Nigerian club Rivers United FC have reported an attack on their team by Libyan fans in what represents a black night for African Football, Abbeylivenetwork.com reports.
Rivers United FC are in Benghazi, Libya for the second leg of their CAF Confederation Cup playoff round fixture vs Al Nasr Benghazi on Wednesday November 9, 2022.
The NPFL Champions hold a healthy 5-0 aggregate advantage from the first leg in Port Harcourt.
Explaining their ordeal so far in Benghazi, Rivers United wrote via their social media account, “Rivers United’s hosts in Wednesday’s CAF Confederation Cup (CAFCC) additional playoff round decider Al Nasr Benghazi have, as expected, begun series of antics to frustrate the Nigerian champions.
“The Nigerian champions stole a march on their hosts by arriving in Benghazi on Monday morning, over 48 hours to the encounter and the Pride of Rivers immediately faced what the game plan of Al Nasr Benghazi would be.
“On arrival at the Benghazi Airport, there were no police escorts nor were there security personnel to usher the visiting team into the city so United had to make do with their well thought-of arrangement before hand.
“Not even a provision for transportation vehicle was made by the hosts as the Nigerians were told in clear terms that they would have to pay for the luxurious bus being provided by their hosts.
“The antics reached a crescendo when Rivers United’s privately arranged training session at a secret facility on Monday night was disrupted after the managers of the facility were intimidated by irate Al Naser fans to switch off the floodlights at the facility and attacked the team with bottles and stones. The irate fans further trailed the team to their hotel harassing players and officials and promising the team “Hell” when they come out for the official training session at the stadium on Tuesday night.”
Rivers United’s management have notified CAF of the Unsportsmanlike conduct of the Libyan club.
A black night for the beautiful game of soccer on the African continent.
