2024/2025 CAF Champions League: Rangers intensify training ahead of Sagrada Esperanca duel

Posted : 12 September 2024

As the Friday, Sept. 13, date for the first leg, second preliminary round of the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League fixture between Nigeria’s league champions, Rangers International F.C., and Angolan league runner-up, G.D. Sagrada Esperança, draws close, the ‘Flying Antelopes’ have intensified their preparations for the encounter, which is fixed for the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium, Uyo.

Under the supervision of Coach Godwin Nosike and other assistants to Coach Fidelis Ilechukwu, who is on national duty with the senior men's national football team, the Super Eagles, for the AFCON 2025 qualifiers, the players have been responding well to drills and are eager to defend the club’s badge and fly the country’s flag high.

The team has arrived in Uyo to put the finishing touches on its strategy for the encounter, the result of which will largely determine their qualification for the group stage of the premier continental club competition.

In an exclusive interview, defense marshal Ifeanyi Onyebuchi assured the club’s numerous supporters that he and his teammates are optimistic about the match, which he acknowledges will be tough against the visiting Angolan side that overcame Seychelles’ side, 4-0 on aggregate, in the first preliminary round.

“We are fully prepared. We have been working hard ahead of this encounter, and I believe that by Friday, victory shall be ours by the special grace of God.

“We understand that goals win matches, especially at this stage of the competition, and we have been working very hard in training to ensure we convert our chances against our opponents, who we know are no small team, just like us.

“Going into this fixture, we are confident and have self-belief that we shall secure the group stage ticket after the two legs of this round of the competition,” said the center-back, who has a knack for scoring goals for the team.

Recall that in the past, Rangers have faced Angolan sides six times, winning four, drawing one, and losing once, with the 4-0 thrashing of Atlético Petróleos de Luanda in a CAF Confederation Cup encounter in 2004 being their best result. Meanwhile, in the 2013 CAF Champions League, a 3-1 aggregate loss to C.R.D. Libolo remains the only defeat Rangers have suffered against an Angolan opponent.

2024/2025 CAF Champions League: Rangers intensify training ahead of Sagrada Esperanca duel

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