Super Eagles captain John Obi Mikel is still basking in the euphoria of winning the Rio 2016 soccer bronze with the Nigeria U-23 team, to the extent of sleeping beside his medal. Mikel who stated this in is Olympic diary on London Evening Standard, expressed joy at the Dream Team’s bronze medal triumph at the Rio Olympics, which was the only achievement Team Nigeria managed to win as a whole. He said:
“When I woke up in my hotel room on Sunday morning, I opened my eyes to see my Olympic bronze medal lying there beside me. It just hammered.”
Mikel also disclosed that Honduras whom they beat 3-2, gave them a fright in the final moments of that game, but he was thankful that his team was able to hold on for victory.
“We conceded two late goals and all of a sudden it looked like everything was going downhill. They made us sweat a bit and we were relieved to come out victorious. I was obviously very clear before travelling to Brazil that my target was the gold medal.
But to get the bronze is still an amazing achievement. It was great to have something to show for it and we all thanked each other. I went to sleep last night with my medal beside me; I couldn’t and didn’t want to let it out of my sight.”
Meanwhile, Mikel returned to Chelsea to loads of commendation from his team-mates and has been granted a three games leave by manager Antonio Conte.