Frank Magri and Yann Gboho stole some unlikely headlines at Parc des Princes as Toulouse ensured Kylian Mbappé’s Paris Saint-Germain farewell ended in tears, while Nicolas Jackson, Iñaki Williams, Victor Boniface and Jarell Quansah are all ending fine seasons in noteworthy form.
PSG’s Sunday showdown with Toulouse was meant to provide a final opportunity for local hero Mbappé to sign off in front of the supporters who have revered him since his arrival at the club in 2017.
Instead, the evening belonged to the visitors — and their African strikers, Gboho and Magri — while Mbappé’s miserable week, which began with UEFA Champions League elimination at the hands in Borussia Dortmund, ended in further disappointment.
The World Cup winner opened the scoring in the eighth minute, seemingly setting PSG on their way to a 21st league win of the season, but Toulouse equalised five minutes later, through Thijs Dallinga, and Gboho and Magri scored in the second half to ensure a 3-1 victory.
In the 68th minute, Ivory Coast-born Gboho picked up the ball on the edge of the PSG box, darted into the area, and sent a fine curling effort beyond Arnau Tenas to give Le TeFeCe an unlikely lead. In the fifth minute of stoppage time, with PSG desperately seeking an equaliser, substitute Magri killed the contest with a close-range volley after meeting Warren Kamanzi’s forward ball.
This was Magri’s first goal since he scored in Cameroon’s Africa Cup of Nations opener against Guinea; indeed the 24-year-old had seemingly lost his scoring touch in 2024, having njust etted four league goals before jetting off for the AFCON.
Gboho, a January signing from Cercle Brugge, has seen his stock rise dramatically since returning to Ligue 1, with the Stade Rennais academy product being a key protagonist in Toulouse’s climb back up the table after they had struggled to juggle continental fixtures and domestic duties late in 2023.
He eclipsed Mbappé for successful completed dribbles, and equalled the France great for chances created.
The 23-year-old was born in the Ivory Coast city of Man, and spent time growing up in Gabon after his father travelled to the Central African country for work before moving to France.
He’s had a hand in five goals in his 15 Ligue 1 outings for Toulouse, and his languid style, elegant play, and endeavour are winning him admirers after a lack of maturity arguably cost him the chance to truly establish himself at Rennes.
Also in France, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang extended his excellent conclusion to the campaign with a double as Marseille defeated Lorient 3-1.
It was the perfect response from OM after last week’s UEFA Europa League elimination by Atalanta, with Auba returning to scoring form after failing to net in either leg against the Italians.
Under the guidance of ex-Ivory Coast boss Jean-Louis Gasset, he has scored 15 goals since mid-February, and has moved up to fourth in the Ligue 1 scoring charts — – behind only Mbappé, Jonathan David and Alexandre Lacazette.
In the Premier League on Monday, Liverpool relinquished a 3-1 advantage late in the game to allow Aston Villa to snatch a point in a pulsating 3-3 draw, but it was an unforgettable evening for Reds centre-back Quansah, who scored his first Premier League goal.
Gab & Juls wonder if Mo Salah will stay at Liverpool next season after an impressive performance in their 4-2 victory over Tottenham Hotspur.
Relatively unknown before the season began, the 21-year-old Anglo-Ghanaian defender has been the main beneficiary of Joël Matip ‘s campaign-ending injury, and he has developed substantially in the heart of the Merseysiders’ backline alongside Virgil van Dijk.
Shipping three against the Champions League-chasing Villans didn’t represent his finest defensive display of the season, but Quansah nonetheless starred during Jurgen Klopp’s last away game for Liverpool.
The young stopper sent Liverpool into a 3-1 lead in the 48th minute when, leaping above the Villa defence, he met a Harvey Elliott cross and sent a powerful curving header beyond Emiliano Martínez.
The goal was impressive both for the ball’s trajectory, as Quansah’s effort appeared to curl beyond the width of the goal before touching the post and crossing the line, as well as the defender’s hang time after his outstanding leap gave him the edge over the dawdling Lucas Digne.
“[Quansah] hangs in the air brilliantly,” ex-Villa midfielder Andy Townsend said in TV commentary. “He’s doing everything he can to keep that under the bar, steers it perfectly into the far corner, that’s a brilliant header.”
The defender, for his part, appeared too preoccupied with the visitors’ defensive capitulation to celebrate his fine effort in the opposition goal.
“I didn’t really see it, to be honest,” Quansah told Liverpool’s official site. “I was probably twisted the other way, but when I saw it go in, I was buzzing. I probably can’t reflect on that too much today because I’m just gutted we conceded three and it’s definitely something to work on.”
Quansah has been part of a Reds backline that’s conceded two goals or more in four consecutive top-flight games for the first time in a decade, but expect him to be a prominent component of Klopp’s successor’s plans.
Ale Moreno insists Chelsea need to make a decision regarding Mauricio Pochettino’s future at the club as soon as poosible.
Also in the Premier League, Jackson maintained his strong end-of-season form with another goal in Chelsea’s thrilling 3-2 victory at Nottingham Forest.
For the second time in his Chelsea career — having arrived from Villarreal at the start of the campaign — Jackson has scored in three consecutive matches, with the 22-year-old threatening to find the consistency that has been missing during his maiden season in England.
Jackson also could have had a penalty after being brought to the ground by Nigeria ‘s Ola Aina during a tussle in the box. The Supporters online suggested that the Senegal international’s latest new haircut — he sported a freshly shorn look against Forest — might be responsible for his fine form; he now has 14 goals in 33 league outings this season.
In LaLiga, Williams scored in consecutive matches for the first time since December to become a 100-goal striker for his boyhood club, Athletic Club.
The Ghana international had a goal flagged offside during the first half, but responded when he thundered an effort into the top corner after being picked out by Ander Herrera just before the hour mark.
Already lauded for his longevity, Williams is just the 20th player to score a century of goals for Athletic, with 76 in the Spanish top flight.
“One day, your reality will be so much better than your dreams,” the Ghana international wrote on his social handles. “100 goals with my Athletic Club, thank you to all, let’s go for more.”
Williams’ latest strike was his 12th of the season, and he needs just one more goal to equal his career-best of 13 in the 2018-19 campaign.
In the Bundesliga, Boniface is yet another African star who surely won’t want the campaign to come to an end.
The forward — one of this year’s Bundesliga breakout stars — netted his 13th goal of the top-flight campaign as champions Bayer Leverkusen trounced Bochum 5-0 away. The Nigeria striker scored a penalty late in the first half after his Super Eagles teammate Nathan Tella had been brought down in the box.
Having extended their undefeated streak to 50 games in all competitions, Bayer are now solely focused on rounding out an Invincible campaign with victory in their final league game against Augsburg as well as the UEFA Europa League final against Atalanta and the DFB-Pokal final Kaiserslautern.
Leverkusen — employing their recently discovered pidgin — also appealed to supporters to vote for Boniface in the Bundesliga Rookie of the Year award, after the Nigeria striker was nominated for the prize to celebrate the best young star of the season.
Boniface, 23, was named the Bundesliga Rookie of the Month on four occasions during his debut campaign in Germany.
