Nigeria 1-0 Guinea: 5 Hits and Flops | Africa Cup of Nations 2019

#2 Flop: Naby Keita

Naby Keita endured a rough afternoon against the Nigerian midfielders

Naby Keita earned a starting spot for the Nigeria clash after featuring for 28 minutes in Guniea's previous tie against Madagascar. The star midfielder lacked the match sharpness as he missed the season end due to a groin injury.

The Liverpool man was deployed behind Sory Kaba as a number ten in Guinea's 4-2-3-1 system. Naby looked mobile in the first half as he supplemented the attackers and drove forward after receiving the ball from deep midfield through Amadou Diawara and Ibrahima Cisse. The 24-year-old induced constant fouls from Oghenekaro Etebo and Wilfried Ndidi in the central area.

The second half saw an upturn in Naby's performance as the midfield axis of Ndidi and Etebo took control of the proceedings and started to make crunching tackles. Keita's failure to dominate the midfield also distorted Guinea's balance and the Eagles imposed themselves as the game progressed.

Keita clutched his shin and hamstrings in pain but managed to feature till the 70-minute mark when he was substituted for Lass Bangoura - putting an end to midfielder's spell of getting bullied.