April saw the start of the end for leagues around Europe, with titles being confirmed, places for Europe being battled for and relegation scraps taking place before the culmination of the campaign. In Europe’s major leagues, there is still plenty left to fight for, however April’s action has put certain teams into fantastic positions to end their season in style.

This months NextGoalWinner player of the month winner comes from the Bundesliga, where despite Bayer Leverkusen’s title win and continued unbeaten run, we are moving further down the table slightly to RB Leipzig, whose winning month pales in comparison to the title winners, however they have had their wins spearheaded by an attacker who at times this month has been slightly overshadowed by others but deserved huge respects for his efforts.

Ikoma Lois Openda has almost gone under the radar this season for Leipzig as Bayer Leverkusen and Harry Kane have taken most of the headlines, and Guirassy has been the 2nd placed scorer, but Openda has stepped up once again in April to put himself properly in the conversation (although still plenty of goals behind Kane) and ensured RB Leipzig were in pole position to claim Champions League qualification, although with 5 places now guaranteed there was little to worry about anyway. Having bagged 5 goals and 3 assists in just 4 games this month, Leipzig have gone on an unbeaten run this month to move into 4th and fully in control of their Champions League destiny despite the extra place being confirmed.

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Match By Match

April 6th: SC Freiburg 1-4 RB Leipzig – After a 0-0 draw with Mainz to see out March, Leipzig made light work of Freiburg in their first game of the month, with Openda getting his account up and running for the month as he scored a brace to help his side to a 3-0 half-time lead. With his goals in the 18th and 44th minute being added to the strikes from Haidara and Sesko, he was also provider for the aforementioned finishes. After winning comfortably with all 4 goals involvements coming from Openda, it’s fairly clear why he achieved a 9.5/10 FotMob rating and given player of the match, but things weren’t slowing down from there as he continued this great run throughout the month.

April 13th: RB Leipzig 3-0 Wolfsburg – With a huge showing against Freiburg, Leipzig continued their great start by making light work of Wolfsburg. Openda added the 3rd late on to make a comfortable win look even better, and had another strong performance. Despite his goal it was his lowest rated performance of the month at 7.5/10 which goes to show his great efforts this month, as he still maintained 100% shot accuracy and won 100% of his aerial duels in a great team performance.

April 20th: FC Heidenheim 1-2 RB Leipzig – Extending his scoring streak, Openda again added a goal late on in the win over Heidenheim. With the game looking like it was to end 1-1, Openda added the winner on the 85th minute to seal all 3 points and continue the winning month. With teammate Sesko opening the scoring, Openda added the winner to seal a good result to keep their great run going, and gave Openda another great outing on his record for the season.

April 27th: RB Leipzig 4-1 Borussia Dortmund – Ending the month in style by beating Champions League qualification rivals Dortmund comfortably, there was limited rotation for the visitors despite the upcoming Champions League semi-finals, but that just added to the success from Leipzig as although the 5th place has been confirmed for Champions League qualification, finishing in 4th will give Leipzig a boost going forward. It was a terrific culmination of the month for Openda as he added his 5th goal and 3rd assist for the month to come from behind and secure a strong victory. Openda managed a man of the match performance with an 8.6/10 FotMob rating to see out the month.