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Nguette and Boulaya steer Metz to victory over Lens
The African stars played crucial roles in helping Frederic Antonetti's side secure back-to-back wins in the French top-flight
Senegal's Opa Nguette and Algeria's Farid Boulaya found the back of the net as Metz sealed a 2-0 win over Lens in Saturday's Ligue 1 outing.
Boulaya helped Nguette open the scoring in the 30th minute and the Algerian forward later sealed maximum points for the hosts at the death of the match.
Their efforts made it back-to-back wins for Metz and their second straight clean sheet in the French top-flight.
A host of African stars were on parade at Stade Saint-Symphorien including Ghana's John Boye, Algeria goalkeeper Alexandre Oukidja and Senegal's Papa Yade while Cameroon striker Ignatius Ganago, DR Congo's Gael Kakuta, Ivory Coast's Seko Fofana were in action for Lens.
Nguette and Boulaya have now returned three goals each in Ligue 1 in this campaign.
On the international scene, Nguette - who made his Senegal debut against Nigeria in 2017 - scored his second goal for the Teranga Lions last month during their 2022 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers against Guinea-Bissau while France-born Boulaya made his debut for Algeria in a friendly match against the Super Eagles in October where he played for 90 minutes in their 1-0 win.
Saturday's victory moved the Maroons to ninth in the league table with 23 points from 16 matches, a point behind Lens.
Metz travel to Rennes for their last league fixture on December 23 before the winter break while Franck Haise's side welcomes Brest to the Stade Bollaert-Delelis on the same day.
