Odion Ighalo has become the first Nigerian to play for Manchester United after he was introduced as a 90th-minute substitute in the Red Devils 2-0 win over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Monday.

Ighalo, who has had just one training session with United’s first team having been quarantined since his transfer from China, started on the bench as manager Ole Gunnar Solsjkaer had said prior to kick-off.

He was introduced in place of Anthony Martial as Solskjaer sought to take the sting out of Chelsea’s pressure with United two goals up and minutes away from completing a first-ever Premier League double against the Blues.

Despite his limited time on the pitch, Ighalo showed brilliant flashes and even managed to fashion out a golden opportunity to mark his debut with a dream goal but his goalbound effort was kept out by Willy Caballero.

Solskjaer would have been encouraged by the Nigerian’s showing and will be confident of getting more out of the striker with more training sessions.

United’s win moves them up to 7th on the log with 38 points from 26 matches and the Red Devils are now just 3 points off 4th-placed Chelsea in the battle for Champions League qualification.

United are next in action in the Europa League when they travel to Belgium for their round of 32 1st leg encounter against Club Brugge.