Kenneth Omeruo and Ahmed Musa came very close to becoming the first Nigerian players to win two AFCON tournaments but were denied by Sebastien Haller's late goal.
Super Eagles and Kasimpasa central defender, Kenneth Omeruo has revealed that Nottingham Forest full-back, Ola Aina received death threats after Nigeria lost the AFCON 2023 final, Soccernet.ng reports.
Omeruo, 30, has been a member of the Nigerian football team since making his debut in January 2013, winning the AFCON tournament hosted by South Africa in the same year.
Going into the tournament in Ivory Coast, the former Chelsea man was assigned as the team's assistant captain, just behind Ahmed Musa in the pecking order, and he revealed how desperately he wanted to relieve the winning experience of 2013.
“I and Musa told the guys. If you win, it changes a lot of things for you and for the country. When we won, the airport was packed and people were waiting to welcome us, but unfortunately, this time, it wasn't the case,” the former Leganese man said in an interview with Arise TV.
Capped sixty-one times for the senior team, Omeruo mentioned how the reaction of some of the Nigerian fans after the loss against Ivory Coast at the AFCON 2023 final went over the line, and should be stopped.
“Someone wrote to Ola Aina on Instagram – I hope you die. These people don't care about the consequences. We just have to grow a thick skin and hopefully keep winning because when we win, they don't get angry. Some of the people on social media are just angry because they lost their bets, some don't even watch the game,” Omeruo added.
Quizzed about the effects cyberbullying has on footballers in general after Iwobi suffered the same fate, Omeruo said;
“Maduka couldn't honour the call-up because of what happened in 2022. I spoke to Ola and he made some comments as well, but if we lose a player like him just because of some bullying because of some fans that are not important, it'll affect us. He was one of the best players in the tournament and he made the team of the tournament. He had one bad game and you kill him, it's not very nice.”
Omeruo is focused on getting the Super Eagles to the 2026 FIFA World Cup after they narrowly missed out on the 2022 edition hosted in Qatar.
This is not true. i do not think any Nigerian could threaten any player of the super eagles .We all love every super players. They were unluck to loose in the final