Nigeria defender Ola Aina has looked at his first full debut against Algeria and believes he did well to pocket maestro Riyad Mahrez for the most part of the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying match.
Aina, 21, was deployed as a make shift left-back although the player himself is a right back.
But, though he had a shaky start, Aina quickly settled in to limit the creativity of Mahrez until the Attacking midfielder was replaced on 64 minutes.
“It was a happy moment for me. I got my first 90 minutes for Nigeria. It was a good game, I think I played a good game.
Delighted to make my full International Debut yesterday! Unbeaten and group winners, God is good 🙏🏾🇳🇬🦅 #SuperEagles
— olaoluwa aina (@Aina2Ola) November 11, 2017
“It was a tough game as well because Algeria are not a weak side. I was up against Mahrez (Riyad) as well for the majority of the game and it was a good challenge for me because the world knows how good of a player he is and for me to be able to defend as well as I did against Mahrez I was happy,” he said.
In the game itself, Nigeria took the lead through John Ogu, who scored his second international goal.
However, Algeria would secure an 88th minute equalizer from a dodgy penalty converted by Yacine Brahimi.
In his assessment of the game, Ola Aina insists the Super Eagles had a decent outing although they were hard done by.
“I was happy for the team also, I felt we did very well. I don’t think we should have drawn the game in my opinion. We did very well.
“We defended very well, we attacked very well and also passed the ball very well. We worked really hard, It was an enjoyable game.”