Raphael Onyedika maintained his impressive run in front of goal as Club Brugge defeated Royal Antwerp 3-0 at the Jay Breydelstadion.
Onyedika netted the opening goal for the home team one minute before the break.
The 22-year-old bagged a brace in Club Brugge’s 3-1 victory over Anderlecht last week.
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The defensive midfielder has now scored three goals in 24 league appearances this season.
He featured for 90 minutes in the encounter.
The former FC Midtylland star will however miss Club Brugge’s next league game against Union St Gilloise after picking his third yellow card of the play-offs.
His compatriots, Alhassan Yusuf and Chidera Ejuke were in action for Royal Antwerp in the game.
25 Comments
Certainly one for the future.Especially now that Ndidi seem to be waning. Keep up the good work boy.
HE is 100X better than Yusuf I keep saying it.
Ugo, I think they should launch a Biafra national team for you so that only Biafra players are invited. From the look of things, that is the only solution that could bring you any peace of mind.
Sunny there you go again, the last time you called me a tribal bigot even though it turns out it’s not true. Anyone who rates Igbo players has become Biafra na wa. Biafra that most of us even frown at, for me Onyedika has always been an excellent lad but the fact that we’ve always had average coaches that is why he’s always in the fringe. I rate him and Yusuf highly but I will not choose any over each other because they’re still evolving into something great.
Chima, your statement makes more sense than what Ugo has been ranting about all day. What metrics did he use to conclude that Onyedika is 100x better than Yusuf? I just do not randomly accuse anyone of bigotry, I study people. Have you ever seen me accuse anybody except you, Ugo and one other guy that I can’t remember his name now of tribalism? For reference, Ugo recently said all players from the North are a flash in the pan. Who makes such sweeping statement if you don’t harbor some bias? Have you ever seen Ugo advocate for any player ever that is not Igbo?
@Sunny you are the biggest fool on earth. Yes I am a proud Igbo and if e pain you go and kee your self Anumanu.. Who are you to come on my thread and start ranting I am a Biggot Rubbish all the time everytime I hail A player who happen’s to be Igbo. You are a Big Fool. Was I not Debating with @Deo And Ignatious Abo that Umar Sadiq is better than Onuachu???.. Are you such a retard.. Guy Get out of my Thread Okponu!
@Sunny I just Happen to know what Constitutes a better player than Most of you on this forum and I do not use Sentiment and beating around the bush to say it…SO bro You can Knack ur head for ground as much as you want it won’t change the fact that Nigeria and Nigerians have overatted Yusuf because of 1 good game against Guinea Bissau.
Let us talk of Zaidu Sanusi Before his Calamitous outing at the recently concluded AFCON which I can say is down to lack of form Injuries and Confidence I say this becuase Zaidu have been a good serveant for Nigeria before AFCON. Go and See if I have not been One his biggest fans in the past Olodo!
Can you articulate yourself without spewing profanities? I have never been more convinced of your illiteracy. Go back to school, you donut head.
I laughed when I saw some tribalistic fans claiming Yusuf is a better player than this boy. Technically one of the best DM I have seen Nigeria produced. He is not the typical DM we have that are physical, powerful and full of running. Onyedika plays with the ball, intelligent positioning, has accurate pass, good eyes for goals, powerful shot. Definitely he is leaving club brugge at the end of the season. I pray he moved to a club that loves to have ball possession, there Nigerians will appreciate how good he is.
Yussuf definitely a better player than him. This has nothing to do with tribalism, we have seen Yussuf play at the championship league against Barca where he was a beast. Yussuf is highly rated than him at the Belgium league.
However I must admit in future he is going to be a better player than Yussuf because he is highly intelligent. His problem I think has to do with our coaches not giving him adequate international exposure which would have skyrocketed his club career. Who could have thought that This Brendford player called thank can play better than our over rated Ndidi, we need a coach that can play nonestablished player
Onyedika and Yusuf are both good players. Both are needed in the SE at this time.
Talking about players we need, what is the current status of Tosin Adarabioyo?
Tosin has formed an impressive partnership with Bassey in the heart of the Fulham defense. They could continue their partnership in the SE, or as part of a 3 man center back formation.
Also, guys like Ebere Eze, Michael Olise, Kingsley Ehizibue and others should be getting calls from our officials. Some of them that were not available before may have changed their minds, with the 2026 world cup looming in the horizon.
Pompei you have a strong point @TheNFF can try their luck in the private with this guys since they are not getting called up by their first choice country. Doing it in private might work out and not create a leak even if some might politely turn down but I’m sure we might get lucky with a few who knows.
It’s definitely better to do it in private, instead of splashing it all over the media like it was done in the past. The media should be informed only after the player has agreed!
I forgot to mention Noni Madueke, a quality player who is not in Northgate’s plans for now.
There are numerous options we should be looking at who will add quality to the SE squad.
The NFF technical department should be up and doing in this regard.
