Olaleye Idowu
Valencia manager, Carlos Corberán, has showered encomium on Umar Sadiq after his side’s hard-earned win over Real Valladolid at the Estadio de Mestalla on Saturday night.
Los Che defeated the visitors 2-1 to boost their chances of escaping the drop.
Sadiq scored the winning goal for the former UEFA Europa League champions in the 54th minute of the encounter.
The tall striker also hit a brace in Valencia’s 3-3 draw with Osasuna last week.
The 28-year-old has now scored four goals in his last four league outings for the club.
Corberán recognised the role played by the Nigerians in the win against Real Valladolid.
“I have three great forwards because Sadiq is showing it. Hugo has shown it, but he is not available at the moment.
“The same goes for Rafa Mir. I have absolute and full confidence in the three forwards we have,” Corberán told the club’s official website.
“I think that Sadiq today exemplifies what the game was like. A game with mistakes at times. And with the mentality to recover from those situations that he had.
“A game of not losing faith, of assistance, until achieving the objective. I think there is a parallel between what Sadiq did today during the game and what the team did.”
DAILY POST recalls that the former Rangers striker joined Valencia on loan from another Spanish club, Real Sociedad in January.
He has so far registered five goals in seven league appearances for Valencia.
Morocco 2025: How South Africa Coach Rues Home Loss To Flamingos
Bantwana of South Africa head coach, Ntombifuthi Khumalo, can’t hide her disappointment following their 3-1 defeat to Nigeria.
The hosts were completely outplayed by the Flamingos in the first leg of the 2025 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup second round qualifying tie at the Lucas Moripe Stadium, Pretoria on Saturday.
Nigeria led 2-0 at the break, courtesy of goals from Shakirat Moshood and Harmony Chidi.
Captain, Katleho Malebana reduced the deficit for South Africa from the spot two minutes after restart.
Chidi, however, struck again in the 68th minute to put the game beyond the Bantwana.
“Once our opponents put pressure on us, that’s where we fail to protect our posts. That’s the challenge we need to fix before we head into the second leg. The girls showed resilience, and we know what we need to work on,” she told safa.net.
The second leg will hold next Saturday at the Remo Stars Stadium, Ikenne.
