Odion Ighalo netted a hat-trick to help Al Hilal defeat Al Ahli 4-2 in the Saudi Arabia Pro League on Friday.
The win give Al Hilal a fighting chance in the title race as they are second on 49 points, 11 points behind Al Ittihad but with two games in hand.
Ighalo bagged a first half hat-trick to take his tally to seven in six league appearances since joining Al Hilal from Al Shabab.
Also, he has now scored five goals in his last four games for the Saudi Arabia topflight club.
He opened scoring in the 11th minute before getting his second to make it 2-0 to Al Hilal.
And with three minutes into first half added time, Ighalo completed his hat-trick with Al Hilal going into the break 3-0 ahead.
The Super Eagles coaching crew will be delighted with the form Ighalo is, as they get set to face Black Stars of Ghana in the 2022 World Cup qualifying playoffs.
Photo credit: Al Hilal
54 Comments
All you Ighalo haters, eat shit. Ighalo is far better than Taiwo Awoniyi.
Ighalo is Pinnick’s boy. We know Egu’s hands are tied. The question is how he feels in himself blocking the chances of upcoming strikers by using political/ethnic patronage.
He is good for his club all right, but do you equate club soccer with the rough terrain of national soccer? Didn’t we see him huffing and panting against “lowly CV”? Against these Ghanaians who are ever willing to draw blood?
We are watching.
God bless you more than your expectations for speaking the truth @KangA.
Nobody hates nobody. It doesn’t sound well to rely on Ighalo at this stage when we have the young strikers available to get the job done against Ghana?
Nepotism is the problem of the NFF and coach Eguavoen. Dessers deserved it more to be in the Super Eagles not a retired Ighalo that contributed nothing against Cape Verde.
Has been scoring goals before CV but why he failed in that match?
Club football is totally different to national football.
Strength for strength, pace for pace, taking chances as a striker. hmm, Ighalo is not qualify to play for Nigeria and most especially, against a physical Ghanaian team period.
On his Hat-trick, a big congrats to our Ighalo for a well done job. Bravo.
Lastly, there are four players that doesn’t deserve to be in that team.
No1. Musa
No2. Ighalo
No3. Akpeyi
No4. Onazi.
However, for Musa, he hasn’t retired from national team yet and he’s the captain of the Super Eagles, this is pay back time for the captain. Musa deserve it and we as Nigerians should honor him. It will be his last tournament at the national team if Nigeria qualify for the World Cup.
I am deeply sorry for the coaching crew of the Super Eagles. Ire o. God bless Nigeria!!!
Tell me if Ighalo has done badly for national team. Ighalo will always play in national team what he’s playing in is club. So talking about Ighalo as club product is off point. With his performance in his club his club he has every right to be in the national team and with Awoniyi and Sadiq performance at the just concluded AFCON he has more righ to be in the team. Mind you if you say is Saudi league not every striker that scores the way he’s scoring for fun. Drogba went to Saudi but he couldn’t score this much because his career was over buh Ighalo still has much more to offer that’s why he’s getting those goals. Nobody should come and say tactics didn’t favour Awoniyi at AFCON bcos we saW Awoniyi with some begging chances that he couldn’t score. Ighalo could have had better performance compare to all the strikers present in AFCON not only Nigeria strikers. Let me cheep in this if Innocent bonke could be called up to replace Ndidi due to his injury there will be no cause for alerm, he can provide a good block in front of the defenders
In Europe there is what they call goal equivalence. 30 goals in Belgium is not the same as 30 goals in Premiership, la Liga, Bundesliga, Serie A, Ligue 1..
5 goals in retiree league could be equivalent to less than half goal in the Bundesliga.
Awoniyi first 3 starts for SE..
1 goal 2 assist
Ighalo first 3 starts for SE..
0 goal 0 assist.
Awoniyi: 10 Bundesliga goals and 6 in other competition.
Ighalo will have to score 60 retiree league goals to reach his level..
