African players in Europe: Salah sinks Brentford

PARIS (AFP) – Egypt captain Mohamed Salah made it two goals in as many games to start the Premier League season by grabbing the second in Liverpool’s 2-0 home victory over Brentford at the weekend.

The two-time African Footballer of the Year struck on 70 minutes at Anfield after also completing the scoring in a 2-0 opening-round win at Ipswich last weekend.

Here, AFP Sport highlights some of the Africans who starred in the major European leagues at the weekend.

ENGLAND

MOHAMED SALAH (Liverpool)

The Egyptian sealed Liverpool’s 2-0 win against Brentford with a clinical strike. With the Reds leading 1-0, Salah took Diogo Jota’s pass in his stride in the 70th minute and cleverly adjusted his body position before steering his shot into the far corner from 12 yards. That wrapped up new Liverpool manager Arne Slot’s first home league victory since succeeding Jurgen Klopp and extended the 100 percent start to his reign.

YVES BISSOUMA (Tottenham)

The Mali midfielder got back in favour with Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou after his superb strike inspired a 4-0 rout of Everton in north London. Bissouma was back in the Tottenham team after being suspended for their season-opening draw at Leicester after posting a social media video of himself inhaling laughing gas. Postecoglou was furious with the former Brighton star, but a head injury to Rodrigo Bentancur opened the way for Bissouma to play. He made the most of his reprieve with a brilliant finish into the top corner from the edge of the area in the 14th minute.

SPAIN

BRAHIM DIAZ (Real Madrid)

The Moroccan international came off the bench to score the second goal and create the third as La Liga title-holders Real Madrid defeated Real Valladolid 3-0 in the Spanish capital. Diaz netted with a neat lob on 88 minutes, then set up Endrick to complete the scoring deep in added time.

GERMANY

AMINE ADLI (Bayer Leverkusen)

He may have come on with only eight minutes to go, but the Moroccan winger played a crucial role as defending Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen won 3-2 at Borussia Moenchengladbach. Replacing Nigeria striker Victor Boniface, Adli troubled the Gladbach defence with his speed. As the game went into the 10th minute of added time, he was fouled in the box and although Florian Wirtz had his penalty saved, the German converted the rebound for the match-winner.

SAMUEL ESSENDE (Augsburg)

Close-season arrival Essende continued an excellent start to his Augsburg career, scoring on his Bundesliga debut in a 2-2 home draw with Werder Bremen. The former Paris Saint-Germain youth-team player, who netted in the German Cup opener last weekend, leapt to head in a Tim Breithaupt cross to give the hosts a 2-1 lead before half-time.

FRANCE

ACHRAF HAKIMI (Paris Saint-Germain)

The full-back who led Morocco to bronze medals at the Paris Olympics earlier this month was among the goals as the French champions trounced Montpellier 6-0 to maintain a perfect start to the Ligue 1 season. Hakimi claimed the fifth goal on 59 minutes with a sidefoot volley at the far post off a Nuno Mendes cross.