Nigeria international Odion Ighalo has said he is delighted to win his first career league title after he helped Al Hilal win the Saudi Arabia Professional League at the weekend.
An ecstatic Ighalo said his perseverance and hard work paid off.
“I waited 17 years before winning my first league title. It doesn’t matter how long it takes, if you keep working hard and never give up, you will get it right one day. God is the greatest,” Ighalo wrote on Instagram.
It was double delight for the Super Eagles striker as he finished as the league top scorer with 24 goals.
Of these goals, he scored 13 with the right foot, 8 with the left foot, 3 headers, 22 from inside the box and two outside the box. He netted 27 goals in all competitions.
It would be recalled that it was Ighalo’s brace in the 2-1 defeat Al Faisaly that fired Al Hilal to the league title
Ighalo opened scoring after seven minutes, when he turned sharply inside the box before he rifled into the roof of the net the opening goal.
He doubled his team’s lead on 64 minutes, before the visitors halved the deficit 20 minutes from time.
Al Hilal thus finished top of the standings on 67 points from 30 matches, three points more than Al Ittihad.
It was a successful title defence for the Riyadh club, who have now won the Pro League crown 18 times including the last three years.