Nigerian and Olympique Lyonnais striker, Gift Emmanuel Orban was relieved to score his first league goal for his club after signing for them four months ago, Soccernet.ng reports.
The 21-year-old forward joined the seven-time French Ligue 1 champions from Belgian outlet, KAA Gent where he scored 32 goals in 52 games.
However, his start to life in the French League has been below par, as he’s struggled to replicate the prolific goalscoring form he showed in Norway and Belgium.
In the League Cup, he’s had a decent output, scoring two goals in three Coupe de La Ligue games, and helping Lyon to the cup final where they’ll play against Kylian Mbappe’s Paris Saint-Germain.
Yesterday, Lyon travelled to face relegation-threatened F.C. Nantes at the Stade de la Beaujoire in Louis Fonteneau and got shell-shocked as they went a goal down early in the first half.
Second-half goals from former Arsenal man, Alexandre Lacazette and Gift Orban’s former Gent teammate, Malick Fofana completed the comeback for Pierre Sage’s men.
Orban replaced Lacazette in the 86th minute and added the game’s third goal in the additional minutes of the ninety. A brilliant counter-attacking break from Mama Baldé saw him square the ball to the Nigerian who showed composure before burying the ball into the bottom corner of Alban Lafont’s goal.
Le travail impeccable de Mama Baldé pour servir Gift Orban qui vient clôturer cette belle soirée ✨💪
Son premier but en @Ligue1UberEats 🔝🔴🔵#FCNOL pic.twitter.com/QPTxwlrwbG
— Olympique Lyonnais (@OL) April 8, 2024
Lyon are currently 10th on the Ligue 1 table and are five points out of reach for the UEFA Europa Conference League spots.