After scoring the opener and putting in an excellent shift in El Grana‘s fine 2-0 defeat of Ernesto Valverde’s side at the Estadio Nuevo Los Cármenes in late September, Super Eagles midfielder Ramon Azeez has revealed that he received mixed reactions from Nigeria for his performance.
Nigeria international Ramon Azeez got on the score sheet with just two minutes on the clock and was brilliant for the whole 90 minutes as Granada claimed a thrilling 2-0 win over Barcelona. It was the Blaugrana’s second defeat of the season, having lost on La Liga’s opening day to Athletic Bilbao courtesy of a late Aritz Aduriz strike.
“Before the Barcelona game, our coach told us that we just have to go out on the pitch strongly because we started the season very well,” Ramon Azeez told the Cable as monitored by Soccernet.ng.
“That we should continue with what we’ve been doing and when we started the game and within 2 minutes of play the goal came.
However, the shock Barcelona loss was received with mixed reactions in Nigeria. While many Super Eagles fans were delighted for Azeez for finally fulfilling the potentials he showed as a youth international, some other Barca fans were so hurt they threatened to ‘deal with’ the 26-year-old whenever he set foot in Lagos.
“I feel very happy that some people that never believed in us before the game called to congratulate and rejoice with us.”
“I got a lot of messages that night, some people insulted me that I cut their betting tickets. While some called to congratulate me.
“Some of my friends that are Barcelona fans called me that I scored against their team that I should not worry that it won’t be that easy next time.
“Some people even sent me messages on social media that I shouldn’t come to Lagos that if they catch me, they will deal with me.
“So, I told them that it was nothing that I just have to do my job and protect it as well.”
The former youth international earned a recall to the Super Eagles squad following a decent start to the season, making a cameo appearance in Nigeria’s 1-1 draw against Brazil during an international friendly in Singapore.
Azeez was a 78th minute substitute against Lesotho, however, providing the assist for Victor Osimhen’s last goal as Gernot Rohr’s men romped to a convincing 4-2 victory over the Crocodiles in Maseru last Sunday.