Guardiola Salutes Iheanacho, Lookman in Man City’s Nine-goal Thriller

Manchester City coach Pep Guardiola singled out two Nigerian players for praise after his side defeated Leicester City 6-3 in one of the most entertaining matches of the Premier League season so far. The Citizens thought they were cruising at halftime after goals from Riyad Mahrez, Ilkay Gundogan, Raheem Sterling and Aymeric Laporte inside twenty-five minutes saw them establish a four-goal lead. But the Foxes mounted an astonishing second half comeback, scoring three goals before Aymeric Laporte and Raheem Sterling made the scoreline more comfortable in the closing minutes.

Kelechi Iheanacho set up James Maddison to slot beyond Ederson in the 55th minute and the Nigeria international got his second assist of the game when he slid the ball through for Lookman before tapping the ball home in the 65th minute to make it 4-3. Guardiola highlighted the impact Iheanacho and Lookman had in the game as he spoke about the quality in the Leicester City side. In quotes relayed by LeicestershireLive, the Spanish manager said : “The game was open at 4-0. They have big quality in transition and then they changed shape. “Vestergaard is an excellent player, and when Tielemans and Maddison can play, they have lots of quality, with Kelechi and Lookman too. “They have an incredible manager, it was very clever to change the system.” Iheanacho has directly participated in 11 goals (4 goals, 7 assists) from 21 appearances in all competitions for the Foxes in 2021-2022. Bayern-linked Rangers Defender Fails to Make Super Eagles AFCON Cut Rangers defender, Calvin Bassey will not be going to the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) with Nigeria.

However, Rangers Player of the Year frontrunner Joe Aribo makes the squad whilst Ibrox centre-back Leon Balogun, who has 41 caps for his country has also been called up for the tournament in Cameroon. Versatile Ibrox defender Calvin Bassey is yet to make an appearance for the Super Eagles but after being called up by ex-Nigeria boss Gernot Rohr previously, there were hopes he might’ve made the cut. Bassey has also been a revelation for new Rangers manager Giovanni van Bronckhorst amid a spate of defensive injuries at Ibrox.

The decision will represent a blow for Bassey, 21, but it does mean the player should be available to face Celtic in the rearranged Old Firm fixture at Celtic Park on February 2. Because the AFCON runs from January 9 to February 6 2022, should Nigeria – as expected go deep into the tournament any Gers players in the squad would miss the Celtic game. There are now major doubts regarding the availability of both Aribo and Balogun for the Celtic game with Rangers fans now watching any Nigeria progress at the tournament closely. Meanwhile, the inclusion of striker Umar Sadiq in the Nigeria squad also won’t come as any surprise to those watching the ex-Roma star’s progress with Almeria. Sadiq, 24, had an ill-fated six-month spell at Ibrox under Steven Gerrard in 2018 and his time at Rangers is infamous.

But since leaving Ibrox Sadiq has gone on to carve out a successful career at Partizan Belgrade and in the Spanish lower leagues, where is goalscoring form has earned him links to Newcastle United and even Bayern Munich. Nigeria kick off their AFCON campaign against Egypt on the 11th of January before playing matches against Sudan and Guinea-Bissau to complete the group stage