By
Eniola Olatunji 

The Nigerian Super Eagles on Friday at the Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow held their Russian counterpart to a 1-1 draw in an international friendly match. 

Defender Semi Ajayi of West Brom, committed a blunder in the 27th minute giving an own goal lead to Russia.

Nigeria almost equalised in the 40th minute when a goal bound shot was parried into corner kick by the agile Russian goalkeeper the resultant kick was however lost.

Genk of Belgium forward, Tolu Arokodare who came in for goal jinxed Victor Boniface in the 61st minute however made the 78,011 fans stand bubble when he kicked the ball beyond the reach of the Russian goalkeeper into the net 71st minute for the equalizer. 

Tolu bagged the 2025 Ebony Shoe for Best African Player in Belgium and his goal in Moscow is his first for Nigeria.

37 year old Azerbaijan Ref, Aliyar Aghayer who had his FIFA badge in 2013 was eagle eyed blowing the foul plays of Russia who eventually got 3-1 yellow cards.

Nigeria still showed signs of goal scoring problems with Boniface who frittered away scoring chances as the Africans had 4-1 shots on target; 4-4 corner kicks and dominated the match with 58-42% ball possession.

Frustrated Victor Boniface after the match wrote on his X handle, "e Don do me". It was not however clear whether he has quited with international games as he finds it difficult to score while on National assignments.

The match rusty Russians showed they were desperate to win the match hacking the Nigerian players at will in their first important match. Russia last played in 2021 as the country was cut off by the world football confraternity for the invasion of Ukraine.

Trying to get back to reckoning, Russia on 25th March 2025 dazed Zambia 5-0.

It was like the Russians were afraid of the memories of the Dammam Miracle of the world U20 match played on 25th February 1989 in Saudi Arabia where Nigeria came from four goals down to equalize 4-4 winning the match eventually 5-4 on penalties.

Russia rated 35 by FIFA and Nigeria rated 43 had no head to head record of meeting. Russia made 11 appearances at the world cup finals; placed 4th in 1966 as Soviet Union and reached quarterfinal in 2018 as Russia.

Nigeria made 6 appearances at the world cup  reaching only the round of 16 games in 1994: 1998 and 2014.