Nathan Tella needed a big performance in a big match. He delivered both a goal and an assist, earned a 9.2 Sofascore rating, and helped Leverkusen destroy Leipzig 4-1 to move into the Bundesliga’s top four. Eric Chelle was taking notes.
The timing could not be better for the Super Eagles and Eric Chelle. Three weeks from the Unity Cup, Nathan Tella is producing the form of his life at Bayer Leverkusen.
In the 25th minute, Tella combined with Ibrahim Maza before cutting the ball back for Patrik Schick to open the scoring. Just before half-time, he side-footed a cross from Aleix Garcia to make it 2-0, scoring his first Bundesliga goal of the season. Schick added his second and third after the break, with Christoph Baumgartner getting a consolation for Leipzig. The final score was 4-1. A Nigerian was at the heart of it. Nigerian fans following Tella’s Bundesliga form can use the Bet9ja YOHAIG promo code ahead of Leverkusen’s decisive next fixture against Stuttgart.
Nathan Tella vs RB Leipzig — Match Stats
Goals: 1 | Assists: 1 | Chances created: 3 (including 2 big chances)
Pass accuracy: 86% | Shots on target: 3 | Sofascore rating: 9.2 (joint-highest)
Substituted: 77th minute for Ernest Poku
The 9.2 rating was joint-highest in the match alongside Schick, who scored a hat-trick. That tells you everything about the level of Tella’s contribution.
Three goal contributions in his last two matches. His last appearance for Nigeria was at the 2025 Unity Cup. The defending Unity Cup begins on May 26. Bet9ja’s YOHAIG welcome offer is available for fans wanting to follow Tella and the Super Eagles through the tournament in London.
Leverkusen Into the Top Four
The win lifts Leverkusen into fourth place, level on points with fifth-placed Stuttgart, whom they face in a decisive clash next weekend.
Champions League football for next season is now very much within reach for a club that spent the first half of this season drifting away from the European spots. Tella’s contribution, three goal involvements in his last two Bundesliga matches, has been a significant factor in that turnaround. Bet9ja’s Bundesliga page carries the latest on Leverkusen’s top-four push and the final day drama.
The Super Eagles Recall Question
The article that covered Tella’s 100th Leverkusen appearance last week flagged him as a Unity Cup candidate. This performance makes the case even stronger.
Chelle has stated the Unity Cup squad will give opportunities to fringe players rather than first-choice selections. A player in Tella’s current form, with his Champions League pedigree at Leverkusen and his history with the national team, is the definition of a fringe player who has earned his recall. If this form continues, leaving him out becomes difficult to justify.
📌 Did You Know?
- Patrik Schick, who scored a hat-trick in the same match as Tella’s goal and assist, is a Czech Republic international who joined Bayer Leverkusen from AS Roma in 2021 and has been one of the Bundesliga’s most consistent centre-forwards across multiple seasons at the club.
- Tella’s 9.2 Sofascore rating against Leipzig is the highest individual rating he has received in a Bundesliga match this season, reflecting the comprehensive nature of his contribution across all phases of Leverkusen’s play in the 4-1 victory.
- Ibrahim Maza, who combined with Tella for the opening goal build-up and assisted Schick’s second, is one of Bayer Leverkusen’s most promising young players, a France youth international operating in the same technical creative role that made the BayArena one of European football’s most attractive tactical systems.
- RB Leipzig, who suffered the 4-1 defeat, are managed by Marco Rose and have been one of the Bundesliga’s most consistent Champions League participants over the past decade, making Leverkusen’s dominant win against them a significant statement of their European credentials.
- Leverkusen’s move into fourth place with two games remaining sets up a decisive showdown against VfB Stuttgart next weekend, with both clubs level on points and the final Champions League qualification spot effectively settled between them.
- Tella’s first Bundesliga goal of the season, scored in the 41st minute, came on his 17th league appearance of the campaign, a match return reduced significantly by the injury that disrupted his season during the early months of 2026.
- The Unity Cup tournament, for which Tella’s recall is now under consideration, serves as a FIFA-sanctioned competition, meaning all goals, assists and caps earned in the tournament count toward official international records and contribute to Nigeria’s global FIFA ranking calculations.
