Boavista left-back Onyemaechi heads straight to training directly from airport after Libya ordeal

Super Eagles left-back Bruno Onyemaechi is seemingly in contention to make his ninth appearance of the season on Sunday evening when Boavista take on Varzim at  Estádio Varzim Sport Club (Póvoa de Varzim) in the third round of the Taça de Portugal. 

Onyemaechi was one of the Super Eagles players stranded at Al Abraq Airport in Libya for over 16 hours before the Nigerian government intervened to bring the team and officials back to Abuja. 

The bizarre episode in Libya led to the Super Eagles boycotting the matchday four Africa Cup of Nations qualifier that was scheduled to take place at the Benina Martyrs Stadium, Benghazi.

According to Portuguese sports daily A Bola, Onyemaechi arrived in Porto on Thursday morning and participated in a light training session after his arrival in Portugal.

Even after a tiring trip from Nigeria, Onyemaechi headed straight from Francisco Sá Carneiro Airport to the Bessa Stadium to train.

Thursday morning's training session had already ended by the time the defender arrived the stadium, so he had to train on his own. 

Onyemaechi, Ilija Vukotic (Montenegro) and Robert Bozenik (Slovakia) were the three Boavista players called up to their respective national team for the internationals in October, but the Nigerian was the last to arrive in Porto.

The 25-year-old has made the left-back spot his own since the start of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, having gone the distance in the three games played by the Super Eagles, helping the three-time African champions post three consecutive clean sheets 

Ifeanyi Emmanuel 

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