Members of the Nigeria senior national team will be tested for coronavirus before taking on Tunisia in tomorrow’s international friendly.
Before locking horns with reigning African champions, Algeria last Friday, players and coaches of the three-time Africa Cup of Nations winners were subjected to the assessment, nevertheless, all medical tests returned negative.
Today, Gernot Rohr’s team will have to ascertain their state of health once again before taking on the Carthage Eagles.
The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) had denied claims in some sections of the media that four of the Super Eagles in camp had contracted the virus before Friday’s fixture with Algeria at the Jacques Lemans Arena.
“Please, discountenance any reports that some of our players tested positive to Covid-19 ahead of tomorrow’s friendly game against Algeria. It is a blatant falsehood,” NFF wrote in a statement.
“The writer of the story, who was not part of the press conference earlier today, totally misrepresented what Coach Gernot Rohr said was that since the outbreak of the pandemic, four of our players had tested positive but were all now fully recovered from the virus and back in action.”
Ramy Bensebaini’s sixth-minute strike handed the Djamel Belmadi’s Desert Foxes a slim 1-0 triumph over Nigeria in Friday’s international friendly.
They would be hoping to return to winning ways against Mondher Kebaier’s team that silenced Sudan 3-0 in Rades thanks to goals from Saif-Eddine Khaoui, Wahbi Khazri and Anis Ben Slimane.
Both teams last met at the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations third-place play-off, with Odion Ighalo’s third-minute strike handing Rohr’s men the bronze medal inside Cairo’s Al Salam Stadium.