Super Eagles striker, Sadiq Umar, has voiced his frustration over fans’ unfair treatment of Nigerian players whenever they play for the country, PUNCH Sports Extra reports.
Sadiq’s statement came in the wake of the country’s disappointing performance during the last phase of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier.
The Eagles failed to win either of their two matches and only managed to pick a point from a possible six.
Austin Eguavoen’s men played a 1-1 draw with the Benin Republic at Stade Felix Houphouet-Boigny in Abidjan last Thursday to book their qualification for the 2025 AFCON in Morocco.
The team, however, fell to a shocking 2-1 defeat to Rwanda at Godswill Akpabio Stadium in Uyo on Monday, ending their perfect home record in the qualifier.
Before their defeat to the Amavubi in Uyo on Monday, Eguavoen’s men had notched consecutive home victories against Benin (3-0) and Libya (1-0) without conceding and their underwhelming performance against the East Africans left fans fuming with anger with several of the Eagles players singled out for blame.
Reacting to the abuse from fans on social media, Sadiq, whose inclusion in the national team for the AFCON qualifiers also raised eyebrows having failed to score or assist so far this season, in an interview with Oma TV bemoans that insults hauled at the players.
“If things continue like this, there are lots of players that will not like to play for the Super Eagles. When we come to play here, it’s not about the money, it’s for the love, you understand. Where you feel is your home, they tell you it’s not,” he said.
“When you go to Europe to play, you’re loved and supported there, but when you come to your country, your people begin to ask what you’re doing and who brought you, even telling you to return to Europe.
“Back in the day, they always told us to be careful because they won’t let us be ourselves in Europe, but now, it has nothing to do with the Europeans, we are the ones killing ourselves.
“There are some of my teammates (Super Eagles) that are down after every game we play because the fans are killing them on social media. Even if you don’t see comments, your name still gets mentioned.
“Football these days is about mentality. If you’re not mentally tough, you cannot play football.”
The Sociedad striker played just a minute of football during the last international break, coming off the bench in Nigeria’s loss to Rwanda.
