Ahmed Musa: Why I Gave Minutes to Clubless Super Eagles Captain in AFCON Qualifying Match - Rohr

Super Eagles manager, Gernot Rohr has said that he allowed captain, Ahmed Musa, to feature in the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifying match against Lesotho on Tuesday simply because “he was in good shape”.

It would be recalled that Rohr had invited the former Leicester City of England forward for Nigeria’s last two AFCON qualifying matches, much to public debate as to whether his invitation is appropriate or not.

Musa has been without a club since October 2020 after leaving Al Nassr of Saudi Arabia.

Rohr had said that he won't use him in the matches against Benin Republic and Lesotho, stating that Musa “was invited to play a non-competitive role”.

"It's important to clarify that Musa is not on the competitive list of 23 players for our game against Benin and Lesotho.

“We've invited Musa as the captain by making him the 24th player, but he is not as part of the 23 on the list that will play our two matches,” Rohr had said.

Although, the 28-year-old did not play in the match versus Benin Republic away, he made a cameo appearance against the Crocodiles of Lesotho at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Lagos, coming on for Kelechi Iheanacho in the 86th minute, with the team already in full control of the contest.

According to Complete Sports, speaking recently with a Lagos-based radio station, Rohr said that so long Musa is fit, he will continue to be part of his team.

“Musa could play because we only have 21 players with him we became 22.”

“So he could come in, he was fit and met the physical test.

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“He’s in good shape and so, there was no reason not to allow him to play.

“He’s the captain of the team and we want him to do it on the pitch and also we wanted to help him find a good club now,” Rohr said.