Enyimba captain Austin Oladapo says the 2-time African champions are like a ‘wounded lion’ and will ‘fight’ to finish in an attempt to overturn a huge deficit when they face Egyptian side Pyramids in the 2nd leg of their CAF Confederation Cup quarter-final fixture on Sunday in Aba.
The People’s Elephant face a daunting task in Sunday’s home tie after slumping to a 4-1 defeat in the reverse fixture despite scoring first in Cairo.
Enyimba, who are yet to score three goals in a match across all competitions this season, will have to do so and hope the Egyptian side do not score to stand a chance of reaching the semi-finals of the competition.
While admitting the brilliance of Pyramids – who reached the final of the CAF Confederation Cup last season – Oladapo says his Enyimba side are fired up ahead of the second leg and remains hopeful that playing at home will count in their favour.
“I think there’s hope, we have another 90 minutes to play before we can say whether we are out of the Confederation Cu quarter-finals or not,” the 25-year-old former Kwara United midfielder told www.busybuddiesng.com.
“Our heads are up this time. We know we are wounded, and in Sunday’s game, we’ll be coming out like a wounded lion. We will be giving it all our best, knowing fully well we have to win, we have to do something positive for ourselves. If not, we are out.
“I think we are already wounded and we should not be scared of going all out to fight. I think we are ready for this particular encounter, and we pray that God should crown our efforts.
“We know that the Pyramids team are well-experienced. They are a good team, but this is Aba, this is our home. We have every advantage and we are going to take it.”
Kickoff for Sunday’s second leg tie between Enyimba and Pyramids is slated for 2pm, with aggregate winners advancing to the semi-finals.
Under the watch of former coach Usman Abd’Allah, Enyimba reached the semi-finals of the competition in 2018, losing to eventual champions Raja Casablanca of Morocco.
Current handler Fatai Osho also guided the 8-time NPFL champions to the quarter-finals last season, going down to Guinean outfit Horoya AC over two legs.
