bundesliga. He will hope to return to the starting line-up next weekend when Dortmund return to Berlin’s Olympic Stadium to face Bayern Munich in the final of the German Cup.

JOEL MATIP (Schalke 04)
German-born Cameroon international centre-back Matip scored the opening goal to set Schalke on the way to a comprehensive 4-1 final-day win at home to Nuremberg. The win allowed the Royal Blues to sew up third place in the Bundesliga table and secure automatic qualification for next season’s Champions League. The 23-year-old has been a first pick for Schalke this season and is now set to feature for the Indomitable Lions at the World Cup.

RUSSIA

MUBARAK WAKASO (Rubin Kazan)
The Ghanaian opened the scoring direct from a 35-metre free-kick as Rubin Kazan romped to a 4-0 win at Samara and he dedicated the goal to his late son, who died last January aged five months.

SEYDOU DOUMBIA (CSKA Moscow)
The Russian league’s leading scorer sealed a 2-0 home win over Tomsk with a last-minute goal – the 18th of the season for the Ivorian.

Confederation of African Football (CAF) News