“We aren’t panicked” says Lookman

Super Eagles and Atalanta winger, Ademola Lookman has reinstated that Nigeria won’t shiver against their Angolan opponent on Friday. 

Lookman, who was instrumental in the Eagles’ 2-0 win scoring a brace over Cameroon last Saturday while speaking with Journalists in Abidjan assured fans of a better outing for their quarter-final berth. 

Unfortunately, Nigeria had witnessed a bad experience at the hands of the Stable Antelopes in the past which cost the Super Eagles the 2006 World Cup whereby they were forced to a 1-1 draw in Kano. After that sour moment, Super Eagles will be facing Angola for the first since 2006. 

But the Super Eagles, who are the highest-ranked side still in the competition, have overcome a lackluster start in the AFCON campaign to advance to the quarterfinals and are clear favourites going into the game. 

He said: “We have worked so hard to get to this stage of the competition and we will continue pushing hard to achieve our objective. The objective for us is to go back home with the trophy. We know we are not there yet, but it is achievable.”

“We know how strong the Angola team is even before the start of this competition. They have done well here and they have a lot of quality players in their squad. We will play with the same intensity and fight like we did in the previous game. I don’t see them stopping us.”

Although Nigeria has already beaten Cameroon and Ivory Coast, major upsets in this tournament suggest that anything can happen on any given day. In Ivory Coast, Lookman and standout attacker Victor Osimhen will be under pressure to perform well for the Super Eagles.