Ahmed Musa’s last gasp effort in Nigeria’s 2-0 triumph over Liberia has seen him match Odion Ighalo to become the seventh joint-top scorer in Nigeria football history with 16 goals.
The winger became the Super Eagles’ most capped player in international football when he replaced Kelechi Iheanacho in the 86th minute.
And with barely the last kick of the match, he scored from the penalty spot after goalkeeper Boison Wynney de Souza brought down Victor Osimhen in the box.
That strike saw him equal the Al Shabab striker’s feat attained during Nigeria 1-0 victory over Tunisia in the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations third-place match staged at the Al Salam Stadium, Cairo.
Following his effort against Peter Butler’s men, the Turkey-based striker ended his 37-month Super Eagles’ drought.
He last found the net when Gernot Rohr’s men silenced Libya 3-2 in a 2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualification encounter played inside Sfax’s Stade Taieb Mhiri.
After making his senior debut on August 5, 2010, in the 2012 Afcon qualification against Madagascar – coming in as a substitute John Obi Mikel – the former Leicester City man first found the net as Nigeria subdued Rwanda 2-0 in an Afcon qualifier played at the U.J. Esuene Stadium on June 16, 2012.
In sixth position is Samson Siasia who scored 17 times for the West Africans during a career that spanned from 1984-1998.
Former Inter Milan and Newcastle United goal machine Obafemi Martins boasts 18 goals for the three-time African kings, while Ikechukwu Uche accounts for 19 goals during his seven-year international spell.
With 21 goals between 2000-2012, Fifa legend Yakubu Ayegebeni is the third-highest goal scorer for Nigeria, while Segun Odegbami – who finished third in the 1977 African Player of the Year poll behind Guinea’s Papa Camara and Tunisia’s Tarak Dhiab – occupy second spot with 22 goals within 1976 to 1981.
Considered as one of the greatest footballers Africa has ever produced, Rasheed Yekini is Nigeria’s leading scorer ever with 37 goals – a record yet to be unrivalled since 1998.
