Bordeaux's Maja Becomes Fourth Nigerian Player To Score A Hat-trick In Ligue 1 In Last 50 Years

Published: December 03, 2019

Super Eagles striker Josh Maja was in terrific goal scoring form on Tuesday night with a hat-trick which was the first of his career in Bordeaux's 6-0 thrashing of hapless Nimes at the Stade Matmut Atlantique Stadium.

According to the statisticians at OPTA, Maja became the fourth Nigerian player to score three or more goals in the French top-flight in the last fifty years, after Peter Odemwingie, John Utaka (3 times) and Victor Agali.

The match was delayed for 25 minutes due to fans protests in the stadium.

The Nigerian scored in the 24th when he beat an offside trap to open the floodgate of goals. His goal had to be verified by the Video assistant referee before it was given.

Maja then doubled his goals in the 37th minute when he was teed up by young French midfielder Yacine Adli.

The one-cap Super Eagles star who was on target last Saturday in his club's 1-1 away draw against Reims then made it 3-0 in the 53rd minute.

Five minutes after his third goal, Maja assisted Nicolas de Preville who rounded a sprawling Nimes keeper for the fourth goal. The other two goals were scored by midfielder Henrique Otavio in the 76th and 87th minute respectively.

The other Super Eagles star at Bordeaux, Samuel Kalu came off the bench in the 66th minute to replace Nicolas de Preville while Maja was substituted off by Croatian Toma Basic in the 75th minute.

With the win Bordeaux are currently third in the table with 26 points as at Tuesday night.

Izuchukwu Okosi

Photo Credit : girondins.com