Russia head coach Valery Karpin says he expects a tough encounter against the Super Eagles on Friday, even though Nigerian stars Victor Osimhen and Ademola Lookman will be missing from the squad.
The two teams are set to face off in a high-profile international friendly at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, marking their first-ever meeting.
Karpin, speaking to Komsomolskaya Pravda, downplayed suggestions that Nigeria would be significantly weakened without the star duo.
“It doesn’t change our preparation at all. Without Osimhen and Lookman, there will be other equally good footballers,” Karpin said.
“Now there are many media outlets, bloggers, internet broadcasts… They write: ‘Nigeria is bringing a second team’ only because two leaders didn’t come.”
The Russian coach also pointed out that his side will be without key players for the friendly.
“Then we can also say that we are bringing a second team. We don’t have Golovin, we don’t have Zakharyan. Golovin, Zakharyan, Barinov, Diveev were not in the match with Zambia,” he noted.
“These are our main players, our stars. Safonov was not there. But no one is talking about this.”
