The Super Eagles of Nigeria have just defeated Argentina in an International Friendly played at the Krasnodar Stadium in Russia.
Alex Iwobi scored twice as Nigeria fought back from 2-0 down against
an Argentina side missing Lionel Messi to secure a stunning 4-2 friendly
victory in Krasnodar.
Sergio Aguero scored his 36th international goal to move clear in
third place on Argentina’s all-time scoring list as Jorge Sampaoli’s
side looked set to prosper despite the absence of Messi, who had
returned to Barcelona after featuring in the 1-0 win over Russia on
Saturday.
Having drawn level with Hernan Crespo by scoring a late winner
against the Russians, Aguero followed up his first international goal
since June 2016 by tapping home Argentina’s second to back up Ever
Banega’s free-kick opener.
Yet
their comfortable cushion evaporated either side of the interval, with
Kelechi Iheanacho inspiring a Nigeria fightback with a free-kick of his
own in the closing stages of the first half.
Two goals in the space of three second-half minutes from Iwobi and
Bryan Idowu swung the game further away from Argentina, with the former
then slotting home a fourth to secure Nigeria just their second ever win
over their South American opponents.
The
astonishing turnaround came after Banega’s 28th-minute free-kick gave
Sampaoli’s side a deserved lead – albeit they needed help from
goalkeeper Daniel Akpeyi to break the deadlock.
After nudging the ball outside his own penalty area, a careless
Akpeyi curiously allowed Aguero to quickly close the gap, forcing him to
pick it up to prevent embarrassment.
He did not escape punishment for his error, however, as Banega curled
the resulting set-piece opportunity into the net, Akpeyi opening up
further space to target by taking an unnecessary step behind his wall.
Aguero added a second eight minutes later to move clear of Crespo,
the striker tapping home Cristian Pavon’s low cross from the right, and
at that stage Argentina were coasting.
Nigeria had barely threatened in the first half but still managed to
get back in the game, Iheanacho following Banega’s example by scoring
from a free-kick in the final minute of the first half.
The
Leicester City striker’s effort came after he had earlier left an
impression on Nicolas Otamendi, catching his former Manchester City
team-mate with an elbow.
Yet Iheanacho escaped with only a yellow card and, after halving the
deficit, he heaped further pain on Argentina by setting up Nigeria’s
quick-fire double after the break.
Hit by a one-two combination, Argentina struggled to mount a response
as they looked to get back on level terms in a game that had somehow
escaped from their grasp.
With no Messi to inspire any late heroics, Iwobi wrapped up the
victory for Nigeria, the Arsenal forward finishing with his left foot
after swerving his way beyond Javier Mascherano.
See the highlights below;