No sane coach will drop Awoniyi or Desser for Ighalo.
How I wish coach Eguavoen and Amaju Pinnick are here today to read this @Larry. Case closed. Well spoken brother. God bless Nigeria!!!
Let’s be objective. Even using the recently concluded AFCON as a case study, Aboubakar (who plays in Saudi) carried Cameroon, and Ighalo is currently above Aboubakar in that league. I don’t think our last WC qualifier should be used to be bringing up and coming talents. We all saw what they did in Cameroon. We can use friendlies, tournaments etc., to help talents. I used to be against Ighalo’s return, but had a rethink after seeing how Rohr used him in the last match against Cape Verde. Playing 2 deadly strikers, Ighalo and Osimhen, allowed 1 striker (Osimhen) roam freely while the other (Ighalo) remained in the box. We were just unlucky in that match. Think about it now, with Osimhen, Ighalo and Moses there’s no caging our frontline like Tunisia did at AFCON.
@onwajunior how I wish CSN can allow me to give you like 50 thumbs up for this comments I would have.
Great comments my bro
@MonkeyPost, thanks bro!!!
I can’t wait to clap for him the moment he dons Super Eagles Jersey colors in Kumasi. Congrats Odion.
Odion was such a delight in the game. I’m sure coach Eguavoen has something to look up. Go Eagles!
No way isn’t this good news, stay save everyone. Just look forward to the football fest in Kumasi. God bless Nigerians.
Well done!
Apart from the invite to play against GH, Ighalo plays with confidence, competence and courage… Good luck!
He’s fantastic, all round scorer. As long as he starts for the match, Nigeria red circle.
CONGRATS ODION IGHALO.
THE SUPER EAGLES 7th HIGHEST GOAL SCORER OF ALL TIME!!!!!!!!!
NIGERIAN SHOULD NOT BE CARRIED-AWAY WITH A PLAYERS SCORING GOALS IN ASIAN LEAGUE. YOU CAN IMAGINE, BARTHOLOMEW OGBECHE IS THE NIGERIA ALL TIME HIGHEST GOALSCORER IN ASIA LEAGUE. BUT HOW GOALS DOES HE SCORE WHEN HE WAS PLAYING EUROPEAN LEAGUE.
*** SO DON’T BE DECIEVED, ASIA LEAGUE IS NOT A COMPETITIVE LEAGUE EVEN COMPARE TO AFRICAN LEAGUE.
THIS IS HOW YOU CAN CONFIRM THIS: HOW MANY TIMES ASIA LEAGUE CLUBS USED TO QUALIFY FOR SEMI-FINAL OF FIFA WORLD CUP CLUB. BUT AFRICAN CLUB HAVE REACH FINAL.
God bless you @KANGA A, @LARRY and @TALK YOUR OWN!.
When we write now, one notoriously celebrated lunatic and CSN paper tiger will come here reeling out bulshit! The last time dem ask am to name just 1 player to make the transition from his WORLD BEST Saudi Arabia jeko jeko league to a top 5 European clubside and he resorted to his now outdated and isolated fits of name calling and childish tantrums.
Asia just have the benefits of paying more money than Africa. Otherwise AFRICA is by far a better soccer playing continent than ASIA!
The entire ASIA as a continent has never managed to produce a top 10 finisher in the annual FRANCE FOOTBALL BALON D’OR or FIFA MEN PLAYER OF THE YEAR in their entire history. The records of African players are in public domain.
Ighalo never managed to score the goals AWONIYI have scored at 24 years of age.
Also AWONIYI like LARRY aptly captured is more prolific scorer than IGHALO in International duties right from his youth soccer days. Even with his fitness issues, he’s still managed to score more than IGHALO ever scored in SPAIN, ITALY and ENGLAND in his most productive season playing same number of games like AWONIYI has this season!
