Super Eagles captain Wilfred Ndidi has talked up the team’s mentality ahead of their friendly game against Portugal in Leiria on Wednesday, June 10.

Portugal will host the Super Eagles at the 29,000-capacity Estádio Dr. Magalhães Pessoa in Leiria, in what will be their second meeting in four years.

Portugal coach Roberto Martínez has expressed confidence going into the send-off encounter, considering that he has all his aces available, including five-time Ballon d’Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo, goalkeeper Diogo Costa, defenders Nélson Semedo, Rúben Dias and Diogo Dalot, midfielders Bruno Fernandes, Bernardo Silva and João Neves, and forwards João Félix and Gonçalo Guedes.

Against Chile at the Estádio Nacional in Lisbon on Saturday, Manchester United midfielder Bruno Fernandes scored a spectacular goal after providing the assist for Guedes to open the scoring.

However, Ndidi is not intimidated by Portugal’s array of stars, despite Nigeria missing 2023 and 2024 African Player of the Year winners Victor Osimhen and Ademola Lookman.

“There’s so much confidence in the team with our philosophy. We believe in ourselves. We don’t care who we’re playing, even if we’re playing the biggest countries in the world,” Ndidi said at the pre-match press conference.

“But the most important thing is us as players, us as a team, which is very important, and we look forward to taking our philosophy and our strategy into the game. If it comes out well, very brilliant. We keep learning. If it doesn’t come out well, it’s still brilliant.”

While Portugal are heading to the United States, Canada and Mexico for the 2026 World Cup, where they will face DR Congo in their opening group game next Wednesday, the Nigerian team will continue their rebuilding process under coach Eric Chelle after failing to qualify for the World Cup for a second consecutive time.