Yusuf was not even making his club team list before the game against Barcelona. He was virtually on the bench for the better part of the first half of the season. Mind you onyedika was AC Milan bound before Brugge stole him from their nose. Again in his first season, club brugge played in the champions league round of 16.so how was Yusuf rated above him?
Just to corroborate @Respect.
This news call for celebration of Onyedika who seems to have started pulling his weight in the Jupiter.
Making comments to denigrate Yusuf prooves to the world is classless and delusional. It’s okay to compare Onyedika with Yusuf cuz they seem to compete for same spot in the nationsl team. From what we have seen so far including playing for the nationsl team, European competitions and Jupoter league, Yusuf is still ahead but it’s likely to change. Just like Onyeka has risen to become the engine of the midfield.
Some of us are just here to share opinion without bring bias.
Hopefully, Adarabioyo and Olise decide to join the team. These are the type of players that can make the team stronger.
Both Onyedika and Yusuf are needed in our midfield. I look forward to seeing them play together. At 22 and 23 they are the new key young players in the team. At the moment it is Onyeka Yusuf Onyedika Iwobi in that order. Ndidi is still battling to return to his best. But we need his leadership. We have some decent options in midfield with Bashiru and even Nwakali or perhaps young Daga and the likes. I just hope we get a coach that can find the right balance to get this team to the next level. I believe we’re brimming with talents that could achieve something great in this post covid era.
FLY LIKE AN EAGLE INTO THE FUTURE.
How can you put Yusuf ahead of Onyedika pls tell me @Ayphilly maybe thats your opinion.. but 3 goals in 2 games a confirmed starter barely gets subbed plays 90mins most games for Club Brugge.. look at thier stats in Belgium..
Peseiro playing Yusuf ahead of Onyedika is not a correct indication of their talents as we all know Peseiro is not a master tactician so don’t be fooled by that in a proper run team like a top ten fifa ranked team, after Yusuf calamitous AFCON he would not be looked at again I will have you know.
What calamitous display? Abi na which AFCON you watch? Because of the penalty against SA? Did you watch Onyedika against Mali? They’re both the same at the moment. Improving at the right time and we need them both.
@Ayphilly Go and Watch the Final again and see how Woeful he was and how our Game became worse when he came on… Please do me that Favour and see for yourself.
Nigeria needs to understand who our most talented players are the point I am making is We cannot be benching the best players and starting the less talented ones a propper coach is supposed to knw which player can give more. Looking back our AFCON was riddled with Poor Managerial decisions and the decision to give Yusuf more game time than Onyedika was one of them. I remember debatng this with you lot before the AFCON that, Onyedika is more talented than Yusuf. Yet again I am vindicated Nawa ooo
For me, the ideal situation is having multiple quality players for each position, instead of debating which player is better than the other.
One thing we got wrong at the last Afcon was the OVERUSE of certain players. We used them to exhaustion.
While it is true that there is an advantage to using the same players as that helps them to gel, successful teams usually have very strong benches, which allows the coach to ROTATE the squad and keep ALL THE PLAYERS FRESH. A great example is what Pep does at Man City. Against Luton, he had Kyle Walker, Nathan Ake, Jack Grealish, Rodri, Bernardo Silva and Phil Foden on the bench! Scary how much depth Man City has.
This is what we should be aiming for with the SE.
One player who has Yusuf to thank for his current good form is Onyeka.
The Tank was no tank before. He was decidedly listless and mediocre in the past. Until Yusuf took to the pitch against EG and held his own in a display that revived the belief of fans in our midfield. Onyeka evidently saw that and knew that he had no choice but to up his game or lose his starting jersey, and up his game he did. He hasn’t looked back since.
This is what quality players do for each other. When you know as a player that there are multiple options for your position, it keeps you on your toes. When that happens, the team benefits.
So although Yusuf made a costly error against SA, I would hesitate to describe his Afcon outing as calamitous. Calamitous ke? Mbanu. He did well.
I decided to compare the two players attributes wise using the following metrics:-
Creativity
Attacking Prowess
Defensive Nous
Tackling
Technique
Speed:
Reactions:
And behold unsurprisingly Yusuf alhassan excels at the more “possession based side” of the game while Ralf Onyedika is more defensively sound than his countryman
YUSUF ALHASSAN
Creativity:53
Attacking Prowess:50
Defensive Nous:50
Tackling:49
Technique:55
Speed:78
Reactions:61
RALF ONYEDIKA
Creativity:50
Attacking Prowess:47
Defensive Nous:54
Tackling:53
Technique:51
Speed:73
Reactions:59
I decided to run data analytics on both players via soccerment AI app and was able to get the above metrics plus the app classified both players as high potential player (players who will get better as time progresses).
What this means tactically is that Ralf is suited more to the defensive side of midfield while yusuf is more of a central attacking option but will be used in as an 8 rather than a 10. Thank you.
Interesting read, Codex.
Please answer with the following question of whatever Al u used
1 what is the percentage level of the result of the Al
2. What is the batch size of the dataset used
3. What is the time under consideration