Everton News

Loan watch: Winger returns to starting XI and wins penalty to rescue a point

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Yannick Bolasie returned to Sporting’s starting XI after nearly a month out of the first-team and won a penalty that was converted in Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Rio Ave.

The 30-year-old was suspended after picking up a red card in Sporting’s Allianz Cup defeat to Braga (January 21) and then seemingly dropped by Silas, causing him to miss the 1-0 win over Maritimo (January 27), Liga NOS defeat to Braga (February 2) and 2-1 win over Portimonense (February 9).

Bolasie made a telling impact on his first game back, however, drawing a foul in the penalty area from Toni Borevković – Jovane Cabral tucked away the resulting spot-kick. As per WhoScored, the DR Congo international played for 90 minutes, made 40 touches and completed 72.7% of his 22 passes.

He created two chances, whipped in six crosses with 33% accuracy, found a teammate with three of his six long ball attempts, drew three fouls, had one shot, created two chances and gave away one foul.

Bolasie has made 23 appearances in all competitions this season, scoring and creating seven goals. He was out of the first-team for a number of weeks but showcased his value upon his return.

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Read Crippy Cooke’s previous article

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Sports journalist who is an avid football fan, enjoys debunking transfer rumours, loves to write pieces about players out in the cold and takes a large amount of pride getting a predicted XI 100% correct.