Ex-Chelsea and Nigerian midfielder Mikel Obi has revealed the most difficult game he has ever played in throughout his career. Mikel is unquestionably one of Nigeria’s most valuable exports.
Mikel began his career at Norwegian club Lyn in 2004. He made a controversial transfer to Chelsea in 2006 after he had initially agreed terms with Manchester United. He spent eleven trophy-laden seasons at Stamford Bridge, winning two Premier League titles, three FA Cups and the Champions League among other trophies.
He departed the English side in 2017 and went on to play for Tianjin TEDA, Middlesbrough, Trabzonspor, Stoke City and Kuwait SC.
Mikel also played a major role in Nigeria’s victory at the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations in South Africa. The 35-year-old is presently without a club after leaving Kuwait SC at the end of the 2021-22 season. He has made close to 600 senior appearances in his career.
The former Super Eagles captain has now admitted that Chelsea’s matchup with Bayern Munich in the 2012 Champions League final is the hardest match he has participated in.
“The toughest game of my career is probably the Champions League final that we won because we played in Bayern stadium,” Mikel recounted. “The adrenaline that day was something else. There was shouting, crowds and everything was going on for 120 minutes.
“You couldn’t lose concentration and we knew that was our only chance to win [the Champions League], and it wasn’t our strongest team, so we knew after the game that a lot of players would go. We had to win.”
Mikel played the entire game at the Allianz Arena, where Chelsea pulled off one of the greatest upsets in football history, defeating the German side 4-3 on penalties following a 1-1 deadlock after 120 minutes.
