February 01, (THEWILL) –Â When Union Berlin return to Bundesliga action this weekend, away against Augsburg at the WWK Arena, Super Eagles forward Taiwo Awoniyi will be available.
Awoniyi had spent the past several weeks in Cameroon, where the Nigerian senior men’s national football team competed in the continent’s showpiece tournament, the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), for the 19th time.
At AFCON, the former Liverpool striker was the Super Eagles’ lead striker, scoring once in a 3-1 win over Sudan’s Falcons of Jediane. Despite winning all three group games, Nigeria was eliminated from the competition in the second round, losing 1-0 to the Carthage Eagles of Tunisia.
However, Union Berlin maintained their good run in Germany without Awoniyi, winning three and drawing one of their four competitive games in his absence.
After the Super Eagles’ early elimination, therefore, the club permitted the 24-year-old to take a week off. Awoniyi arrived in Germany over the weekend and began practising with the Iron Ores on Monday, ahead of the team’s Bundesliga match against Augsburg on Saturday.
A tweet from the English account of the club expressed the fondness with which the forward is held at the club with the words: “We missed that laugh”. It had a smiling emoji and finished with a welcome message that read: “Welcome back, @taiwoawoniyi18.” There was also a video clip of the player actually laughing while greeting someone off-screen.
The Nigerian is Union Berlin’s leading goalscorer with nine league goals, and he is a viable contender to make the starting eleven when Urs Fischer’s side take to the pitch next on Saturday.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
