Scoring against Argentina isn’t that difficult, says ‘Lionel Musa’

Ahmed Musa is ready to inspire Nigeria to victory over Argentina in their final World Cup group game, having apparently been described as ‘Lionel Musa’ in South America.

The 25-year-old scored both goals in the 2-0 win over Iceland in Volgograd on Friday, which lifted Nigeria into second in Group D, reports goal.com.

The result also means Argentina’s hopes of reaching the last 16 are still alive, despite their damaging 3-0 loss to Croatia, with Jorge Sampaoli’s side knowing that a win over Nigeria in St Petersburg on Tuesday could be enough to see them through.

Musa’s double took him to four goals at the World Cup for his country, making him their top scorer at international football’s showpiece event, and has apparently led to Argentina fans dubbing him ‘Lionel Musa’ in thanks for him keeping their side alive in Russia.

The Leicester City man found the nickname amusing when speaking to the media after the win over Iceland, and warned the real Messi that he has a habit of scoring against his teams, having netted doubles in both a loss to Argentina at the 2014 World Cup and in the International Champions Cup clash with Barcelona in 2016.

‘Thank you very much for that!’ He said when told about the comparison. ‘Whenever I play against Argentina, when Messi is playing, I can remember four years ago when Messi was playing in Brazil, I scored two goals. When I transferred to Leicester, I played against Barcelona, and I scored another two goals.

‘Next game, anything can happen. Possibly, I’m going to score another two goals.’

Messi missed a penalty in his side’s 1-1 draw with Iceland and cut a disconsolate figure in their 3-0 loss to Croatia in Nizhny Novgorod on Thursday.

Musa now hopes he can outshine the five-time Ballon d’Or winner in their final group game and help Nigeria reach the last 16.

‘Scoring against Argentina is not that difficult for me,’ he said. ‘Any game, I take it step by step. If I’m going to score against Argentina, I’m going to do that.

‘We have to work very hard, we know it’s do or die, we have to go for a draw or win. By the 95th minute, we’ll know who carried the day.’