Manchester United striker Odion Ighalo has admitted that he finds inspiration from the 1996 Atalanta Olympics-winning squad though he was a child when Nigeria became the first African nation to win gold at the football event of the Olympic Games.

Monday, August 3 made it 24 years that the original Dream Team containing some of Nigeria's finest footballers in history such as Austin Okocha, Nwankwo Kanu, Taribo West, Emmanuel Amunike, Daniel Amokachi, Victor Ikpeba and Sunday Oliseh came from behind to beat a star studded Argentina 3-2 in the Olympics showpiece.

Ighalo, who first made his name with the Flying Eagles as captain of the class of 2009, was in contention to feature at the 2016 Olympic Games, having made the provisional squad list, but manager Samson Siasia scratched him from his plans because of club commitments with Watford.

"Though I was very young when that happened, I have heard a lot about it," Ighalo told ESPN.

"But I watched the games later, and it inspired me a lot because, when you talk about Nigerian football, people always remember that team.

"It is even one of the things our generation tried to achieve with the national team. And I hope the coming generation can achieve that.

"They made us proud and happy to be Nigerians with what they achieved, and I hope this generation can also try to achieve that."

Last summer, the 31-year-old Ighalo signed off his international career with a game-winning striker against Tunisia in the Africa Cup of Nations third place playoff.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel

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