Former Chelsea defender Celestine Babayaro said ex captain of the senior national team of Nigeria Austine Okocha smartly deflected blames from his nephew Alex Iwobi to goalkepper Maduka Okoye after Nigeria’s 0-1 loss to Tunisia.
Nigeria crashed out of the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations with Iwobi picking up a red card after coming on as a substitute with Nigeria chasing the game. Okocha was working as a studio pundit during the course of the game.
Okocha faulted defender Ola Aina for not fouling the goal scorer after his poor judgement made the ball beat him, he went further that Okoye should have also done better as the ball travelled some distance before getting to him.
It led to Nigerians questioning the abilities of the Sparta Rotterdam goalkepper who will be heading to Watford in the summer, so much that he had to deactivate the comment section of his social media handle.
Although Iwobi wasn’t spared as well, Babayaro said it could have been worst if not for Okocha who smartly laid the blame on two players. He referenced Sani Kaita red card at the 2010 World Cup as a reason why Iwobi should be blamed for the defeat.
“It’s clear what Okocha did. Protect his nephew who got sent off and lay the blame on the goalkepper and defender. Iwobi should be blamed because if he wasn’t sent off then the team chances of coming back would have been a lot better”, he stated.
”Remember the case of Sani Kaita in the game between Nigeria and Greece? You saw who was roundly blamed but why not Iwobi? You know the answer “, he concluded.
