Russia head coach Valery Karpin has downplayed reports suggesting Nigeria will field a reserve side in their upcoming international friendly.

The Super Eagles are set to face Russia in a FIFA-sanctioned fixture without star forwards Victor Osimhen and Ademola Lookman, who have each won the CAF Best Player award in the past two years.

Eric Chelle’s team heads into the match fresh off their Unity Cup triumph, having defeated Jamaica 5-4 in a penalty shootout after a thrilling 2-2 draw at the Gtech Community Stadium.

Speaking ahead of the encounter, Karpin dismissed claims that Nigeria’s squad would be significantly weakened without Galatasaray’s Osimhen and Atalanta’s Lookman.

The 56-year-old coach pointed out that Russia will also be missing key players such as Aleksandr Golovin and Real Sociedad’s Arsen Zakharyan.

“Nigeria playing against Russia without Victor Osimhen and Ademola Lookman does not change our preparations; there will be other good footballers,” Karpin stated.

“It’s all over the media and online platforms that Nigeria is bringing a second team just because two of their leaders aren’t present. But we could say the same about ourselves.

“We don’t have Golovin, we don’t have Zakharyan. Golovin, Zakharyan, Barinov, and Diveev weren’t available in the match against Zambia. These are our key players, our stars. Safonov was absent too. But no one is talking about that.”

The former Celta Vigo manager added that, while he would have liked to test his team against Osimhen and Lookman, their absence does not make Nigeria any less formidable.

“Of course, I would have liked both Osimhen and Lookman to be there to test our team against top players. But their absence certainly does not make Nigeria fundamentally weaker,” he concluded.

WDN