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A plane carrying the Nigeria football team was reportedly forced to make an emergency landing after its windscreen cracked during the flight. The aircraft was carrying five Premier League stars at the time, with the players returning to Nigeria following a clash with Lesotho.

Nigeria took on Lesotho in a World Cup qualifying match in South Africa on Friday, with the Super Eagles earning a 2-1 victory. William Troost-Ekong and Akor Adams struck for the visitors before Hlompho Kalake pulled a goal back for Lesotho. The result leaves Nigeria third in Group C of the CAF World Cup qualifiers table, three points behind leaders Benin and one point behind South Africa.

According to the Daily Mail, the Nigeria team boarded a chartered ValueJet Airline aircraft following their victory over Lesotho to travel to Uyo, where they are due to host Benin in another World Cup qualifier on Tuesday. But the pilots were forced to make an emergency landing 25 minutes into the flight.

The Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) confirmed that the plane's windscreen suffered a "heavy crack" mid-air before landing in Angola's capital Luanda for routine refuelling.

"The @NGSuperEagles have finally arrived Uyo after a delay in Luanda, Angola, due to issues with the aircraft conveying them back home after the win over Lesotho," explained the NFF in an update posted to X (formerly Twitter) on Sunday morning.

Nigeria's squad includes Fulham trio Alex Iwobi, Calvin Bassey and Samuel Chukwueze as well as Brentford star Frank Onyeka and Wolves ace Tolu Arokodare.

Former Everton, Fulham and Leicester attacker Ademola Lookman, who now plies his trade for Atalanta, is also part of the Nigeria set-up, as is Besiktas midfielder Wilfred Ndidi, who spent eight-and-a-half years at Leicester and helped the Foxes win the FA Cup in 2021.

Meanwhile, Victor Osimhen, who has been linked with a transfer to the Premier League in recent seasons, is also part of the Nigeria squad and led the forward line against Lesotho.

Nigeria didn't qualify for a World Cup until their appearance at the 1994 edition of the tournament in the USA, where they reached the round of 16.

They reached the same round in France four years later, before exiting at the group stages in South Korea and Japan in 2002.

The nation also appeared at the 2010, 2014 and 2018 World Cups and reached the last 16 once again in Brazil 11 years ago. But they were absent from the tournament in Qatar in 2022, with the team losing to Ghana on away goals following a two-legged play-off match in the final round of qualifying.