Odion Ighalo edges closer to career landmark

Nigeria international forward Odion Ighalo scored the opening goal to inspire Al Hilal to a thrilling 3-2 win over Al Tai at the Prince Abdul Aziz bin Musa’ed Stadium in a gameweek eight clash of the Saudi League.

Ighalo’s 39th-minute strike was his third in seven appearances for the reigning champions this season. The 33-year-old also has an assist.

With the goal – Ighalo’s 20th in the colours of Al Hilal – the Super Eagles striker has now recorded 195 club goals, five short of a career landmark of 200.

Ighalo managed only nine goals in his early days at Lyn 1896 Fotballklubb in Norway.

Several of the striker’s goals were for Italian and Spanish teams, including Udinese Calcio (1), Udinese Primavera (14), and Granada CF (38).

The Lagos-born forward smashed in 40 goals for Watford, the most he managed for a single club. He returned to England recently to fire five goals for Manchester United in 23 appearances.

A productive spell in China yielded 38 goals in 55 games for Ighalo at Changchun Yatai and another ten goals at Shanghai Shenhua.

In a few years in Saudi Arabia, Ighalo has plundered 42 goals combined for Al Shabab (22) and Al Hilal (20).

Away from his club account, Ighalo has an impressive record of 16 goals in 37 games for Nigeria’s Super Eagles.

That output places the former Watford man in joint-seventh with Samson Siasia on Nigeria’s all-time goal chart.

Only the late Rashidi Yekini (37 goals), Segun Odegbami (23), Yakubu Aiyegbeni (21), Ikechukwu Uche (19), Obafemi Martins (18), and Sunday Oyarekhua have scored more goals for Nigeria than Ighalo.

Five of Ighalo’s goals for Nigeria came at the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations, which helped him claim the tournament’s top goal scorer award.