Birthday boy, Kelechi Iheanacho, celebrated his 25th birthday with the first goal but he was not the only player with Nigerian blood to score with Michael Olise also on target for the home side, as Crystal Palace fought back from two goals down to end it 2-2 at home against Leicester City at Selhurst Park on Sunday.
Leicester raced to a two-goal lead with Iheanacho and Jamie Vardy scoring two quick goals six minutes apart by the 37th minute, before Olise on as a 53rd minute substitute for Jordan Ayew, began the fightback on the hour mark.
Former Leicester City midfielder, Jeffrey Schlupp, another second half substitute, equalised within a minute of coming off the bench as the Eagles defended stoutly to earn a fourth draw for manager Patrick Vieira.
Olise, born in England to a Nigerian father and mother of French-Algerian parentage is qualified to play for four countries namely France, Algeria, England and Nigeria and he’s been capped at youth international level by France.
However, Nigeria is not giving up hope of persuading him to switch allegiance to the Super Eagles because of his wide range of talent in midfield.
To underline his determination to get Olise, Super Eagles manager, Gernot Rohr, named the highly-regarded youngster in his standby list for the Nigerian team which defeated Benin Republic and Lesotho in their 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers last March.
A left-footed player, Olise can play in central midfield, in an attacking midfield position or as a winger.
