Alex Iwobi featured in all of Nigeria’s seven games at the AFCON 2023 tournament in Ivory Coast, playing in central midfield.
Several members of the Super Eagles of Nigeria have rallied round former Arsenal midfielder, Alex Iwobi, as the player faced harsh criticism on social media following Nigeria’s loss, Soccernet.ng reports.
Iwobi, 27, played in every game as the Super Eagles secured a silver medal which last happened in 2000. The former Everton man has accrued 74 caps for the Nigerian football team.
Following Nigeria’s loss to Ivory Coast in the final of the AFCON 2023 competition, quite a number of Nigerian football fans have singled out Iwobi for criticism, with some even going as far as comparing him to his uncle, Jay-Jay Okocha.
Iwobi didn’t have the best of games as he was played out of position and was subbed off towards the end of the game, with Alhassan Yusuf coming on to replace him.
After the social media bust, the Hale End graduate archived all of his posts on instagram so as to reduce the number of vile comments he’d have to put up with.
Super Eagles captain, Ahmed Musa, came out to condemn the behaviour of some of the fans, and highlighted that Iwobi was not at fault for the loss.
William Troost-Ekong, Victor Osimhen, Samuel Chukwueze, Kenneth Omeruo, Kelechi Iheanacho and even popular Afrobeat crooner, Falz, joined in to support the Nigerian midfielder.
Iwobi suffered a similar fate back in 2022 after Nigeria were knocked out of the AFCON tournament in Cameroon in the round of sixteen.