Bendel Insurance centre-back, Benjamin Tanimu is confident that he and his teammates can go far in the 2023-2024 CAF Confederation Cup.
Bendel Insurance are the only Nigerian Premier Football League side that are still contending for a continental title this season.
Recall that NPFL champions, Enyimba and Remo Stars have been eliminated from the preliminary stage of the CAF Champions League in August, leaving Nigeria with no representative in the elite competition.
Hence, most Nigerian football enthusiasts are banking on Bendel Insurance to make Nigeria proud this season as they continue to push on in their first continental engagement in 34 years.
The 2023 Federation Cup winners are now in the second round of the CAF Confederation Cup after knocking out a more compact team, ASO Chlef of Algeria out of the preliminary round of the competition.
In the preliminary round, the Edo State-based team beat the Algerian team 1-0 in Benin in the first leg, and in the second leg, the game ended in a 1-0 win for ASO Chlef.
Hence, the score was settled via penalties in which Insurance’s goalkeeper, Amas Obasogie ended up as the hero by saving one of the shots as the Nigerian team won 3-4 on penalties.
In the second round of the tournament, the Benin Arsenal will face Moroccan side Berkane. The first leg will take place at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium in Benin City on Saturday, September 16. The second leg will take place in Morocco a week later.
Ahead of the first leg which will kick off at 4 p.m. on Saturday, Benjamin Tanimu told Punch that “the confidence is high and still growing, because we also have another chance to show the world what we are made of.”
He added, “The players and technical crew have been doing everything to step up from our last performance.
“Nobody gave us a chance before and after our first leg against ASO Chlef but we progressed and learned a lot of lessons. The vital part is that we need to take our chances as they come, and try not to concede at home.”
