Drogba: Super Eagles were robbed by the referee

Chelsea and Ivory Coast legend Didier Drogba is disappointed at referee Cüneyt Çakır refusal to give Nigeria the second penalty that denied the Super Eagles a place in the Russia 2018 round of 16.

Argentina took the lead through Lionel Messi’s exquisite finish in the first half but Nigeria came back into the game after Javier Mascherano dragged down Leon Balogun in the box and the resulting penalty converted by Victor Moses in the second half.

Nigeria had another another chance to go 2-1 when a ball from Ahmed Musa touched Marcos Rojo’s hand after the Manchester United defender nodded the ball against his hand.

But after Cüneyt Çakır consulted the VAR upon John Mikel Obi request, the Turkish referee waved off Eagles penalty protest.

“I think it’s a bad decision from the referee [to not give Nigeria a second penalty],” said Didier Drogba.

“It’s the defender’s mistake – he didn’t read the ball well.

“It’s difficult to give the penalty because it would take Argentina out of the competition.”

Marcos Rojo who scored the winner for Argentina in their 3-2 win against Nigeria in 2014 World Cup was the scorer of the winner again in 2018 World Cup. He has only scored three international goals, two have come against Nigeria in the World Cup.

Didier Drogba belives Marcos Rojo wouldn’t have scored the winning goal had Nigeria converted the chances they missed.

”Nigeria gave everything. But I’m disappointed because they did have the chances to score and kill the game.

“They will have some regrets about the first game they played against Croatia but against Iceland and today, we saw the real Nigeria.”