Ismaël Koné found the scoresheet, but Sassuolo couldn’t find a victory. Meanwhile, Luca Koleosho notched a goal in a Paris FC rout and Tani Oluwaseyi made the most of a rare start in Villarreal’s victory.
Here’s a look at Canadians in Europe over the weekend.
Ismaël Koné, Sassuolo
If Sassuolo had a goal at the beginning of this season, whether it was spoken or unspoken, it was to remain in Serie A and avoid the drop. A 19th-place finish in 2024 ended an 11-year run in Italy’s top flight. Their stay in Serie B last just a season after a runner-up finish and automatic promotion. The last thing anybody at the Neroverdi wants is to become one of those clubs that yo-yos back and forth in a promotion-relegation cycle.
A relegation is not in the cards this season. With six matches remaining, Sassuolo sits 11th in the table on 42 points, 15 points clear of Lecce in the drop zone. But even with safety almost assured, Fabio Grosso won’t be happy with the manner in which his team dropped a 2-1 match to Genoa on Saturday. The lone goal for the Neroverdi was scored by Montreal’s Ismaël Koné, who has become a star performer for the team in his first season in Italy.
Daniele De Rossi’s Genoa is in a similar situation as Sassuolo, but a little bit closer to the relegation scrap. Through the club should be fine, it would not be unfair to say that they needed the three points more than their visitors did. The hosts opened the scoring in the 18th minute.
Only minutes after Vitinha should have scored from a corner, Genoa got their goal from a veteran and it was a pretty one. From a Genoa throw, Tommaso Baldanzi found Ruslan Malinovskyi about 25 yards out. With Arijanet Muric clearly not expecting a shot, the Ukraine attacker struck a fine left-footed volley from distance that caught the goalkeeper stationary to make it 1-0. It was his sixth goal of the season.
There was a bizarre scene at halftime. As both teams headed into the tunnel, Genoa defender Stefano Sabelli could be seen arguing with Sassuolo forward Domenico Berardi. Presumably the former took umbrage with a challenge from the latter towards the end of the half. The arguing begat pushing and shoving and referee Antonio Rapuano sent off Berardi and Genoa midfielder Mikael Ellertsson.
With both teams on 10 men, Sassuolo pulled level in the eary stages of the second 45 through Koné. From a corner, Tarik Muharemovic headed a ball towards Justin Bijlow’s net. Finding it late with a crowd in front of him, the Netherlands goalkeeper dived to parry it away, but it fell directly for Koné, who quickly poked home in the 57th to make it 1-1. The goal was the former Marseille midfielder’s sixth of the season.
Genoa found a late winner in the 85th and they were full value for it. Junior Messias broke into the area and dropped off for Sabelli, whose deft back heel played Messias around Woyo Coulibaly and in on goal. A clumsy touch by Messias made it appear that Muric would be able to gather the ball at his near post, but with a final lunge, Messias was able to poke to across the face of goal for Caleb Ekuban to slot home to make it 2-1 and claim all three points.
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Luca Koleosho, Paris FC
Luca Koleosho might never play for Canada. Born in Norwalk, CT to a Nigerian father and an Italo-Canadian mother, the 21-year-old winger is eligible to play for all three teams internationally. Having represented the United States at the U15 level, Koleosho has since played for Italy at a variety of youth levels.
Koleosho was called up to the Canada senior side in June of 2022 in the months leading up to the World Cup. A scheduled friendly with Iran created a political firestorm and was eventually cancelled. When a late replacement match with Panama also fell through, Koleosho departed the camp and never returned.
A product of the Espanyol academy, Koleosho made his senior debut in the spring of 2022. He joined Burnley the following summer and was relegated with the Clarets to the Championship in 2024, staying with them for another season in the second tier. After spending the first half of this season back on loan in Barcelona with Espanyol, Koleosho moved to Ligue 1 in January with a loan to Paris FC. The deal came with an option to buy.
Koleosho scored in his debut back in January, but had been kept off of the scoresheet since. That changed on Friday with a visit from Monaco. The eight-time French champions entered the match as winners of six straight league games and on a 10-match undefeated streak in Ligue 1 play. But the visit to the nation’s capital would be a bumpy one for Monaco.
Only four minutes into the match, PFC was ahead. Streaking down the left side, Moses Simon saw two inviting options in front of goal. Sending a ball in, Marshall Munetsi played the dummy and let it reach Jonathan Ikoné, who sidestepped Simon Adingra to slot home.
Four minutes later, the lead was doubled. Ikoné headed forward for Munetsi down the left, who cut inside the area and put a ball on a platter near the penalty spot for Ciro Immobile to smash into the top of the net to make it 2-0 in the eighth minute. It was goals in back-to-back games for the former Lazio hitman.
Ikoné would then complete his brace in the 21st to keep Monaco reeling. Only seconds after Adingra registered Monaco’s first shot of the game, Ansu Fati was denied by Kevin Trapp and PFC broke the other way. Immobile found Ikoné at the far post to slot home in a goal reminiscent of his opener to make it 3-0.
United States striker Folarin Balogun pulled one back for Monaco in the 36th before Koleosho put the match on ice in the 71st. Only on the field for six minutes, Koleosho took advantage of some miscommunication in the Monaco backline and rifled home a fine strike from distance. The goal was his second in 13 appearances across all competitions.
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Tani Oluwaseyi, Villarreal
Handed his first league start since Valentine’s Day, Mississauga, Ont.’s Tani Oluwaseyi made the most of it as Villarreal visited Bilbao on Sunday to take on Athletic Club. After playing a full 90 minutes in the 2-1 loss to Getafe on Feb. 14, Oluwaseyi had played a combined 19 minutes in the four games prior to Sunday. If Marcelino was looking for a spark from the former Minnesota United forward, he got it on Sunday.
Latching onto a deep ball down the left, Oluwaseyi helped open the scoring in the 26th. Marked by Daniel Vivian, Oluwaseyi lofted a cross for the oncoming Sergi Cardona just outside the area. Collecting the ball with his left foot, Cardona spotted Unai Emery racing off of his line to come out and cut the angle, so he unleashed a looping volley over his head and into the net to make it 1-0. The assist on the goal was his second of the season and his first since a Sept. 20 victory over Osasuna.
Oluwaseyi would go on to play 68 minutes of the match before being lifted for Georges Mikautadze. Brampton, Ont.’s Tajon Buchanan also started the match, appearing for 77 minutes ahead of being subbed off for Alberto Moleiro. The Yellow Submarine would go on to win the match by a score of 2-1. With Atletico’s 2-1 loss to Sevilla on Saturday, Villarreal is now four points clear of Diego Simeone’s side in third place in the table.
