Mikel - I felt the pressure

Midfielder believes onus was on him

By James Dall   Last updated: 7th February 2008

Mikel 79360014

Mikel: Felt the pressure

Related links

Teams

Players

Also see

John Obi Mikel has blamed the weight of expectation for Nigeria's exit from the Africa Cup of Nations.

The Super Eagles scraped through their qualifying group to set up a quarter-final tie against hosts Ghana.

But Nigeria failed to progress to the final four, losing 2-1 and making this year's Africa Cup of Nations their worst display for 25 years.

Chelsea midfielder Mikel, who could feature against Liverpool on Sunday, believes the onus was on him to perform, and admits he crumbled under the pressure.

Shocker

"I felt the pressure," he said.

"That is why the game against Benin (Nigeria's final Group B game), I just had to do something because everyone was looking to me and I had to do something and make sure we qualify, which I did.

"I took the team to the quarter-finals but I couldn't get us to the semi-finals.

"It is still a shocker for me. I cannot believe we won against them (Benin) and then lost to Ghana in the quarter-finals. I think we played better than Ghana."