Poor weekend for Ghana stars on return to club duty

Christian Atsu, Alfred Duncan and Abdul Rahman Baba all watched from the bench during this weekend’s return to action in Europe.

Atsu’s Newcastle defeated Leeds United 2-0 at Elland Road on Sunday courtesy of Dwight Gayle’s brace but the winger was left on the bench throughout the encounter.

The 24-year-old scored in the 2-1 victory over Cardiff City just before traveling to be part of the Black Stars in their loss to Egypt last weekend.

However, coach Rafael Benitez failed to use him as his team put a five point lead between them and second-placed Brighton and Hove with 17 games played so far.

In Italy, Godfred Donsah was also unused as Bologna defeated visiting Palermo 3-1 on Sunday. The 20-year-old has played twice this season but could not add to his playing minutes this weekend.

Schalke 04 won 1-0 away at Wolfsburg on Saturday night with Baba coming on in injury time to shore up the defence for coach Markus Weinzierl.

Baba should be in contention for a place in the Europa League squad when they welcome Nice on Thursday.

Joseph Alfred Duncan was not listed in Sassuolo’s 3-2 loss to Sampdoria on Sunday. The 23-year-old has been battling an ankle injury over the past month.

Emmanuel Agyemang–Badu played the entire game on Saturday as Udinese lost at home to Napoli. He was one of the few Ghanaians to get 90 minutes over the weekend.