Russia head coach Valery Karpin has talked up his team’s performance in the 1-1 draw with the Super Eagles of Nigeria.
The Europeans put up an impressive performance in the encounter played at the Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow.
The hosts were however let down by their poor finishing and brave goalkeeping by Maduka Okoye.
Karpin stated that his team deserved more from the game.
” Absolutely everything: from pressure to… I can’t remember a single moment except a mistake when playing an out. You remember? Maybe I just forgot,” he said after the game.
“They didn’t create threats for us, but we created chances. Melekhin has — after a free kick, Barinov has — after leaving defense. The goal we missed can hardly be called created by Nigeria — there wasn’t even pressure there.”
Russia thrashed another African side Zambia 5-0 in their previous friendly.
The gaffer admitted that the Super Eagles were more superior to the Zambians.
“They are all – very athletic, powerful, strong teams. Cameroon and Nigeria are noticeably higher in level than Zambia and Kenya. Even the FIFA rating confirms this. They cannot be compared. Nigeria and Cameroon – more interesting,” he added.