TheCable

Vincent Enyeama, who pulled out of Super Eagles game against South Africa due to a back injury sustained against Uganda, played the entire 90 minutes in Lille 3-1 win over Reims in Ligue 1 on Saturday.

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) had announced that the player, who had dropped a subtle hint of calling time on his international career, would be returning to his club after sustaining an injury in his 100th game for Nigeria against the Cranes in the 1-0 loss at the Akwa Ibom Stadium, Uyo.

He duly missed the March 29th clash with Bafana Bafana which ended 1-1.

Curiously, though, Enyeama’s name was not on the list of players injured or suspended from Ligue 1 games before this weekend matches and unsurprisingly played for his team as they got back to winning ways.

Sebastien Corchia and Divock Origi put the hosts 2-0 up before Nicolas de Preville pulled one back for Reims, but Nolan Roux added gloss to the scoreline at the Stade Pierre-Mauroy.

Enyeama made two important saves in the match to deny the visitors from scoring though he let in one from de Preville in the 52nd minute.

The win consolidates Lille’s eight position in Ligue 1, as they got back on track, immediately after St Etienne ended their three-match winning streak with a 2-0 win last week.

They are currently 10 points behind Monaco in 4th with eight games to the end of the season so there’s all to play for in the quest for qualifying for the Champions League.

But Lille are likely to be relying on results in the Coupe de France and Coupe de la Ligue going in their favour to make Europa League qualification possible.