Former Super Eagles captain, Austine Jay Jay Okocha, has given his verdict on Alex Iwobi’s red card during Nigeria’s 2021 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) 1-0 loss to Tunisia on Sunday night.
Iwobi was shown a red card during Nigeria’s defeat to Tunisia in the AFCON round of 16 encounters in Cameroon.
The Everton star was red-carded just seven minutes after entering the game as a substitute for a heavy challenge on Youssef Msakni, who scored the only goal of the match, as he controlled the ball.
But Okocha, who is Iwobi’s uncle, believes the former Arsenal star merited a red card for dangerous play, whether it was intentional or not.
Providing his verdict on Iwobi’s red card, Okocha told SuperSport, “As players, we always try to retain possession, especially when you have had a bad touch, but also the referee dished out yellow first because he realized that it wasn’t dangerous play until the VAR called him.
“And when they look at replays, sometimes they tell a different story and when we saw that replay, I said, he’s off, whether it was intentional, whatever, he was a bit dangerous on the Tunisian player but that wasn’t his intention.
“I mean, these referees play by the book. We have had a bad day and when it rains, it pours.”
