Dortmund head coach tips Eguavoen on how to use Super Eagles hero against Benin Republic

Super Eagles midfielder Raphael Onyedika has received high praise from his manager Nicky Hayen and rival manager Nuri Sahin following Club Brugge’s 3-0 defeat to Dortmund. 

The Blauw-Zwart began their UCL campaign with the visit of BVB to the Jan Breydel stadium. After a stiffly contested first 45 minutes, a brace from young English winger Jamie Gittens and a late penalty from summer signing Serhou Guirassy helped Dortmund blow their hosts away. 

Despite the heavy defeat, however, Nigeria’s Onyedika was a standout performer, and he earned praise from both managers in the opposing dugout. 

Hayen, who got the Club Brugge job earlier this year, is a big fan of the 23-year-old Nigerian box-to-box midfielder and has spoken highly about him on multiple occasions. 

Following the defeat to Dortmund, the 44-year-old praised Onyedika and stressed that he optimises his teammates.

“I’m happy. Man of the match is an exaggeration, but if you see the impact he had,” he said, as relayed by VoetbalKrant. “Both in possession and in loss of possession, he is a very important player for us at the moment. He makes other players better.”

In recent years, the Super Eagles player call-up sheet has typically and quite conspicuously been light in midfield. While it has improved in recent years, with the likes of Onyedika, Al-Hassan Yusuf and Fisayo Dele-Bashiru improving the options, the team still turns out with formations that field more attackers than midfielders, to the criticism of many. 

Also, the deployment of Onyedika by the Nigerian national team has attracted concerns, as many feel he should be given the reins in a controller role. 

Dortmund's head coach, Sahin, lent credence to those sentiments recently, as despite his team's flattering victory over Onyedika’s Brugge, he admitted they could not lay a paw on the Nigerian, who was effectively the Blauw-Zwart’s air traffic controller in a sense. 

“We knew that the club’s game was going through Raphael Onyedika, but we were unable to neutralise him,” the 36-year-old said.

Onyedika came on as a substitute in both Super Eagles AFCON qualifier matches in the last international break. He racked up less than 40 minutes in both games combined. Earlier in the summer, he had more luck and scored in the World Cup qualifier clash against Benin Republic.