Ikechi Anya, Nigerian-born Scotland international, is still over the moon for achieving a feat he says he never considered possible had he been playing a video game.

The fast-paced winger scored a beauty of a goal when he shot past world’s current best goalkeeper, Olivier Neuer of Germany, in a European Nations Cup qualifier on Sunday in Germany.

Though Scotland went on to lose the fixture 1-2 in the German city of Gelsenkirchen, Anya, who plays for Watford in the English championship, is absolutely delighted to have got on the score sheet.

“I said before the game if I scored I’d go to the bench to celebrate with the manager and everyone there for having faith in me, and there were some crazy emotions,” Anya told watfordfc.com afterwards.

“I’m not sure it’s going to get any better than that! To score a goal against the world champions is something special and it’ll take some beating. When I saw the ball hit the back of the net it was the best emotion I’ve ever felt in football,” he added.

Ikechi’s rise in football makes for a compelling read. His father, Dr. Chinasa Anya, is an academic in the UK and belongs to that famous group of parents who never wished their sons to play football, but rather thread a blue collar path to the future.

He was severally deemed not good enough by several football clubs. But his determination to want to go on makes him a study in resilience. Today he stands a chance of leading the Scotts to Europe’s biggest international football showpiece competition.

“My dad is a proud African, he wanted his children to study, so when I started to play football, at first he wasn’t too thrilled about it,” Anya told The Independent in an interview last year.

“There was a lot of pressure on me. My dad was into his academics, after school I would have to study for an hour extra. It wasn’t for me but luckily my football took over,” he further said.

Anya is a deeply religious Christian and believes that marks him out from many other professional footballers.

“I’m religious and believe if you work hard you’ll get your just rewards,” he said in an interview last year. “That keeps me humble. I don’t get ahead of myself.”

Ikechi Anya was in fine form when he played against his fatherland Nigeria in a pre-World Cup friendly in England in a game that ended 1-1.

•Photo shows Nigerian Ikechi Anya scoring for Scotland by shooting past world’s greatest keeper Oliver Neuer of Germany . . . last Sunday in Germany.

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