Coach Usman Abdalla has praised Enyimba after they smashed past Rahimo FC of Burkina Faso 5-0 to qualify for the first round of the CAF Champions League, where they will face Al Hilal of Sudan.
The Nigeria champions lost 1-0 in the first leg in Ougadougou a fortnight ago, before Reuben Bala and Stanley Dimgba fired brace each with Stanley Okorom also getting his first-ever Enyimba goal to give the two-time African champions a commanding 5-1 aggregate win.
Rahimo were reduced to 10 men after 10 minutes when striker Issouf Zanon was sent off for dangerous play against Emmanuel Ampiah.
Coach Abdalla said Enyimba were fully prepared for the return leg at home after they worked on their fitness.
“I am very relieved because you’ve seen the boys were very prepared because we worked very hard even though it wasn’t easy,” he said.
“We should continue this work that we’ve been doing because we can see the profit in it. So, the boys have to be super, super fit; that is the only way we can execute our own plans.
“So, the good thing is we saw the team (from the first leg), we came back and worked on our weaknesses and finally you can see the job is done clean. We are happy.”
Enyimba will next month take on Al Hilal of Sudan in the first round of the competition.
