African football stars who shone in LaLiga this season

Geoffrey Kondogbia has joined illustrious names such as Samuel Eto’o, Yaya Toure and Seydou Keita to become the latest African LaLiga champion.

Kondogbia was on the pitch as Atlético de Madrid romped to an exciting title triumph over the weekend and featured 25 times in Atléti’s victorious 2020-21 campaign.

When Ghana’s Thomas Partey departed Atléti for London at the start of the season, the club went back to the African continent for his replacement, and the Central African Republic’s Kondogbia has certainly played his part in Atléti’s triumph.

Kondogbia wasn’t the only African player to catch the eye in Spain’s top flight this season, however.

Samuel Chukwueze will be bitterly disappointed that injury has ruled him out of this week’s Europa League final for Villarreal CF against Manchester United, but the Nigerian Super Eagle has nevertheless enhanced his reputation in LaLiga this season.

The 21-year-old Nigerian international has quickly established himself as a key player in the Villarreal first team, this season becoming the youngest player to reach 100 appearances for the club, at the age of just 21 years seven months and 12 days.

The African player with the most eye-catching performances in LaLiga this season, however, has to be Sevilla FC’s Morocco international forward Youssef En-Nesyri, who sensationally became the first African player to score back-to-back hat-tricks in LaLiga.

His first treble came against Real Sociedad at the Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan, and he followed that up with another hat-trick against Cadiz on Matchday 20, as his goals powered Sevilla to UEFA Champions League qualification and an all-time record 77-point LaLiga tally for the club. En-Nesyri has scored an impressive 24 goals in 52 LaLiga appearances for the club since arriving in January 2020.

His Moroccan international team-mate, Yassine Bounou, was another key player for Sevilla this season, following in the footsteps of the likes of Carlos Kameni, Thomas N’kono, Jacques Songo’o to excel with the goalkeeper’s gloves in LaLiga.

Who was your LaLiga African Player of the Season?