Rangers International of Enugu coach, Gbenga Ogunbote has promised that he and his players in The Flying Antelopes will not underrate Bantu FC of Lesotho in their CAF Confederation Cup play-off fixture next month.
While many observers believe Bantu will not pose any threat to Rangers in the quest for a group stage ticket, Ogunbote insists there are no small teams any longer in African football.
Subsequently, the vastly experienced coach, who led Sunshine Stars of Akure into back-to-back semi-final spots in the Confederation Cup and CAF Champions League years ago, says Rangers will be fully on their toes against Bantu.
The Lesotho side will first host the Nigerians between January 11 and 13, 2019 while the return leg is scheduled comes up on the weekend of January 18 and 20 at Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium, Enugu.
Incidentally, Bantu, who are coached by James Madidilane, dropped from the CAF Champions League to be part of the second-tier contest, while Rangers got to the play-offs after defeating USM Bel Abbes of Algeria in the first round.
Aggregate winners of the fixture over two legs will proceed to the group stage of the competition, and Ogunbote says his team will not underrate Bantu, but assured that the Lesotho outfit will be handled with all seriousness.
Ogunbote added: “The competition gets tougher and there are no small teams at this stage of the competition.
“That they are not known does not mean they should be underrated. They worked hard to reach this stage.
“Though they dropped from the Champions League – and that means they will be a tough side.
“We will prepare hard for the first leg and work on our weaknesses from the previous matches so that we can have a good result in Lesotho.
“The return leg in Enugu will also determine a lot of things but we have to put our best foot forward in the first leg to ease the pressure on ourselves.”
