The Japan Times - African players in Europe: Brilliant Marmoush strikes for City

"We have to try to show our quality more, have more confidence on the ball, keep the ball more and just do what Man City always did, and I think we will be good," said the Egyptian forward.

Former European champions City, who led twice at the Etihad, lie fifth, one point behind Chelsea with nine rounds remaining. A top-four finish guarantees participation in the Champions League.

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

ENGLAND

OMAR MARMOUSH (Man City)

Marmoush's brilliant strike took his tally to four goals in seven league games since joining City, but was not enough for Pep Guardiola's men to beat Brighton. The Egyptian also won the penalty from which Erling Haaland opened the scoring, but Brighton twice hit back to leave City still sweating over qualification for next season's Champions League.

YOANE WISSA, BRYAN MBEUMO (Brentford)

The combination of Mbeumo and Wissa worked wonders once more for Brentford in a 2-1 win at Bournemouth. Democratic Republic of Congo striker Wissa headed in Cameroonian Mbeumo's corner to bring the Bees level before Christian Norgaard fired in the winner.

PAUL ONUACHU (Southampton)

The two-metre tall Nigerian came off the bench to score his first goal at St Mary's Stadium for Southampton, but could not prevent a 2-1 loss to Wolves. "We need to do better as a team and individually," said the 30-year-old forward after the bottom club suffered a 24th loss in 29 league matches, leaving them 18 points from safety.

SPAIN

CEDRIC BAKAMBU (Real Betis)

DR Congo striker Bakambu was in the right place at the right time to head home in the 78th minute during Real Betis' 3-2 comeback win at Leganes. With his team trailing by a goal, the 33-year-old reacted well after a save to head home the rebound. It was his first goal in his last six La Liga games and his second in 18 top-flight appearances this season, mainly as a substitute.

GERMANY

VICTOR BONIFACE (Bayer Leverkusen)

Boniface came off the bench to make a crucial contribution in his side's comeback 4-3 win at Stuttgart, which kept the Bundesliga title race alive. Subbed on with half an hour remaining, Boniface's 88th-minute shot was deflected in off Angelo Stiller, levelling the scores. Patrick Schick scored the winner six minutes later, taking defending champions Leverkusen within six points of Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich with eight games to play.

FRANCE

MOSTAFA MOHAMED (Nantes)

The Egypt striker came off the bench to score a late headed winner as Nantes claimed a precious 1-0 win over Lille to boost their hopes of survival in Ligue 1. It was just a fourth league goal this season for Mohamed, but a third in 2025 for a player who has been named in the Egypt squad for upcoming World Cup qualifying matches against Ethiopia and Sierra Leone.

FRANK MAGRI (Toulouse)

Magri scored an early goal to put Toulouse ahead, but that could not prevent his side losing 2-1 at Strasbourg. The 25-year-old France-born Cameroon forward has now found the net in four consecutive games, having previously not scored all season. Magri has been included in the Cameroon squad for World Cup qualifiers against Eswatini and Libya this month.

Y.Ishikawa--JT