Tunisian defender Montassar Talbi says his team is not the favourite ahead of the Eagles of Carthage’s second Africa Cup of Nations Group C game against Nigeria’s Super Eagles at the Fes Stadium on Saturday.

During the pre-match press conference on Friday, ahead of one of the biggest matches of the group stage, the Lorient player admitted the game against Nigeria would be tough but boasted that the Tunisians are ready for the test.

“I don’t think we are favourites for tomorrow’s game because Nigeria had a very good game in their first match,” the 27-year-old told reporters. “We know how very good they are, and I think it is going to be a good tomorrow, and we are confident.”

Commenting on whether the Tunisia national team is finally getting the respect it deserves from the football community, Talbi said the team had received recognition long before now. He added that Tunisia has shown what they are capable of in African football recently.

“We got our respect for a long time. I think we have achieved a lot recently. We have qualified for the last three World Cups, and even at the AFCON, we have done well. They respect us now,” he stated.

“But we think we can go bigger, and we can do better. It depends on us, but we will take everything step by step. We are really focused on the next game.”

Speaking further, the former Rubin Kazan player tagged the game against Nigeria a “final of the group stage,” adding that “we want to finish top of the group. It is a competition against a big team, so we can show where we are, and we hope we can do better in this AFCON.”

Nigeria will be hoping for payback when the players come out of the tunnel on Saturday, following the 2021 AFCON heartbreak in Cameroon, after the North Africans secured a slim 1-0 win over the Super Eagles in the round of 16.