VICTOR Osimhen was once again the star of the show for the Super Eagles, scoring a hat-trick to inspire the Nigerian side to a 6-0 victory over Sao Tome and Principe in their Africa Cup of Nations qualifier in Uyo today.
The Napoli striker took his tally against Sao Tome and Principe to seven goals having scored four times in the reverse tie, which the Super Eagles won with a record 10-0.
Ademola Lookman, Taiwo Awoniyi and substitute Samuel Chukwueze got the other goals as the Super Eagles entertained the capacity crowd at the Godswill Akpabio Stadium.
Osimhen got Nigeria on their way with a header from Lookman’s corner kick in the 14th minute and the Atalanta forward doubled the lead in the 28th minute with a fine right-footed finish after skipping past two defenders.
Nottingham Forest striker Awoniyi made it 3-0 six minutes into the second half, finishing off a pass from the impressive Kelechi Iheanacho, and Osimhen converted from the penalty spot seven minutes after the hour mark to make it 4-0.
Osimhen completed his hat-trick with 10 minutes left on the clock as he raised his goals in the qualifying series to 10, the most in the entire campaign.
The 24-year-old has now scored 19 goals for the Super Eagles, surpassing Obafemi Martins (18) and is now joint fourth with Ikechukwu Uche (19) in the all-time list. He is now two goals away from matching Yakubu Aiyegbeni’s tally of 21.
Chukwueze added further gloss to the scoreline with near post finish in the 85th minute as the Super Eagles finished the qualifiers with aplomp and ended up as Group A winners with 15 points from six matches.
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