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Abiodun Adewale.
Nigeria’s representatives in the CAF Confederations Cup, Rivers United and Plateau United have hit Libya for the second legs of their playoffs against Al Nasr Benghazi and Al Akhdar, The PUNCH reports.
NPFL Champions, Rivers United departed via Cairo, Egypt, and connected another flight to Libya’s second most populous city Benghazi, where their opponents are based.
“Benghazi, Libya in a bit. But first, a brief stopover in Cairo, Egypt,” the club tweeted on Sunday afternoon.
Plateau United departed via Doha, Qatar before reconnecting another flight to Libya after which they will move to the city of Bayda, where Al Akhdar will host them.
Both clubs take huge first-leg wins into the ties, as Rivers United drubbed Al Nasr 5-0 last Wednesday in Port Harcourt, just as Plateau United hammered Al Akhdar 4-1 in Abuja.
Rivers United cruised to the victory in Port Harcourt, sending strong signals of making the group stage while their opponents returned home with a fainting hope of overturning the result in Libya.
“We have to play a second game and we will try as much as possible to put up a better performance. We have to continue our work and I think we can change a lot of things in the next game, Al Nasr coach, Zoran Milinkovic, said after the game in Port Harcourt.
The NPFL champions are putting all they have into the second-tier competition, after falling out on a CAF Champions League spot, a situation coach Stanley Eguma believes has reshaped the mentality of the players.
“The bad result we had in Morocco during the Champions League is a tonic, it made the team work harder and achieve this huge result. We have started the race, we have crossed the first hurdle and we are looking forward to the second leg,” Eguma said.
Having won 4-1 in Abuja, Plateau United have done most of the work by scoring high, but the away goal recorded by Al Akhdar also means that they must ensure the Libyans do not win by more than a 2-goal margin.