Five matches were played on Saturday in Round 18 of the Turkish Super League. One of the Nigerian players who is looking to become a permanent Super Eagle, Henry Onyekuru, who is on loan from Everton this season, was in the starting line-up for Galatasaray, who were at the start of play in third place in the standings, level on points with three other teams.
In this round, they welcomed Ankaragücü at the Türk Telekom Arena. The Ankara team were sitting 13th in the table prior to kick-off. Onyekuru started the game on the left wing, playing with Sofiane Feghouli and Younès Belhanda just behind the lone striker, Sinan Gümüş.
The home side were quick out of the gates with Sinan Gümüş taking advantage of a loose ball after an Onyekuru shot was parried and sliding the ball into the net in the 1st minute of the game. Galatasaray kept attacking and in the 21st minute Onyekuru netted his first goal of the day after an assist from Badou Ndiaye who kicked a through ball leaving Henry with just the goalkeeper to beat.
Henry Onyekuru – Player of Galatasaray – Vlad1988 / Shutterstock.com
Before the visitors could regroup, the hosts scored another goal, their third of the day. And it was Gümüş who scored it, getting his second goal of the game with Mariano notching the assist. With the score 3:0 to Galatasaray, the first half was over.
Breaming with confidence, the home side started the second half attacking, like they did in the first. Only, this time, it took them 14 minutes to score a goal. Fernando passed the ball to Onyekuru who expressly placed the ball into the net for his second goal of the game and fourth for his team.
And just four minutes later, Henry got his third goal of the day, netting his first hat-trick ever. Feghouli provided the assist this time and it was all over for Ankaragücü with 30 minutes still to be played.
Not long before the final whistle, Galatasaray got their sixth and final goal. Ndiaye, who assisted for the second goal, was the scorer this time, rounding up a good match for him. The final score was 6:0 to the home side. This win puts them in 2nd place in the standings, three points behind Başakşehir who are playing on Sunday.
These three goals make it nine goals this season for Henry Onyekuru. He will be hoping that his form will put him in good stead with the Super Eagles coach Gernot Rohr, ahead of the game with Seychelles in March.