Enyimba starting XI vs MFM

'We shall explore all opportunities' - Coach Akele positive ahead of Enyimba clash

Coach Stanislav Akele believes Energie can upset Enyimba in Sunday's Caf Confederation Cup clash at the U.J Esuene Stadium, Calabar.

The 2017 Benin Premier League runners-up crumbled 2-0 in the First round, first leg clash at the Stade L’Amitie, and a convincing victory in the return leg will hand them a play-off ticket.

And the Akele is upbeat about his side's chances of stunning the two-time African champions, having corrected lapses noted in the first leg.

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“We are going to arrive Lagos (on Thursday) and we will fly from there to Calabar, where we were told the match will take place,” Akele told Goal.

“We know that Enyimba have a massive advantage with the two goals they scored in Cotonou, but we won’t allow that to stop us from doing our best knowing that football can be funny.

“My players have shown that they are ready for the tie. They have been training very hard knowing that we must produce a good performance in Calabar to upset Enyimba."

The tactician pointed out that they lost to Enyimba in Cotonou due to their bad start to the game and that they will show the People’s Elephant that they play better when they are away from their fans on Sunday.

“We have gone through the video clips of our match with Enyimba and what we noticed was that we didn’t start the game well. We over-respected Enyimba and we paid for it," he continued.

“Had my boys played the whole first leg with the same tenacity we showed in the second half, we won’t be talking about the scoreline we recorded.

“Football has shown that anything can happen under 90 minutes. We shall explore all opportunities at our disposal to ensure that we cancel the goals deficit."

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