Nigeria suffer AFCON blow as Boniface out with groin injury

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9 January 2024, 21:16 yayınlandı

Nigeria striker Victor Boniface will miss the Africa Cup of Nations and undergo surgery on an adductor muscle injury he picked up while preparing for the tournament, his club, Bayer Leverkusen, said on Tuesday.

The Bundesliga club announced that the injury would keep the forward out of action for at least three months after he was sidelined for Nigeria’s final warm-up friendly against Guinea on Monday.

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“Victor Boniface is ruled out of the forthcoming Africa Cup of Nations and is also not available for the club,” Leverkusen said in a statement.

“Boniface suffered a muscle tendon injury in the right adductor area at the training camp in Dubai. This is the result of today’s scan in Cologne. Boniface will undergo surgery in the coming days. The striker is expected to return to the squad at the beginning of April.”

The Bundesliga will resumes on Friday after the winter break.

“Good luck guys. Wish you guys all the best at afcon @ng_supereagles,” Boniface wrote on his Instagram account.

He is Bundesliga leaders Leverkusen’s top scorer, netting 10 goals in 16 league games this season.

Boniface made his international debut in October and has since earned four more caps.

His injury comes on top of the recent withdrawal of Nigeria midfielder Wilfred Ndidi who was injured in Leicester City’s 2-0 win at Cardiff City on Dec. 29.

Ndidi’s Leicester teammate Kelechi Iheanacho is also struggling with injury and the striker was still being assessed at Nigeria’s training camp with the expectation that he will be fit for the tournament, which starts on Saturday and ends on Feb. 11.

Nigeria open their Cup of Nations campaign with a Group A game against Equatorial Guinea on Sunday before meeting hosts Ivory Coast and then Guinea-Bissau.