CAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE EXIT: CR Belouizdad were technically better than us, says Boboye

 

Akwa United Football Club Head Coach Kennedy Boboye has admitted that his side lost to a more technically superior CR Belouizdad in their CAF Champions League encounter.

The Nigerian champions crashed out at the preliminary stage of Africa's premier competition after losing the second leg 2-0 in Algiers on Sunday and are out of the competition on a 2-1 aggregate score.

In his post-match reaction to his team's elimination from the competition, Boboye said his game’s plans were altered when two key players had passport issues and a player picked up an injury few minutes to the game.

"The moment we won by just one goal in Uyo on September 12th, I knew it will be difficult for us to get a favourable result in Algiers, but at the same time it wasn't an impossible task for us. After a careful study of the first leg I realized that our opponents (CR Belouizdad) were technically better than us and that was why we came to Algiers with a game plan which unfortunately, didn't work for us.

"Two of my players Charles Okafor and Marshal Johnson had passport issues, one player Denis Nya sustained injury during warm-up and that altered the plans we had. We needed to move Dare Ojo to the centre back position, which he did very well but we missed his experience in the midfield and it affected our game plan,” Boboye said.

He added, " Having won the first leg, we knew that they (CR Belouizdad) will come out to attack us. So, our plans were to get at least a goal in the first half but we came up against a very good team. The way they played, one can tell that they have been playing together for a very long time. The first goal they scored was a good goal but the penalty against us wasn't a good call but that is football.

"We have to go back and start preparing for the new NPFL season and I think that the exposure and experience we have garnered from these two games will help the coaching crew and the players in subsequent outings both in the league and at the continental level.”

The players and officials of the team are expected to be back in Uyo on Wednesday.