Odion Ighalo has indicated his readiness for Nigeria’s 2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying game against Libya with a brace in Changchun Yatai’s 3-3 draw with Tianjin Teda in Saturday’s Chinese Super League game.
The former Watford striker who was on target last weekend in their loss to Jiangsu Suning took his goal tally to 20 this season as the Changchun outfit avoided defeat.
Ighalo got the curtain raiser in the 11th minute and Yan Zhiyu increased the lead in the 25th minute.
Johnathan halved the deficit for the home team seven minutes later and in the 53rd minute, the Brazilian levelled proceedings to complete his brace.
The Nigeria international scored from the penalty spot to complete his double but Chen Jingang’s men were soon reduced to ten men after Jie Sun was sent off.
Teda capitalised on their numerical advantage with Ghana’s Frank Acheampong scoring a stoppage-time effort to deny Yatai the maximum points.
Ighalo featured for the entire duration of the game while John Obi Mikel, excused for the Libya game, was missing in action. Ighalo will be expected to join the Nigeria camp in Uyo after this tie in readiness for the qualifiers on October 13.
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