The Super Eagles prospect was on target for Wolfsburg as African stars experienced contrasting fortunes in the German top-flight
Lukas Nmecha scored his third goal of the 2021-22 Bundesliga season as 10-man Wolfsburg saw off Bayer 04 Leverkusen 2-0 on Saturday evening.
Having lost their last three matches in all competitions, Wolves travelled to BayArena with the aspiration of returning to winning ways.
That paid off as quickfire goals from Nmecha and Maximilian Arnold in the space of two minutes saw them pick all points at stake despite having a man sent off.
Following a goalless first half, Nmecha – who is eligible to represent Nigeria – put his team ahead in the 48th minute before Arnold doubled the advantage two minutes later.
That goal was an eye-opener for the hosts but they were unable to take advantage of the numerous scoring chances that came their way.
With victory already sealed, manager Florian Kohfeldt’s men were reduced to 10 men in the 95th minute as referee Deniz Aytekin gave Maxence Lacroix his marching orders for denying a scoring opportunity.
Elsewhere, at the Stadion An der Alten Forsterei, Taiwo Awoniyi could not prevent Union Berlin from crumbling 5-2 at home to rampaging Bayern Munich.
Still hurt by their 5-0 loss to Borussia Monchengladbach in Wednesday’s German Cup fixture, the Bavarians made their intent known by taking a 15th-minute lead through Robert Lewandowski from the penalty spot.
Eight minutes later, the Poland international doubled his advantage after he was set up by Thomas Muller.
Ten minutes before the half-time break, Julian Nagelsmann’s men went three goals up with Leroy Sane taking advantage of a Muller pass.
In the goal-laden first half, the hosts reduced the deficit in the 42nd minute through Niko Giesselmann.
A minute after the hour mark, the Bavarians restored their three-goal lead through Kingsley Coman with Muller completing his hat-trick of assists.
Although Julian Ryerson got the second goal for Union Berlin in the 65th minute, Muller completed the rout 11 minutes from full time with Dayot Upamecano setting him up.
After featuring for 64 minutes, Nigeria international Awoniyi was subbed for Kevin Behrens with a thigh injury ruling out Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting from the seven-goal thriller.
SATURDAY’S RESULTS
Arminia Bielefeld 1-2 Mainz
Borussia Dortmund 2-0 Cologne
Freiburg 3-1 Greuther Furth
Union Berlin 2-5 Bayern Munich
Bayer Leverkusen 0-2 Wolfsburg