“The pressure’s on them”: Junior Olaitan issues a warning to Burkina Faso ahead of Benin’s trip to Ouagadougou for the 2027 AFCON qualifiers

The Benin Cheetahs are preparing for their opening match in the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.

The Benin squad will travel to Ouagadougou to face Burkina Faso on 25 September at the Stade du 4-Août, in their opening match. Ahead of the fixture, Benin midfielder Junior Olaitan has spoken about what is at stake in this match.

According to Olaitan, the pressure is on the Burkina Faso team. The Besiktas midfielder says that Benin already knows its opponent. The two sides have met before, with Burkina Faso winning 3–0. But Junior Olaitan intends to learn from that previous encounter.

“We’re not feeling the pressure. They’re the ones under pressure, so we’ll just get on with our job. We’ll watch the footage and analyse how Burkina Faso play. We’ve already played them and lost 3-0, so we can’t make the same mistake twice.”

Junior Olaitan also outlined Benin Cheetahs’ ambitions for this first matchday of the qualifying campaign.

“We’ll approach this match with patience and go for the three points.”