Leone Stars captain Steven Caulker admitted his team gave the Super Eagles too much respect in their 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier at the Moshood Abiola Stadium, Abuja on Thursday night, reports Completesports.

The Leone Stars started the game on the strong foot with Jonathan Morsay putting them ahead in the 11th minute following a superb cross from Musa Kamara.

Alex Iwobi equalised for the Super Eagles in the 16th minute after he was set up Moses Simon.

Simon was the provider again as he teed up Victor Osimhen was the winning goal four minutes before the break.

Caulker accepted the Super Eagles were the better side in the game, but insisted some of his teammates were intimidated by the three-time African champions.

“It’s a young team. We have a lot of youngsters in the team. We are building for the future,”Caulker said during his interaction with the media after the game.

“Obviously we gave Nigeria too much respect and they scored two good goals against us. They have a lot of quality players in their team.

“We made a lot of mistakes, obviously we will correct them in subsequent games.”

The Leone Stars will face Guinea-Bissau in their game in the qualifiers at the General Lasana Conte Stadium, Conakry on Monday.

By Adeboye Amosu