A season-ending injury for Achraf Hakimi and Thomas Partey's masterclass were major talking points for Africa's stars in Europe's major leagues this weekend, although Mohamed Salah also made a key contribution as Liverpool dispatched Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 at Anfield.
The Reds headed into Sunday's showdown trailing Manchester City by one point following the latter's comfortable 2-0 victory over Fulham on Saturday, and knowing Pep Guardiola's side still had a game in hand, the pressure was on.
After Lucas Moura's tap-in cancelled out Roberto Firmino's first-half opener, Liverpool weathered the storm in the second half before Salah made a decisive intervention late on.
With the game approaching the 90-minute mark, the Egypt international met a long, hopeful punt forward and headed the ball towards Hugo Lloris in the Spurs goal.
The World Cup-winning goalkeeper, enduring one of his increasingly error-prone afternoons, could only paw Salah's hopeful header to the feet of Toby Alderweireld, who watched on with horror as the ball bounced off him and dribbled over the goal line.
It was a goal that prompted delirious celebration across Anfield, although it didn't completely mask what had been another sub-par performance from Salah.
The North African has begun to appear increasingly burdened by the pressure and responsibility of shouldering Liverpool's title challenge, and is now without a goal in eight games.
He may have made a decisive contribution, but he lacked the sharpness he showed so bountifully last term, and appeared overly keen to end his drought, snatching at chances and relying on luck to keep the Merseysiders' momentum going.
Former Liverpool defender Steve Nicol was particularly scathing about the forward's recent slump in form.
"His head has gone," Nicol told ESPN FC, "and he shouldn't say he's had a bad season because he hasn't had a bad season.
"He's had a bad second part of the season," the Scot added. "As good as he was in the first part of the season, he's been as bad in the second."
For context, this is Salah's longest run without a goal since a barren 10-game spell for AS Roma in late 2015 and early 2016, and he'll be desperate to end it against Southampton -- against whom he's scored in all of his previous three meetings -- on Friday.
Joel Matip and Sadio Mane played the full 90 minutes for Liverpool, who move up to 79 points, while Naby Keita was an unused substitute as his Reds career continues to falter.
"That's football; sometimes you score, sometimes not," Mane said of Salah's goalless run, as per Sky Sports.
"It can happen, but we don't forget that it's all about the team. When the team is winning, that's more important."
City would retake top spot if they beat Cardiff City in their game in hand on Wednesday. Riyad Mahrez will be hoping to play a bigger role here, after being handed seven minutes-including stoppage time-against Fulham.
On Monday, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was dropped to the bench for Arsenal's home game against Newcastle United, after suffering from a temperature, as the Gunners overtook Spurs into third in the race for t he Champions League.
The Gabon international was introduced in the 61st minute-with Arsenal leading 1-0-and provided an assist eight minutes from time as he headed through to Alexandre Lacazette, who secured the win with a fine lob.
The assist means that Auba has now contributed six goals-scoring four and assisting two-off the bench the term, a mean return for a player who's only been introduced five times!
At the other end of the table, Huddersfield Town's Premier League journey came to an end, as their defeat by Crystal Palace, coupled with wins for Southampton and Burney, condemned them to relegation.
Benin's Steve Mounie may have scored the decisive winner against Togo to send Les Ecureuils to the Africa Cup of Nations last Sunday, but the £11.44 million striker's failure to score consistently in England-he has two in 26 this season-has proved decisive in the Terriers' brief return to the top table.
The other African stars in title challenges enjoyed mixed fortunes this weekend.
Hakimi has been one of the revelations of the season at Borussia Dortmund after signing from Real Madrid on a two-year loan deal in the summer.
The Champions League-winning right-back has been influential as BVB have mounted an unexpected title challenge, impressing with his defensive maturity while also refining the attacking qualities that he showcased for Morocco at the World Cup.
However, his maiden season in the Bundesliga came to a screeching halt on Saturday, when he was replaced in the 74th minute of Dortmund's 2-0 victory over Wolfsburg, as Paco Alcacer scored two late goals for the hosts.
The league leaders confirmed on Monday, via their official website, that the 20-year-old had suffered a season-ending metatarsal break, and was returning to Madrid for treatment.
While the full-back will surely come back stronger, his loss comes as a significant blow to Dortmund, who have a two-point advantage over Bayern Munich with seven games to play.
It also draws into doubt his Afcon ambitions with Morocco, who face an anxious wait to see whether he can return to contention.
In Spain, Thomas enjoyed a much more successful weekend, even if, 10 points off Barcelona, Atletico Madrid need a significant turnaround to win their first La Liga title since 2014.
Having seen Barcelona labour to a 2-0 victory over Espanyol earlier on Saturday, Atleti served a warning to their title rivals ahead of the pair's meeting at the Nou Camp on Saturday, a game that will either kill the championship race or breathe new life into it, with a 4-0 thumping of Deportivo Alaves.
Beyond his 84th-minute winner -- adding gloss to a scoreline that was already emphatic -- Thomas had enjoyed a dominant midfield display.
No Atletico player won more headers during the match than Thomas (five), and no player on the pitch enjoyed more touches of the ball (90) or made more passes (74) than the Black Stars midfielder (90), who also enjoyed a passing accuracy of 83.8 percent.
Defensively, his three interceptions represented a game-high, and it was the kind of all-round showing from the 25-year-old that adds credence to rumours of summer transfer interest from City and Internazionale.
Ghanaians Mubarak Wakaso and Patrick Twumasi were on the losing side at the Mendizorroza, as Alaves suffered their first defeat in two months.
On Saturday, two South Africa internationals clashed in the French Coupe de la Ligue final at the Stade Pierre-Mauroy, Lille as Lebo Mothiba's Strasbourg defeated Lebogang Phiri's Guingamp 4-1 on penalties following a 0-0 draw.
The match was also notable for pitting against one another Ivory Coast international Lamine Kone and Gabon's Didier Ibrahim Ndong, who were part of the Sunderland team that was relegated from the Premier League in 2017.