Super Eagles coach, Gernot Rohr has urged Russians to support John Obi Mikel who is married to a Russian model.
Rohr stated this during his interaction with the media at the team’s base in Essentuki.
“We arrived here late in the night because of the delay we had and some of our luggage is still not here. We got here around 1am and people still came out to welcome us.
“We have some our players who have special relationship with Russia. Idowu who is Russian and Nigerian born and Musa who plays for CSKA Moscow. Of course there is also Mikel who is married to a Russian. We hope this will help us get the sympathy of the Russian public.
“We won’t have the possibility of our fans back home coming out to support us as the distance is very far but we hope the fans can give us their support because of these players.
“Croatia is not far from here and we expect their fans to come out in large numbers to support their team.”