Sporting Lagos have been crowned Naija Super 8 champions after they defeated Remo Stars on Sunday in the final of the maiden edition of the tournament.
The score was 1-1 on duration time and penalty shootouts had to decide who carts home the trophy and the coveted N25 million prize.
The Lagos side won 4-2 on penalties to take home the trophy and N25 million. This was in addition to the N12m earned for their four previous matches at the tournament.
Remo Stars received N9m in addition to the N12m earned in their four previous Naija Super 8 matches.
The match played at the Mobolaji Johnson Arena, Onikan was watched by excited crowd who came to cheer up their favourites team.
During the entertaining encounter, Saturday Okon forced Remo Stars goalkeeper, Kayode Bankole, into a fingertip save with a fierce shot in the 10th minute. Isaac James responded with a powerful header against the crossbar in the 19th minute.
Aliu Salawudeen opened the scoring in the 53rd minute, poking home a rebound from a corner kick. The Paul Offor boys nearly doubled their lead in the 59th minute, when Jonathan Aluku’s long range shot was tipped over by the Remo Stars goalkeeper.
Saturday Okon, had a great chance to score the second goal, but put his effort over the bar, after a mix-up between a Remo Stars defender and the goalkeeper gifted him the chance.
Remo Start soon bombarded the Sporting Lagos goal in search of the equaliser. After being denied by an offside flag in the 88th minute, Remo Stars struck the equaliser in the 95th minute through substitute, Adams Olamilekan, to send the match to penalties.
Speaking after the encounter, Sporting Lagos’ coach, Paul Offor said they came to this competition and that they were fortunate to play the best teams in the country.
According to him, to be champions was amazing for them, saying that they gained promotion this season, and also won their first trophy as a club.
“What I saw today was massive. Moments in the game I looked at the crowd and I was stunned. Organisers of this competition should be proud of themselves.
“Their ability to organise this and pull the crowd like they did. This is football, with passion. This is how it should be. The fans love it and the players love it. I hope this tournament will continue,” he said.