They can go invite Mikel Obi, Oboabona, Echiejile, Efe Ambrose for all we care…the WC spot is all we ask for, for now!
It’s one step at a time!
God Sabi shame them. Imagine Eguavoen not calling Dessers because he has not seen him live! Why not go call ODEMWIGIE back since he played under him before??
We kept screaming our lungs out…how do you leave out BONKE and place ONAZI on the standby list???
I can’t stop loving this name @TALK UR OWN, you said it all brother.
@Mahmud Shuaib Kai, you won my heart on this one kę.
NFF and the coaching crew of the Super Eagles are not for us but for themselves.
They don’t care about you and I. Can you imagine, coach Eguavoen can not use video clips of his players on YouTube to discover talents?
This is very shameful kę. So that means, he have to watch the players live and direct before he can invite his desired players? Chai, bad market. Too bad. Hmm. Ire o. God bless Nigeria!!!
Na your coach na, is that not what you people are craving for? bribe takers, your Mr no nonsense. I wonder how somebody that grew up in a country filled with nonsense and selfish people will be Mr no nonsense. Forget nonsense is part of this nation. About Ighalo any coach that knows what he’s doing will invite Ighalo. Someone said 60 goals of Saudi league equivalent to 16 goals of Bundesliga and you people are there clapping your hands, is there any fact in that word, from what you said it means 120 goals in Saudi league equivalent to 16 goals in premier league. There is nothing like that bro, when you are done you are done. So you are telling me that Awoniyi would have scored 60 goals in Saudi by now, you must be joking.
They must be joking truely. And the joke must av been inspired by some MKPURU-MIRI.. LMFAO!!
You make good points @Mahmud, @KangA and @Larry. The potentials of Awoniyi has never been in doubt right from his U17 days and now in the bundesliga – even though he missed begging chances at the last Afcon. Those skills and movements were still evident in Cameroun, even though they didn’t translate to many goals.
So what was missing? EXPERIENCE. No way, Ighalo wouldn’t have scored more at Afcon if he was there. Perhaps he’s less vibrant now, but he’s more experienced and knows more how to wriggle himself out of tight man marking to score.
The World Cup is just in November and after that Musa,Ighalo, maybe Akpeyi will retire. Awoniyi and co will certainly make the squad (just as Kanu made USA 94 but bided his time and later captained the team).
Experienced managers in football, as well as in other life endeavors, don’t just make knee-jack, snap changes – no matter how enticing. They make the transition process smooth and gradual – just like they do when a player is returning from injury.
It’s a crucial match on Thursday and we need Ighalo. After the ticket has been secured on Monday, there’ll be many friendlies and Afcon CIV 2023 qualifiers to play.
@Kel… Kanu never made USA 94 squad! Just to draw you attention to that…
Exactly what we are talking about. Awoniyi and the rest has to grow into the team like Kanu couldn’t make USA 94 bcos of the players ahead of him. And after that world cup he was fully ready. Then, after the qualifier, during frienslies let’s see if Awoniyi can drop Ighalo out of the team. For now is Ighalo ahead of Awoniyi period. No sentiment needed bcos world cup ticket is at stake.
WE ALL KNOW THAT WHAT OYINBO CALLED BAD(BLACK) IS WHAT WILL CALL GOOD(WHITE) IN NIGERIA. STEPHEN KESHI CAN TESTIFIED TO THIS: COACH OF KIRMARNOCK CLUB IN SCOTLAND SAID THAT GABRIEL REUBEN IS THE CLUB WORST PLAYER AT THE MOMENT IN 2014, BUT IT IS WHAT KESHI CONSIDERED AS BEST PLAYER AND TOOK HIM TO 2014 WORLD CUP.
And the highest goal scorer in Afcon 2021, came from Saudi Arabia Pro League, his name Vincent Aboubacar. How would you deal with having had players from the German Bundesliga, EPL, Laliga, SerieA, to mention but couldn’t present any challenge?
He thinks it is the name of a club that plays football.
