Yakubu Aiyegbeni is a retired Nigerian footballer, who played as a striker for the super eagles, born on the 22nd of November 1982(37 years old). He had 57 caps for the Super eagles . Yakubu Aiyegbeni is a top striker who has featured for many teams across Europe with a record172 goals in 428 club appearances.Today, we take a brief look at the Highs And Lows of the Striker's Career.
   THE HERO
"The Yak" as fondly called is one of Nigeria's forgotten hero in modern Football, he was one of Europe top shooters during his days in the EPL banging a total of 95 goals in 252 appearances. Yakubu is the first African a score a Hattrick on his Uefa Champions League Debut, Maccabi Haifa's 3-0  Olympiakos on Tuesday 24th September 2002.Aiyegbeni is the first EPL player to score against 20 premier league teams. He is also the top Nigerian scorer in the EPL with 95 goals


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 Aiyegbeni is the third 3rd highest goal scorer for Nigeria  with 21 goals in 57 appearance behind Segun Odegbami (22goals) and Rashidi Yekini(37goals) Aiyegbeni was a thorn in the flesh of defenders who comes his way and he's also the record holder for the most EPL hattricks (4) for an African.



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    THE 'NEVER TO BE FORGOTTEN' VILLAIN
During a world cup group A Game between Nigeria and South Korea at the Mabhida Stadium, South Africa with the score at 2-1 in favor of the Asian side, Yakubu Aiyegbeni had all the time in the world to tap in a simple pass from 2 Metres in front of an empty net but rather unfortunately played the ball wide. What a day it was. In the twinkling of an eye, The Big Nigerian Forward became a subject of ridicule and abuse. The miss eventually came back to hunt the Nigeria Super Eagles as they failed to progress into the round of 16.

Surely, it was a day to forget for Yakubu Aiyegbeni but never to be forgotten by the Nigerian football faithfuls. Yakubu Aiyegbeni shouldered all the blames for his sides failure to progress even though he later scored a penalty but wasn't enough to send his team through to the next round. This day would live with him forever.



Here is a breakdown of Yakubu Aiyegbeni's records

 1. Top Nigerian EPL goal scorer (95 goals)
2. 3rd Highest Goal scorer for the National Team
3. Most EPL hattricks For an Africanc(4)
4. First EPL player to score against 20 teams
5. First African to score a UEFA CL hattrick on his debut.

Sadly, he is only remembered for his Miss against south Korea