Nigerian football fans did not have the best weekend thanks to both Remo Stars and Enyimba International bowing out of the CAF Champions League first preliminary round.
Enyimba lost to Al-Ahly Benghazi of Libya and Remo Stars, the other Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) side in the preliminary round, got knocked out on penalties after a 1-1 aggregate draw.
Nigerian football fans will have to follow the 2023/24 CAF Champions League as neutrals as there will be no Nigerian team to root for in this edition of the tournament following the disappointing exits of Remo Stars and Enyimba International.
Hard luck! #CAFCL | #WeAreRemoStars pic.twitter.com/NMjEqVOGek
— Remo Stars Sports Club (@RemoStarsSC) August 27, 2023
Remo Stars 1 (2) – 0 (3) Medeama: The match as it happened
Remo Stars hosted the Ghana Premier League champions at their Remo Stars FC Stadium, Ikenne, Ogun State and were fully supported by fans.
They had a 1-0 deficit to deal with when they travelled to Ghana for the first leg of the tie and despite the home advantage and support, Remo Stars were unable to muster anything in the first half.
Their visitors, too, were toothless in attack, and the fans at the stadium saw the first half end goalless without much goalmouth action from either side.
⚡️ TEAM NEWS
🇳🇬 Nduka in defence
🇹🇬 Mawuena in our attacking line
🇬🇭 Dela on the bench #CAFCL | #WeAreRemoStars pic.twitter.com/e0Vl0D4Qpc— Remo Stars Sports Club (@RemoStarsSC) August 27, 2023
The half seemed like they were both being too careful and only waiting for a slipup. They did not give each other that opportunity, leading to a quiet half.
The second half was the same, leading to noise from fans with the aim of prodding one or both of the teams to go all out for the win.
Medeama were more than happy to defend their 1-0 aggregate win but Remo Stars came out to attack, eventually forcing an own goal in the 73rd minute. This woke Medeama up and both sides began to push for the winning goal with the fans cheering louder than ever.
PENALTIES
Remo Stars ✅ ❌ ❌ ❌ ✅
Medeama SC ✅ ❌ ✅ ❌ ✅The sky blue stars exit the #CAFCL #WeAreRemoStars
— Remo Stars Sports Club (@RemoStarsSC) August 27, 2023
The game would end 1-1 on aggregate thanks to neither side finding the back of the net once more in the game, and go to penalties where Medeama would triumph, scoring three of their kicks to Remo Stars’ two.
With the final whistle, both Enyimba and Remo Stars were officially knocked out of the CAF Champions League, leaving Nigeria without a representative in Africa’s elite club competition.
This article was most recently revised and updated 1 year ago
