Bassey, Osimhen on Target in 2025 Last Matches for Fulham, Galatasaray 

•Chukwueze provides an assist in Fulham’s victory at Burnley

Duro Ikhazuagbe 

Nigerian International defender, Calvin Bassey, signed off 2025 club duty in the English Premier League on a glorious note last night as he scored in Fulham’s 3-2  victory away at  Burnley.

Elsewhere in Turkey, another Super Eagles star, Victor Osimhen, also ended the year on high for Galatasaray, scoring in the Istanbul giant’s 4- 1 drubbing of Antalyaspor on Saturday evening.

Bassey who has become the corner stone of Eric Chelle’s Super Eagles’ Back Four, netted his first EPL goal since February at Turf Moor.

Now, he will head to the AFCON 2025 with Super Eagles hoping to continue his brilliant form to help Nigeria to a fourth continental title in Morocco.

Last night, Bassey was the perfect beneficiary of Harry Wilson’s high cross into the box, and wasted no time in flying high above Burnley defenders to power a header into the bottom right corner,his first in nearly 10 months.

That goal restored Fulham’s 2-1 advantage on the night in the 31st minute. Earlier, Emile Smith Rowe had given Fulham the opening goal barely nine minutes into the game while French-born player with Nigerian ancestry, Lesley Ugochukwu restored parity for the hosts in the 21st minute.

However, 13 minutes after resumption from the half time break, Bassey’s Super Eagles teammate, Samuel Chukwueze, picked out Harry Wilson with his through pass that the Wales international classically guided into the far corner of Martin Dubravka in goal for Burnley.

Bassey however missed another opportunity to increase his tally on the night when he miscued the ball in the box after taking out Burley defenders.

Harry Wilson who set up two Fulham goals before scoring their third was however the star of the night for The Cottagers.

Oliver Sonne scored his first goal for the Burnley to take the game to 3-2 and the hope of the hosts salvaging a point from the game. It however came too late. Haphazard defending earlier in the match was the greatest undoing of burley in the five-goal thriller.

Burnley remain five points from safety, a gap which could widen after Sunday’s games, while Fulham rise to 13th and have a seven-point cushion over the bottom three.

In Turkey, Victor Osimhen put his Champions League disappointment against Monaco midweek behind him, getting on the scorer’s sheet as Galatasaray defeated Antalyaspor 4-1 on Saturday evening.

The Nigerian forward, who endured a quiet outing in the 1–0 defeat to Monaco, made amends in the second half at the Corendon Airlines Park Antalya Stadium by netting Galatasaray’s third goal.  Latching onto a sublime pass from Yunus on the left flank, Osimhen drove toward goal with a brilliant run before unleashing a powerful strike from a tight angle to double the advantage. 

Roland Sallai, Leroy Sané, and Mario Icardi were also on target for the champions and further strengthened their grip on top spot in the league.