CAF Champions League: Enyimba rely on ‘ home cooking’

Six –time Nigerian champions, Enyimba FC will today file out against Malian club AS Real Bamako in the first leg, first round CAF champions League

Six-time Nigerian champions, Enyimba FC will file out against Malian club, AS Real Bamako in a first leg, first round CAF Champions League game at the Enyimba International stadium, Aba today.

The People’s Elephant progressed to this stage of the competition after overcoming Togolese champions, Anges de Notse in the preliminary round.

Former Enyimba coach, Paul Aigbogun expects Enyimba to advance past the first round hurdle and is tipping the Aba club to impress in the competition this season.

“I watched and played against them in the Super four in Abuja last month. When I left Enyimba, I left a very good team behind and the new coach (Zachary Baraje) has been very smart and clever too by building the team around the nucleus,” Aigbogun told supersport.com.

Femi Thomas, Markson Ojobo, Bright Esieme, Kingsley Sokari, Sibi Gwar and Chinedu Udoji have impressed in recent months for Enyimba and Aigbogun, who knows the players well believes their telepathic understanding will be key.

“Whenever I look at the Enyimba team sheet, it’s usually the same set of players in defence, midfield and attack. Continuity is a very important thing in football.

“That gives them a slight edge over a lot of other teams. Also, Enyimba is a club that is well run from top to bottom so I really fancy them to do well this year,” Aigbogun said.

Enyimba were Caf Champions League winners in 2003 and 2004.