Cape Town – Orlando Pirates coach Milutin Sredojevic wants Abbubaker Mobara to excel and reminded the player of how he defended against Neymar for Amaglug-glug.
Mobara played against the Brazil superstar at the 2016 Olympic games when he played right-back for the national team, whereas the Paris Saint-Germain forward played left wing.
The utility defender was largely impressive on the day and kept the former Barcelona man at bay at times. Nonetheless, the 24-year-old has fallen out of favour at Pirates in 2018/19, making just his first start of the season in the 1-0 victory over Chippa United in the Telkom Knockout.
As such, 'Micho' has urged the 24-year-old to keep on improving and to take inspiration of how he played against Neymar.
"Practically, after so many problems faced, he [Mobara] reached a point of returning to his best, he fought and worked very hard and he deserved his place [in the team against Chippa]," he said as quoted by KickOff website.
"He was in certain aspects and in certain decisions shaky, especially at the beginning of the match, but later on he improved and some of the clearances and headers were a way of being injected with positives from the game.
"I would like to say, in order to allow him to express himself in the best way, it was a very simple presentation to him: 'If things are not okay, we take all the blame as the coaches, if things are okay, you take the credit'.
"After the match, seeing him face-to-face, I told him again, 'Look, whatever was wrong, we take the blame, whatever was right, let this inject you to work more and return yourself [in the team]. Because, let me remind you, you are Abbubaker Mobara, you are the person that had the most expensive player in the world Neymar in your pocket at the Olympic Games. With that in mind, do not live in the past but create your present and much more for the future ahead of you'."
