Ahmed Musa drops out of Tuesday's Ukraine friendly after failing to recover from injury

SUPER Eagles winger Ahmed Musa has pulled out of Tuesday's friendly game against Ukraine after failing to recover from an injury he picked up in a league match for his Saudi Arabian clubside Al-Nassr.

Musa, 26, was the assistant captain and following the retirement of skipper Mikel obi from international football, was the leading candidate to be named captain. He and Emeka Omeruo of Spanish side Leganes are the two most senior players in the squad but both of them will miss the match against the Ukrainians taking place in the southern city of Dnipro.

Nowhere near fully fit, Musa has only made two appearances for his club known as the Knight of Najd this season, featuring in their 2-0 victory over Dhamk and playing 59 minutes in their last outing against Al Fateh. he will now be the fifth Nigerian player to be ruled out of the game against the Ukraine match with injury.

Apart from him and Omeruo, other absentees due to injury include Tyronne Ebuehi, Henry Onyekuru and Wilfred Ndidi. Coach Gernot Rohr has handed late call-ups to Club Brugge's Dennis Bonaventure, Bordeaux's Josh Maja, Paok's Anderson Esiti and Lokomotiv Moscow wingback Bryan Idowu.

In the absence of Musa and Omeruo, Udinese defender William Troost-Ekong will lead the Eagles out against Andriy Shevchenko's men. This will be the first time Nigeria and Ukraine are meeting at senior level.