Oshoala reveals new target after winning Spanish League title with Barcelona

By Monsurah Olatunji

Asisat Oshoala revealed her quest to keep challenging for more accolades as a player after helping Barcelona reclaim the Spanish Iberdrola title for the first time since 2015.

Despite winning the African Women’s Cup of Nations in Ghana 2018, Oshoala narrowly lost the 2018 African Women’s Player of the Year to South Africa’s Thembi Kgatlana, who emerged the tournament’s best player.

Having missed her fourth African prize, the former Arsenal and Liverpool star moved initially on loan to Spanish side Barcelona after successes with former Chinese Women’s Super League giants Dalian Quanjian.

On her initial brief spell, she shone brightly, scoring eight goals in 11 games, including the Champions League final consolation goal for Barcelona and became the first African to score at such European stage.

She followed up her impressive showing with the winner in Nigeria’s 2-0 triumph over South Korea as the West African celebrated their first appearance in the Round of 16 in 20 years last summer in France.

In 2019-20 term, she continued from where she left as scored 20 goals in 19 appearances to celebrate her first league title in Europe with Barcelona after botched efforts with Liverpool and Arsenal in England.

Following her successes in Spain, the 25-year-old, who won a record-equalling four-time African Women’s Player of the Year award in January, shared how she motivated herself to recover from her 2018 slip up.

“To go up and stay at the top, one shouldn’t be afraid to get down because life itself is like a marathon race,” Oshoala said in an Instagram live chat with the Nigeria Football Federation.

“You don’t get to run from start to the end but one should never stop until you reach the finish point. I was struggling at a point and all I needed is to have enough playing time to regain my form and confidence.

“When the China deal came on board, it was a tough decision for me to leave England for China. I took the offer, not because of the money, but to have enough game opportunities that will help me get back to the top of my game.

“In the end, the sacrifice was worth it because the Chinese Women’s Super League helped me get back to the game stronger and better. The dream is not to get to the top. The dream is to stay at the top for as long as possible.”