Valencia of Spain striker, Umar Sadiq will be gunning for his fifth goal of the season in the Spanish La Liga when he steps out against Espanyol on Tuesday, with the lanky lad also eyeing victory for his team, Sports247 reports.
The game will come just three days after Sadiq netted his fourth goal of the campaign for Los Che, which he joined on loan from Real Sociedad at the beginning of the year, but the well-travelled hitman is yearning for more heroics.
Incidentally, Sadiq got off Los Che’s bench in the 66th minute to net a crucial 75th minute equaliser in their game away to Rayo Vallecano on Saturday, thereby taking his haul to four goals in just 11 matches since joining Valencia, while he netted the same number in 35 games for Sociedad.
With sheer delight still in his heart, Sadiq took another look at Saturday’s game and admitted it turned out to be tougher than expected, while also noting that his side dropped form in the second 45 minutes after seemingly dominating the first half against their hosts.
He recounted, “In the first half, we were better but, in this kind of game, every minute counts. That’s what our coach told us in the dressing room before we stepped out. The game is for 90 minutes.
“We were not better when we eventually scored the goal, but sometimes you live in a moment like this in football. Every point counts for us, and we are getting better and better.”
Sadly, while the former under-23 national team sensation, who has scored only once in 12 games for the Super Eagles, is doing well personally at Valencia, the one-time UEFA Champions League finalists are struggling for form.
They enter Tuesday’s game at home lying low in 14th position with 38 points, but separated on goals difference from 12th placed Espanyol and Osasuna in 13th, while Vallecano are 9th on 41 points.
However, Sadiq believes the euphoria of Saturday’s draw away to a team placed higher than them on the Liga’s log is a huge boost to their aspirations for victory in the next fixture, especially as they will be playing at home on their favourite slaughter slab.
“We go for more on Tuesday, when we’ll play at the Mestalla. It’s a very special place for us, and every rival that comes to play us there knows what it means. So, we are looking forward to Tuesday,” said Sadiq, who replaced Andre Almeida in the 66th minute, then equalised in the 75th, but got a yellow card for time wasting in the 90th.
Sadiq, who had earlier played for Spezia, AS Roma Perugia and Torino of Italy, as well as NAC Breda of Netherlands, Glasgow Rangers of Scotland and Partizan Belgrade of Serbia among other top clubs, after which he hit 40 goals in 79 matches with Almeria of Spain, will now aim for another goal on Tuesday.
