Mohamed Salah scores from a penalty for Livepool against Manchester City at Anfield. (Adrian Dennis)
Mohamed Salah scores from a penalty for Livepool against Manchester City at Anfield. (Adrian Dennis)
Mohamed Salah closed the gap behind Erling Haaland in the Premier League Golden Boot race to one goal by converting a penalty as leaders Liverpool beat Manchester City 2-0 at the weekend.
City star Haaland has 12 goals after 13 rounds, Egypt captain Salah 11, and fellow African internationals Nicolas Jackson, Bryan Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa eight each.
Omar Marmoush is another Egyptian in top form. He has scored 13 goals in 12 Bundesliga outings for second-placed Eintracht Frankfurt.
Here, AFP Sport highlights African headline-makers in the major European leagues:
ENGLAND
MOHAMED SALAH (Liverpool)
He was the key figure as Liverpool dealt a huge blow to City's fading title hopes at Anfield. Salah laid on Cody Gakpo's 12th-minute opener with a shot that the Dutch forward tapped in. And the 31-year-old, in the last year of his Liverpool contract, converted a 78th-minute penalty, moving Arne Slot's side nine points clear of second-placed Arsenal and 11 ahead of City.
NICOLAS JACKSON (Chelsea)
The Senegal striker sparked the Blues' impressive 3-0 win against Aston Villa at Stamford Bridge. Jackson met Marc Cucurella's cross with a clinical volley from eight yards to put Chelsea ahead in the seventh minute.
YOANE WISSA (Brentford)
The Democratic Republic of Congo forward put the Bees on course for a 4-1 win against Leicester. Wissa struck in the 25th minute to haul Brentford level with a tap-in from a cross by Kevin Schade, who went on to score a hat-trick.
SPAIN
RANDY NTEKA (Rayo Vallecano)
The Angolan attacking midfielder opened the scoring for Vallecano against Athletic Bilbao, who recovered to win 2-1. Nteka darted on to a poor back pass and finished with a neat touch for his first goal of the season. It was Nteka's second consecutive league start after four straight games as an unused substitute.
ITALY
ANAS HAJ MOHAMED (Parma)
The 19-year-old Italy-born Tunisia international had a memorable first Serie A start, scoring the second goal for Parma in a 3-1 victory over Lazio. His curled effort on 53 minutes helped mid-table Parma to only their third win in 14 league outings.
GERMANY
OMAR MARMOUSH (Eintracht Frankfurt)
Marmoush starred again as Eintracht won 4-0 at Heidenheim to cut Bayern Munich's lead atop the Bundesliga to four points. Marmoush open the scoring after 22 minutes with a first-time finish and added a third midway through the second half to seal the game, having collected the ball in his own half.
FRANCE
GEOFFREY KONDOGBIA (Marseille)
The 31-year-old France-born Central African Republic midfielder has been converted into a centre-back by Marseille coach Roberto De Zerbi with some success. He started in the heart of the defence again as his current club beat his old side Monaco 2-1 in a key game at the top of Ligue 1.
ABDOUL OUATTARA (Strasbourg)
The 19-year-old Ivorian midfielder, who moved to Alsace to join his family when 11, is a product of the Strasbourg academy and scored his first professional goal after coming off the bench in a 3-1 loss at Brest.
bur-dl/lp