August, 23 2023.
A 30-man contingent of players and officials of Nigeria's Bendel Insurance, will depart the shores of the country on Thursday, from the Muritala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos to the Algerian city of Chlef, for their decisive second leg
of their CAF Confederation Cup decisive leg fixture with ASO Chlef, on Saturday.
Bendel Insurance who qualified for the competition as winners of the 2023 Nigeria Federation Cup, takes a delicate 1-0 win from the first leg played last Saturday at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium, in Benin City to Saturday second leg.
The match to be played on a natural grass surface at a packed 12,000 capacity Salem Mabrouki Stadium, located in Rouiba, 22 kilometres from Algiers, will kick-off at 8 pm (local time).
Meanwhile, Nigeria's Enyimba International FC are back in Aba from the Libyan city of Benghazi, and have been perfecting their strategies ahead of their must-win reverse CAF Champions League, first preliminary round fixture.
The two-time African Champions, and reigning Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) Champions, scored four goals on Sunday, but ended up 3-4 losers to Al Ahli, at a packed Marteyers of February Stadium, in Benghazi.
Club Chairman, Kanu Nwankwo and Head Coach Finidi George have been bullish since the team flew back to Nigeria, about the prospect of upturning the deficit and their chances of advancing to the second preliminary round of the elitist of the two Inter-club Championships, organized by CAF.
While showering praises on the players and coaching staff for their efforts in Libya, Kanu gifted them a token of three million Naira (N3 million), and urged them to remain focused for a potentially explosive second leg as the Libyan side will as usual, fly in with a goal advantage and all the tricks in their bag, to defend or possibly add to it.
Having scored three (3) priceless away goals on Sunday, Enyimba should be home and dry in the next round with a simple victory of 1-0, 2-1, or 3-2.
The Aba People's Elephant will host Al Ahli Benghazi Sunday at the Enyimba Int'l Stadium, Aba starting from 3 pm, Nigerian time.
The Libyan champions were the last team, Enyimba played at the facility two seasons ago, and on that occasion Enyimba won it 2-1, but were unable to honour the second leg, due to scheduling and other lelated hiccups.
Nigeria's second entrant in the Champions League, Remo Stars, should have everything working in their favour, when hosting Ghana Premier League Champions, SC Medeama in Ikenne.
The Sky-Blues complained of a bumpy pitch in Cape Coast even before they lost 0-1 on Sunday.
Coincidentally, both sides are debutants in the competition, and the Ghanaian side could be without as many as six of their regulars, who were on the verge of departing the club to Europe for greener pastures, after the first leg.
With one of the best football pitches and facilities in the land, at Ikenne-Remo and having clinched most of the individual honours at the 2023 League Bloggers Awards, two days ago; Remo Stars should not be lacking the extra motivation, to right the wrongs by defeating SC Medeama and qualifying for the second preliminary round.