Despite the threat and the mind games, Nigeria’s Rivers United qualified for the group stage of the CAF Confederation cup after playing a 1-1 draw against Al Nasr of Libya.
The Pride of Rivers last week won the first leg convincingly by 5-0 at the Adokiye Amasiamaka stadium in Port-Harcourt.
Arriving for the second leg in Libya on Monday, the Nigeria side was subjected to various threats and mind games ahead of the second leg match.
The match started with Al Nasr dominating the encounter and Rivers United was forced to do some defending in the early part of the game.
But the host was able to make a breakthrough towards the end of the stanza and made 1-0 going into the half time.
The Nigeria champions improved their performance in the second half and were able to silence the home crowd with an equalizer from Nyima Nwagua.
Al Nasr’s attackers tried their best to score another goal but all their efforts proved abortive as Rivers United’s defenders nullified all their attempts and ensured that Rivers United secured a well-deserved draw.
The results mean that Rivers United secured a 6-1 aggregate win and qualified for the group stage of the CAF Confederation Cup.
Meanwhile, the NPFL runners-up, Plateau United threw away a 4-1 lead in the first leg to a 0-3 loss to Al-Akhdar in the return leg in Libya to be knocked out of the competition.
Four teams represented Nigeria in CAF clubs Competition while Remo Stars, Kwara United and Plateau United have kissed the competition goodbye, only Rivers United sailed through to the group stage of CAF Confederation Cup.
