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By Johnny Edward.
Striker, Terem Moffi, scored his 20th goal of the season for Nice who secured a 2-1 win over Rennes on Saturday, PUNCH Sports Extra reports.
Gaetan Laborde had shot Nice ahead five minutes after the break before the Nigerian doubled his side’s lead in the 71st minute.
Moffi capitalised on a defensive mistake by a Rennes defender before dribbling past goalkeeper Steve Mandanda to score.
The goal was his 17th of the Ligue 1 season and he is now the sixth highest goalscorer in the French top flight behind Kylian Mbappe (23), Jonathan David (21), Alexandre Lacazette (20), Lois Openda (18) and Folarin Balogun (18).
In the Ligue 2, Josh Maja provided an assist for Zuriko Davitashvili to score the match winner for Bordeaux who edged Caen by a lone goal on Saturday. The assist was his sixth of the season. He has also scored 17 goals in 37 games across all competition for Bordeaux who are second in the second division in France.
Maja was replaced in the 70th minute for Alexi Pitu.
In the English Premier League, Frank Onyeka made his sixth start in 18 appearances for Brentford who lost 1-0 to Liverpool at Anfield.
The game was also his fourth start in four games against Liverpool. It was the first time the Nigerian was losing a game against the Reds.
He drew his only Premier League game so far against Liverpool and while at FC Midtjylland, he recorded a win and a draw in the UEFA Champions League.
In the Bundesliga, Chidera Ejuke came on in the 76th minute for Marco Richter as Hertha Berlin breathed new life into their survival mission by winning beating VfB Stuttgart 2-1 their relegation six-pointer. Marc-Oliver Kempf’s opener was cancelled out by Serhou Guirassy, but Florian Niederlecher restored the Old Lady’s lead late in an action-packed first half. Despite Stuttgart’s pressure late on, Hertha held on for a win that moves them to within three points of the two teams above them – Bochum and Stuttgart – with three games to go.
Kevin Akpoguma missed Hoffenheim’s 3-1 win over Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday due to injury.
Christoph Baumgartner gave Hoffenheim the lead after eight minutes. The lead was doubled four minutes before the break when Andrea Kramaric scored from the spot.
Ihlas Bebou added the third in first half stoppage time.
The visitors reduced the deficit through Mario Gotze nine minutes after the break.
Kevin Akpoguma has made 25 league appearances for Hoffenheim this season.
Elsewhere, Odion Ighalo missed a chance to win his third club title after he failed to inspire Al Hilal to lift the Asian Champions League on Saturday.
At the Saitama Stadium 2002, Japanese giants Urawa Red Diamonds edged Al Hilal 2-1 on aggregate.
Ighalo saw his early effort off the line cleared by Alexander Scholz in the early minutes of the game.
The Nigerian was also denied a chance to take the game into extra time in the 90th minute when Nishikawa parried his goal-bound effort as Urawa held on.
He scored seven goals in eight games in the competition.
In Belgium, Victor Boniface bagged his eighth Belgian Jupiler Pro League goal of the season to help his club, Union Saint-Gilloise to a 2-1 win at Club Brugge to keep their title challenge alive.
Union Saint-Gilloise had lost 2-0 at home to Royal Antwerp three days ago in their first game of the playoff and needed a win to keep their hopes of winning their first Belgian top-division title since 1935.
The Nigerian forward opened the scoring for the visitors four minutes before the break before Lazare Amani doubled the advantage in additional time in the first half.
Brugges who had another Nigerian Raphael Onyedika, playing in the midfield pulled one back in the second half added time through Hans Vanaken.
The win sees Union Saint-Gilloise move joint top with Genk on 41 points.
Genk can however move three points clear at the top if they win at Royal Antwerp on Sunday (today). If Antwerp wins, they will move into first place ahead of Genk and Union Saint-Gilloise with 42 points.
The top two will automatically qualify for the qualifying stage of the UEFA Champions League.