The Nigerian captain played against Argentina despite the abduction of his father

WORLD CUP

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RUSSIA 2018

The captain of the Nigeria National Team, John Obi Mikel played a crucial World Cup match against Argentina four hours later that he was informed that his father had been kidnapped in his country and that his captors would kill him if the case was reported to the authorities.

"I had to get out of my head to represent my country first," Mikel said.

The midfielder decided to hide the news to his teammates and to his coach, in order to avoid instability in the team. He decided to play as if nothing in Russia, according to Mikel himself in a statement released Tuesday by the company that represents him.

Michael Obi, Mikel's father, was rescued from his captors by Nigerian police after a shootout in a jungle area in southeastern Nigeria on Monday, almost a week after the kidnapping.

This allowed the player to speak publicly about what happened.

Police reported that Michael Obi, rescued with his driver, had "recovered from the trauma of kidnapping".

By a tweet in his official account, Mikel reported Tuesday that his father "is recovering with the family".

It was the second time that Michael Obi was kidnapped in Nigeria.

Mikel reported that he had received a phone call last Tuesday in St. Petersburg. The person who spoke to him spoke about the kidnapping of his father, just as Nigeria was heading to the stadium to confront Lionel Messi and Albiceleste.

Nigeria lost 2-1 in this group stage match, due to a goal from Argentina in the last moments. The African team was thus eliminated from the World Cup.

Mikel played the whole game, even knowing that his father was in grave danger.

"Emotionally, I was affected, but I had to decide if I was mentally ready to play the game," Mikel said in the statement. "I was confused, I did not know what to do, but in the end I knew that I could not disappoint 180 million Nigerians.I could not even inform the coaches or the NFF (Nigerian Football Federation), and only a group of close friends knew it.They said that they would shoot at my father immediately after I reported it to the authorities or that I talked about it to someone.

The kidnappers demanded a ransom of $ 28,000, according to the state police of southeastern Nigeria where the victim's release operation took place.