Saudi Arabia vs Nigeria: Osimhen out to equal or break Aiyegbeni, Odegbami’s records

Nigeria’s Victor [FILES] Osimhen (Photo by Pius Utomi EKPEI / AFP)

Victor Osimhen will aim to equal or break the scoring records of Yakubu Aiyegbeni and Segun Odegbami for the Super Eagles when they take on Saudi Arabia in Friday’s international friendly game.

Coming off his Ballon d’or nomination, Osimhen scored three goals against Sao Tome & Principe as the Super Eagles’ won their final game of the 2024 African Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifiers 6-0.

The hat-trick he netted against Sao Tome at the Godswill Akpabio Stadium in Uyo, Akwa-Ibom State, also meant that he finished as the AFCON qualifiers’ highest scorer with ten goals from six games.

His scoring exploit also saw him overtake both Obafemi Martins (18) and Ikechukwu Uche (19) to become the fourth highest goalscorer in Nigeria’s history with 20 goals from 26 international games.

Osimhen is now only behind Aiyegbeni, who amassed 21 goals in 58 appearances; Odegbami, with 22 goals in 47 appearances, and Rashidi Yekini, who scored 37 goals in 62 appearances for the Super Eagles.

The Napoli star striker could, however, become the second all-time top scorer in Nigeria’s history should he go on and register a hat-trick in the friendly against Saudi as he will be on 23 goals.

With his very strong form while on international duty for Nigeria, the 24 year-old who has so far scored six goals in eight Serie A appearances for Napoli this season can be backed to score thrice.

Despite Aiyegbeni and Odegbami being within touching distance for Osimhen, he still has his work cut out for him if he is to overtake Yekini, but will be encouraged to do so in the very near future.

That is with his goal per game ratio of 0.77 compared to Yekini’s 0.6. Osimhen once revealed his desire to break