African players in Europe: Salah leads Golden Boot race after brace

Mohamed Salah surged to the top of the Premier L
eague Golden Boot chart thanks to a double for Liverpool in a 6-3 rout of Tottenham Hotspur at the weekend.

The Egypt captain struck twice in the second half for the leaders to raise his goal tally for the season to 15, two more than Erling Haaland of Manchester City.

There are three other Africans — Cameroonian Bryan Mbeumo (10) and Congolese Yoane Wissa (9) of Brentford and Senegal’s Nicolas Jackson (9) of Chelsea — among the top 10 scorers.

Here, AFP Sport highlights African headline-makers in the major European leagues:

ENGLAND
MOHAMED SALAH (Liverpool)

Salah starred in an extraordinary rout of Tottenham as Liverpool moved four points clear at the top. In the process the 32-year-old became Liverpool’s fourth top-scorer with 229 goals — only Ian Rush (346), Roger Hunt (285) and Gordon Hodgson (241) are ahead of him. And as if that were not enough, Salah also provided two assists in north London after hitting the crossbar in the early stages.

ANTOINE SEMENYO (Bournemouth)

The Ghana striker set the seal on Bournemouth’s superb 3-0 win at Manchester United as the Cherries climbed to fifth. Dean Huijsen’s goal and a Justin Kluivert penalty had given the visitors a two-goal lead before Semenyo put the result beyond doubt with a 63rd-minute strike as Bournemouth won 3-0 at Old Trafford for the second successive season.

MOHAMMED KUDUS (West Ham)

The Ghana winger headed his third goal of the season, and his first since completing a five-match ban for a red card at Tottenham in October, to equalise for West Ham in a 1-1 draw at home to Brighton.

ISMAILA SARR (Crystal Palace)

The Senegal forward equalised after 11 minutes for lowly Palace at home against third-placed Arsenal, then missed two opportunities to score again after half-time in a 5-1 loss. Sarr has netted three goals in two matches after a brace in an away win over Brighton.

OLA AINA (Nottingham Forest)

Full-back Aina opened the scoring in the first half as high-riding Forest triumphed 2-0 at Brentford to inflict a first home league defeat this season on the Bees. Neco Williams created the goal with a low cross that the Nigerian fired into the far corner.

SPAIN
BRAHIM DIAZ (Real Madrid)

With Vinicius Junior suspended, Morocco’s Diaz was given the opportunity to start for Real against Sevilla and took his chance with both hands. Diaz netted Madrid’s fourth goal in their 4-2 win at the Santiago Bernabeu when he received Kylian Mbappe’s clever pass and finished with aplomb. It was the 25-year-old playmaker’s second goal of the campaign.

SEYDOUBA CISSE (Leganes)

The Guinea midfielder made a good run from deep and finished with a low effort to send Leganes ahead against Villarreal. It was the 23-year-old’s first goal of the season on his 16th appearance for the relegation battling club, who eventually fell to a 5-2 defeat with two players sent off.

ITALY
ADEMOLA LOOKMAN (Atalanta)

The Nigerian forward capped off a week in which he was named African player of the year on Monday by netting for his club Atalanta to help send them back to the top of the Serie A table. Lookman slotted home his side’s second in a tense 3-2 win over Empoli to bring his tally for the season to 12 in all competitions.