Soccer
Super Eagles and Fulham versatile defender, Calvin Chinedu Bassey, was delighted he proved his doubters wrong by finding the back of the net against Nottingham Forest yesterday, Soccernet.ng reports.
The 25-year-old has started all but one of the Cottagers’ English Premier League games but opened his goalscoring account yesterday to put his side ahead.
Bassey’s strike moves him into fourth place on the all-time list of Nigeria’s highest-scoring defenders in Premier League history, putting him behind Joseph Yobo (8), Celestine Babayaro (5), and Ola Aina (5).
Get Our Sports News First – Join Our WhatsApp Channel Now!
After the game, the former Ajax defender praised the Fulham team for putting in a strong shift against one of the over-achievers in the English top-flight this season.
“The boys give me a bit of stick sometimes! But today I proved them wrong, I was able to get there, and for me, it’s a proud moment, my first goal this season, but, for the team, I think we deserved it, we created a lot of chances, and I think we deserved the win. You could see we tried to control the game,” the left-footed defender told Premier League Productions in quotes revealed by Fulham’s official website.
“We knew they’re very dangerous on the counter, so defence was very important for us, making sure we don’t open ourselves. We tried to be narrow, but with their goal, we weren’t narrow enough and Chris Wood, he’s on fire, and he’s just able to slot it home.
“But after that, we just made sure we had each other’s backs and were covering each other, controlled the ball and made sure we took care of the ball. As you could see, we created so many chances, and we could have had more than two on another day,” the AFCON 2023 finalist added.
Back post C Bass. pic.twitter.com/dKUs3zAGBs
— Fulham Football Club (@FulhamFC) February 15, 2025
Quizzed about Fulham’s aspirations of competing for European spots in the League, Bassey played it down, revealing his team prefers to be consistent with each game as it comes.
“Everyone always asks me about this European thing. For us, it’s just taking each game as it comes. Of course, our goal is to get there, but I think it’s just taking each game as it comes.
“We’ve been a bit unlucky earlier on in the season, with West Ham and Everton scoring last minute [equalisers], so I think we’re getting our luck now, but we’re working hard for it,” the former Rangers man concluded.
Fulham are currently 8th on the English Premier League table, four points behind Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City, who are in 4th place as they look to lock down a UEFA Champions League spot.
Adefolahan Guerreiro
Adefolahan is a multilingual journalist and writer at Soccernet Nigeria.
With a track record of involvement in College sports, Adefolahan is focused on crafting engaging football content and utilising his language skills and extensive sports knowledge to enhance content accessibility for a global audience.
He has interviewed Nigerian stars like Finidi George, Junior Lokosa, and Abraham Onahi Ogbu.
Read MoreAdefolahan Guerreiro