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Daily Record
Daily Record
Sport
Mark Walker

Rangers star Joe Aribo forces Nigeria boss into u-turn as he's paid the ultimate compliment

Nigeria boss Gernot Rohr has revealed he changed his mind and will include Rangers ' Joe Aribo in their glamour friendly against Brazil after originally planning on not using him.

Aribo netted on his international debut for Nigeria against Ukraine earlier this month just three minutes into the game and impressed hugely during the 2-2 draw.

The Super Eagles face Brazil in another friendly in Singapore next month and Aribo has kept his place in the squad following a strong start to the season in Steven Gerrard 's team.

But Nigeria's manager Rohr has admitted he wasn't going to include him.

He explained: "My plan was to play a very experimental line-up against Ukraine and use several new players, but then go back to playing my strongest team against Brazil.

(Action Images via Reuters)

"I wasn't going to include some of those new players that played against Ukraine, but I had to change my mind because of their performances.

"One of the new players, Joe Aribo , impressed me so much that I now regard him as an important member of the team and so he will play against Brazil.

"We have AFCON qualifiers against Benin and Lesotho coming up and I want my strongest squad to play Brazil ahead of them."

And Aribo admitted he can't wait to face the South American superstars.

He said: "To play against Brazil are the type of games players look forward to and it’s no different for me.

"It will be a test of how far we have come as a team. It’s a game I have to admit I want to play in badly."

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