Nigeria captain Ahmed Musa has confessed that the Super Eagles were below par during their 4-4 draw with Sierra Leone in a 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium on Friday, and has apologized to the fans by saying that they will 'make it up' in the reverse fixture in three days time.

A brace from Alex Iwobi and efforts from Victor Osimhen and Samuel Chukwueze gave Gernot Rohr's team a stunning 4-0 lead inside 30 minutes but the West African opponents mounted a spectacular comeback to draw 4-4.

Musa, who was picked in the starting lineup ahead of one of the most in-form players in the Europa League Kelechi Iheanacho, admitted that it was an error-prone performance from the three-time African champions.

"Dear Nigerians, on behalf of myself and my teammates we are really, really sorry for the disappointemnt of the game tonight," Musa said in a statement uploaded to Twitter by the Super Eagles.

"We know we made a very big mistake in the game but there's nothing we can do, that's football, sometimes we win, sometimes we lose.

"But we are going to correct our own mistake in the next game. Inshallah, we are doing all our best to see that we qualify to the AFCON and we know that we can do it.

"On behalf of myself and my teammates, we are very, very sorry for the game tonight and we are going to make it up. Thank you very much". 

In a similar vein, Nigeria Football Federation president Amaju Pinnick charged the players to put the disappointment behind them and be ready to give their all and redeem their image in Freetown on Tuesday.

Igho Kingsley