Nigeria’s Terem Moffi smashed in his 12th, 13th, and 14th Ligue 1 goal of the season to power Lorient to a convincing 4-1 victory over Girondins Bordeaux at the Stade du Moustoir.
The young striker’s latest efforts in his maiden campaign in France put him past the number of goals scored by Super Eagles number nine Victor Osimhen for Lille last term.
Osimhen struck 13 times for Les Dogues in Ligue 1 before sealing a multi-million euro move to Napoli last summer.
The year 2021 has been a rich harvest of goals for Nigerian strikers in Europe. Simy Nwankwo is rewriting the record books in Serie A. Paul Onuachu has been unstoppable in Belgium.
Kelechi Iheanacho is consistently delivering the goods in the English Premier League. Taiwo Awoniyi, until his injury, was creating fantastic moments in Germany. Sadiq Umar has wreaked more havoc in Spain than anywhere else he has ever played.
However, it is former Kortrijk ace Moffi who is flying the green-and-white flag high in France.
Terem Moffi has already made mincemeat of the best that the Ligue 1 has to offer, including champions Paris Saint-Germain, Monaco, and Marseille.
And on Sunday, the 21-year-old Lukaku look-alike added Bordeaux to his list of victims with his first hat-trick of the campaign.
Moffi struck his first of the afternoon in the 20th minute to double the home side’s advantage moments after Yoane Wissa had opened the scoring.
And just before halftime, Moffi made it three-nil after racing to a Trevoh Chalobah through ball before placing a composed finish past goalkeeper Benoit Costil.
Super Eagles star Samuel Kalu, making his return from injury, was on the bench watching his compatriot wreck the damage.
And despite Kalu’s introduction shortly after the break, he couldn’t stop the younger Nigerian from completing his hat-trick in the 80th minute.
Issouf Sissokho got a late consolation for Bordeaux, but the visitors have now been dragged closer to the relegation waters with that latest defeat.