African footballers star in the last matches of the Europa League group stage

This season’s Europa League group stage came to an end on Thursday with Arsenal finishing the group stage with a perfect record. African footballers did more than they could to contribute to an exciting season.

Arsenal defeated Dundalk 4-2 at the Tallaght Stadium in Dublin. Egyptian midfielder Mohammed Elneny scored a goal and Ivorian winger Nicolas Pepe scored Florian Balogun’s fourth goal.

Meanwhile, Gambia striker Ali Sowe scored in both halves and Senegal’s Younousse Sankhare scored another goal as Bulgaria’s CSKA Sofia claimed their first win of the campaign with a 3-1 win over qualifying AS Roma.

Young Boys of Switzerland came back to defeat CFR Cluj in an eventful match. Cameroonian forward Jean Pierre Nsame converted a penalty in second-half injury time to level the game and was sent off two minutes later. However, the Congolese striker enabled Gianluca Gaudino a minute after Nsame’s expulsion to score and snatch victory from the Romanians who finished the match with nine men.

Burkina Faso teenager Abdoul Tapsoba scored once for Standard Liege in a 2-2 draw against Benfica of Portugal, who had one of his goals for Moroccan midfielder Adel Taarabt.

Timothy Weah, son of 1995 FIFA Player of the Year and current Liberian president George Weah, scored his first goal for French Lille in a 3-2 loss to Celtic, while Angolan defender Nurio Fortuna came out of off the bench and scored the consolation goal for Gent in their 4-1 loss to Hoffenheim.

Scottish Rangers continued their excellent European form with Nigerians Leon Balogun and Joe Aribo playing their part in the 2-0 win against Lech Poznan. There was good news too, as compatriot Wilfred Ndidi played just over an hour of Leicester’s 2-0 win over AEK Athens as they seek to regain form after a streak due to injury.

The draw for the round of 32 will take place on December 14 in Nyon, Switzerland, with the 12 group winners and the top four third-ranked teams in the UEFA Champions League group stage all seeded.

The first leg matches will be played on February 18 and the return matches on February 25. The seeded teams, including AC Milan, Ajax Amsterdam and Manchester United, will be at home in the second leg matches.