By Ebenezer Bajela
Kayode Bankole, goalkeeper of the Nigeria Professional Football League side, Remo Stars, has been left distraught after his team’s elimination from the CAF Champions League in the first preliminary round of the competition on Sunday, The PUNCH reports.
Despite having the advantage of playing their return leg at home, Remo, who finished second in the NPFL last season, couldn’t make their home advantage count as they were eliminated by Medeama Sports Club of Ghana.
The Ikenne-based club were dumped out by the Ghana Premier League champions on penalties.
Having hit the post and failed to convert their chances, Daniel Ogunmodede’s side found the breakthrough in the second half as they went up 1-0 to level the score 1-1 on aggregate.
Remo also had the ball in the net for what they thought was a stoppage-time winner, but it was ruled out for offside.
At the end of 90 minutes, the game went straight into penalties and Medeama goalkeeper, Felix Kyei, stopped three consecutive spot kicks from Olamilekan Adebayo, Okon Aniekeme and Samuel Anaekwe in the shootout to condemn Remo to a 3-2 defeat.
Speaking with The PUNCH, Bankole said he was left disappointed after the team failed to progress to the next stage of the competition.
“We were really disappointed after the game and there was this sad look on everyone’s face. There was a lot of expectation because we were on the verge of making history as the first club from Ogun State to play in the Champions League but it didn’t happen.
“I understand it’s a game of football but I was really disappointed because we put in our best, but obviously it was not enough and we are all sad about it.
“After the defeat away from home, we were confident that we could overturn the result at home, but when it comes to penalties you never can tell the outcome.
“The coach and the players are all sad and there was absolute silence in the dressing room.”
The goalkeeper also questioned the official’s call after having a late goal disallowed.
“The referee also didn’t help our course because we scored the second goal which was disallowed, I have watched it over and over but I couldn’t see the offside and I don’t know what they were thinking. We tried not to concentrate on the referee but they were not fair to us.”
Source: The Punch