Who was the highest goal scorer at Afcon and which league does he play?
@TALK UR OWN how many times your super eagles qualify for quater finals in FIFA World cup but Asia teams have reach quater finals.
@ STAN
WE ARE NOT TALKING ABOUT NATIONAL TEAM HERE, IGHALO IS NOT PLAYING FOR NATIONAL TEAM OF ASIA. WE ARE TALKING ABOUT CLUB SIDE. READ WELL.
If you know you have better answer let us know why an Asian team player was making his opportunity count at the AFCON and a Bundesliga player can not do so. The African team got to quarter final, Africa team that it’s best players plays in Europe. Even the North African countries that it’s players usually are home base can’t boast of good performance at the world cup, not even when Egypt was dominating Africa.
NIGERIANS why were you carried away,2 let VINCENT ABOUBAKAR from the TOUGHEST LEAGUE IN THE WORLD (PREMIER LEAGUE) 2 go away with the GOLDEN BOOTH. LMFAO!!!!
And VINCENT ABOUBAKAR was just 25 years. Just a year older than AWONIYI. LMFAO!!
Oops Sorry AWONIYI was 38 years old and playing in Saudi that was why he was able to manage just one goal in the whole tourney.. LMFAO!!
But that’s not an excuse na?
Right guys?
Cos Roger Miller was also 38 and was not playing football when he was dragged from his farm in his native of Cameroon.
And he had a remarkable tourney.. LMFAO!!!!
A PLAYER SCORING 10 GOALS IN EUROPEAN LEAGUE IS FAR BETTER THAN A PLAYER SCORING 100 goals in ASIAN league.
*** THAT IS TO SAY:
10 GOALS IN EUROPE = 100 goals in Asia
Even Lewandoski won’t score 100 goals in Asian league
Oopps! Eya!! Poor Ighalo sorry.. The professors of football now say football is all about 10 goals here = 100 goals there.
So my brother ighalo, you see.. you av lost out..
And besides it is club football we will be playing against Ghana not Country football.. LMFAO!!!
Hat-Trick!!!
Odion, I just don’t know how to expres my joy. Please real Nigerians are waiting for you to score those goals in Kumasi next wk.
You aren’t telling me they are the fake Nigerians, are you?
coach eguavoen said he knows his 1st 11…CONGRATULATIONS the effervescent prolific scorer. I always pray for you every blessed day becos besides being a Nigerian, I’m your real fan.
Are there okrika Nigerians??? See you na!
wen i saw u in the line up…. i knew u must score… but Neva knew it will 3…. gud striker n natural 1 4dat matta… Congrats!
We are really happy for him, Nigeria needs goals in Kumasi. Eguavoen, we just can’t wait to with others.
My jaws broke.
Hmmmmm! OKIRIKA NIGERIANs, I need a master at football like Ighalo.
Such a VIP, I couldn’t gloss over the fact that his jersey was reserved in Cameroon.
Okirika Nigerians? No na, that’s expression of bitterness in commentary. Hopefully SE coach is featuring Idiom Ighalo to bang in goals.
Typo error detected… Odion Ighalo…
With Odion, we say get ready to celebrate with our team.
It’s understandable you’re worried over the first 11 list. Are you inferring there’s going to be a new outlook?
I’m glad to be in this full house fellow Nigerians! Gud morning and how una dey?
Odemu from Qatar.
So you just woke up to call someone Okirika Nigeria, not fair u know and it’s like the mumu is planning to accept. Great goals, Odion.
Please if you are the super Eagles coach, will you start Ighalo ahead of Osimhen or will you start Osimhen first and later sub in Ighalo in this WCQ against Ghana?
Assuming you need a single striker formation.
Remember you still have other strikers like Iheanacho, Umar, Dennis, etc.
@Nosa we will be needing both of them. Kelz is a very good sub. Will come on for Ighalo.
Osimhen with a brace ! The player is fire!