The Super Eagles tonight were held to a 2-2 draw at the death by Saudi Arabia, who halted a six-game losing run.
In May 2010, both teams played a goalless draw in another friendly.
Against the run of play today, Saudi Arabia took the lead on the hour through captain Salman Al-Faraj after goalkeeper Francis Uzoho made a hash of a free kick and ended up helping it into his own net.
Nigeria were saved a further calamity in the 69th minute, when VAR ruled Semi Ajayi did not handle the ball inside the box.
Victor Boniface was then rewarded for his hard work in the 73rd minute, when he slotted past the goalkeeper after some great work by substitutes Moses Simon and Kelechi Iheanacho by the left flank.
It was later adjudged as an own goal by Abdulelah Al-Amri.
Iheanacho put Nigeria ahead in the 81st minute with a sublime curler from inside the box.
However, the Saudis restored parity in stoppage time through a free kick by Mohamed Kanno from the edge of the goal area.
The Super Eagles must have been disappointed with their finishing in the first half as they threw away chance after chance.
After just six minutes, Alex Iwobi saw his goal-bound shot deflected for a corner and soon after Victor Boniface surged through the Saudi defence from the left flank, but nothing came out of that solo dash.
Victor Osimhen was then set up by a delightful cross by Bruno Onyemaechi in the 17th minute, but he failed to put it away.
Two minutes later, Boniface shot from inside the box was too weak to trouble the goalkeeper as Nigeria continued to pile on the pressure.
Samuel Chukwueze then blasted off target another chance in front of a virtually empty net on 31 minutes.
Saudi Arabia’s biggest first-half chance came in the 37th minute, but goalkeeper Uzoho made himself big to save off the feet of the attacker.
On the stroke of half time, Ademola Lookman hesitated when put through on goal one-on-one with the goalkeeper to give his marker enough time to put him off from pulling the trigger.
Osimhen was forced out of the game in the 55th minute by injury and replaced by Terem Moffi.
On Monday at the same venue, the Super Eagles will play a second friendly against Mozambique as they step up their preparation for 2026 World Cup qualifiers against Lesotho and Zimbabwe next month.
Super Eagles Starting XI vs Saudi Arabia (4-4-2)
Uzoho – Bassey, Ebuehi (Osayi 65), Ajayi, Onyemaechi – Ndidi, Iwobi (Aribo 78), Lookman (Moses Simon 65), Chukwueze (Iheanacho 65) – Osimhen (Moffi 58), Victor Boniface (Sadiq Umar 78)
