Nigeria striker Asasat Oshoala will miss the rest of the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations due to a knee injury.
The four-time African women’s footballer has concluded her tournament with a medial ligament injury in Nigeria lost 2-1 to South Africa on Monday.
He is 27 years old recently Won the Spanish Picchichi Award After scoring 20 league goals for Barcelona, he was expected to help the Super Falcons defend their continental title in Morocco.
Oshoala struggled with the injury in the first minutes of the third set match, but played for another hour before being substituted in the 82nd minute of the match.
Scans have revealed that Oshoala has sustained a grade 2 medial collateral ligament injury and will return to Spain on Thursday, according to the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF).
A team official said the injury would rule the former Arsenal and Liverpool player out for “several weeks”.
Oshoala’s injury leaves Nigeria with a 24-man squad trying to recover from their opening match loss to South Africa.
Botswana leads Group C on goal difference over South Africa, with the two teams returning again on Thursday against Nigeria and Burundi respectively.
crippled by injury
Oshoala is the most decorated female footballer in Africa, the first woman from the continent to win the Golden Boot for Spain He lost two months of the season due to injury.
Oshoala, who recently signed a deal to stay with the Spanish giants until the end of the 2023-24 season, has been struggling with thigh and knee injuries in the past nine months.
She won the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations for the third time with the Super Falcons in Ghana in 2018, scoring three goals as Nigeria lifted the title for the ninth time.
The BBC’s first female footballer helped Nigeria reach the Round of 16 at the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup in France.
Oshoala won the CAF Women’s Player of the Year award for the fourth time in 2020 – equaling the record for her Nigerian compatriot Perpetua Nkocha.
CAF announced on Wednesday that it is among the 30 nominees for its 2021-22 Women’s Player of the Year award.
