Richmond Boakye dedicates his double brace to club legend

Red Star Belgrade striker Richmond Boakye has dedicated his match-winning performance on Saturday to late footballer and club legend Rajko Mitić. The Ghana international continued his fine start to the campaign with Belgrade as he scored a brace in either half of a 6-1 win over Rad Beograd.

As a result, he has now tallied 10 goals in the first 10 matches of the Serbian Liga while he has also notched 37 goals across all competitions in the calendar year. Mitic, who died back in 2008, had his statue unveiled by Red Star earlier last week, and Boakye was quick to dedicate his quadruple to the former talisman. He tweeted: "My double brace today dedicated to our club legend Rajko Mitić. The unveiling of his statue this week outside the stadium is truly befitting.'

Mitic notched 262 goals in 572 games during a 13-year career, and Boakye has a long distance to travel before making a similar achievement a similar with Belgrade. The Ghanaian initially joined Red Star on a loan deal from Latina earlier in January, and his performances earned him a permanent move last summer after the Italian minnows went bankrupt.

The 24-year-old has since attracted interest from several top European clubs including Chelsea, who are said to have monitored his services during a double-headed encounter against Arsenal in the Europa League. Boakye had a number of chances to make the difference in either match, but he could not keep his composure while approaching goal.

Meanwhile, Boakye has also recently made a mark with the Ghanaian national side, and he is likely to have a key role to play in the future with the country failing to qualify for next summer's World Cup. Ghana had a tricky group involving the likes of Egypt, Uganda and Congo, and they eventually ended up third, six points adrift of the Pharaohs, who reached their first World Cup finals since 1990.