Several Nigerian footballers contributed to the hundreds of goals that made 2023 memorable for football lovers worldwide, but which one was the most outstanding?
Napoli striker Victor Osimhen ended the year 2023 as Nigeria’s highest-scoring player with 36 goals for club country, Soccernet.ng reports.
The 24-year-old also netted several brilliant strikes as he led Napoli to their first Scudetto title in 33 years and helped Nigeria qualify for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations.
Osimhen’s goals against Sassuolo and Juventus and his header versus Frankfurt in the UEFA Champions League are noteworthy.
Still, no other can best the beauty he crafted against AS Roma in January.
With only 17 minutes on the clock at the Diego Maradona Stadium, Osimhen received a cross from Khvicha Kvaratskhelia while being surrounded by several Roma defenders.
This Osimhen goal vs Roma has been on repeat all day. Simply superb.
— EuroFoot (@eurofootcom) January 30, 2023pic.twitter.com/boRDTfRUfq
The Napoli striker, in a fraction of a second, trapped the ball with his chest, took it down with his thigh, and unleashed a powerful strike into the roof of the net past goalkeeper Rui Patricio.
It was listed among the best Serie A goals of the 2022/2023 season, and it could easily have been the best scored by a Nigerian for the calendar year.
However, it has some close challengers.
Gift Orban had an exceptional 12 months for KAA Gent, scoring an incredible 32 goals in all competitions for the Belgian side.
The 21-year-old forward is Nigeria’s second-highest-scoring player in 2023 and scored more goals for his Gent than Osimhen had for Napoli.
Orban also scored the fastest hat-trick in European club competitions when he powered Gent to a 4-1 away win at Istanbul Basaksehir.
SPECIAL GIFT
— Oluwashina Okeleji (@oluwashina) April 13, 2023
Nigerian striker Gift Orban is the man West Ham need to watch when they face Gent in Thursday's #UECL quarter-final.
It was his second-leg hat-trick against Turkish club İstanbul Başakşehir that fired Belgian side Gent into the last eightpic.twitter.com/6WzrEDtr5x
His second goal in that game was a beauty: the youngster picked up a loose ball inside Basaksehir’s half and used his strength to peel away from his marker before firing the perfect strike into the top corner from 25 yards out.
It is a surprise that Gent were able to keep him from leaving Belgium in the summer.
Aside from Orban, Victor Boniface also netted a few goals that can challenge Osimhen’s stunner for the top spot.
Boniface scored goals aplenty for Union Saint Gilloise and Bayer Leverkusen, and it is difficult to pick out the best out of his fantastic collections.
His brilliant goal against Qarabag for Bayer Leverkusen in the Europa League is top quality, but his solo goal against Darmstadt is truly world-class.
Boniface took the ball from inside his own half and raced towards the opponent’s goal, skipping a couple of challenges before dinking the ball over the goalkeeper for the first goal of the encounter.
Several other players like Odion Ighalo, Chuba Akpom, and Kelechi Iheanacho scored some decent goals, but it would be hard for any to top these strikes above.
Which was your best Nigerian goal of 2023? Give your answers in the comment section below.
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