Summer Nottingham Forest recruit Emmanuel Dennis was the centre of attention for all the wrong reasons when Nigeria lost 4-0 to Portugal in an international friendly.
Dennis, who arrived at the City Ground from Watford in a deal thought to be worth £20 million, missed a penalty during the match in Lisbon - after taking it upon himself to take the spot kick.
The 25-year-old forward scored his first goal for Forest during their 1-1 draw with Aston Villa at the City Ground, and appears to be popular in the Reds' dressing room. But that perhaps can no longer be said of his international teammates after he refused to hand the ball over one of the Super Eagles' designated penalty takers in last night's clash.
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Bright Osayi-Samuel had won the spot-kick after receiving a pass from Dennis, who then ignored the advances of forward Paul Onuachu and captain William Troost-Ekong before stepping up to take the penalty. Nigeria manager Jose Peseiro was also seen advising a change in taker.
The situation was then made worse when Dennis saw his effort tipped onto a post by former Wolves goalkeeper Rui Patricio before Portugal broke at pace and extended their lead through Goncalo Ramos. Joao Mario completed the scoring two minutes later.
Dennis was previously criticised for his role in Nigeria's failure to qualify for the World Cup in Qatar, so his penalty miss did little to heal his relationship with Super Eagles fans.
Peseiro defended the attacker at full time by claiming: We need to defend our players, which players don't miss penalties in the world? Any player can miss a penalty."
However, ESPN report that the issue was discussed during a post-match dressing room briefing.
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