Nigeria recovered from two down to comfortably crush Argentina 4-2 in an international friendly in Krasnodar Tuesday evening.
After a dominating start without a goal, Argentina had to rely on a poor judgement by Super Eagles goalkeeper Victor Akpeyi who handled the ball outside his 18-yard box. Ever Banega scored from the resulting free-kick in the 28th minute.
Man City forward Sergio Aguero put the Albiceleste 2-0 up moments later. The goal made him Argentina’s third-highest scorer in history.
Kelechi Iheanacho however halved the deficit with a sublime free-kick just before halftime break.
Nigeria upped their game in the second half and bagged three more goals.
Arsenal forward Alex Iwobi, who will later score a stunning final goal through a nutmeg on Macherano, restored parity in the 52nd minute.
On his debut, Nigeria’s Russia-born left-back Brian Idowu came off the bench to give Gernot Rohr’s men the lead for the first time in the 54th minute before Iwobi came back again to register his brace 17 minutes from time.
Watch highlights in the video above.
Lineups:
Argentina: Marchesin, Mascherano, Pezzella (Insua, 80), Otamendi, Perez, Banega, Lo Celso (Gomez, 58), Pavon (Perotti, 77), Di Maria (Rigoni, 76), Dybala (Belluschi, 63), Aguero (Benedetto, 46)
Unused Subs: Romero, Mammana, Fazio, Paredes, Kranevitter, Ansaldi, Salvio, Guzman
Nigeria: Akpeyi (Uzoho, 46), Abdullahi (Ebuehi, 46), Troost-Ekong, Balogun (Omeruo, 61), Awaziem, Aina (Idowu, 46), Ndidi, Mikel, Ogu, Iheanacho (Musa, 70), Iwobi (Kayode, 87)
Unused Subs: Ezenwa, Agbo, Oghenekaro, Onyekuru, Nwakali, Nwakaeme
