Argentina defender Javier Mascherano has praised the Nigerian national team after their 4-2 win over his team in a high profile friendly game in Russia.

Speaking after the game Mascherano lamented the fact that they threw away a two goal lead but admitted that Nigeria deserve to win on the strength of their second half display.



He mentioned the brace scored by Arsenal Nigerian forward Alex Iwobi as very pivotal in Nigeria shocking them, particularly the second goal which took the scores to 4-2.

“It’s better to lose this way before we get to the World Cup, and the Nigerian team are obviously one of the most physical sides we have faced in a while”, the Barcelona start said.

“We dominated the first half but they scored from their only shot on target before the half time break. Their second goal was well taken by the Arsenal lad (Iwobi) then the fourth goal by same player killed the game off.

“He (Iwobi) took his goals really well, maybe we should have defended better but the quality of the second strike from the edge ‎of the box makes me think otherwise. Congratulations to Nigeria they deserve to win”.