Harambee Stars players have sent goodwill messages to their captain Victor Wanyama ahead of Saturday night’s Champions League final pitting his Tottenham Hotspur side against Liverpool at the Metropolitano Stadium in Madrid, Spain.
The squad left Nairobi on Friday for France for an intense 18-day training camp ahead of the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations which begins on June 21 in Egypt.
They officially started their training on Saturday morning as seen on a video shared by the Football Kenya Federation on social media. Kenya coach Sebastien Migne took the players through their paces at the French Rugby Federation grounds.
Before the video ends, a section of the players send their messages to Wanyama, who is bidding to become the second Kenyan to win the Champions League, after his brother McDonald Mariga, who achieved the feat with Italian side Inter Milan in 2010.
Migne admitted that Wanyama’s experience in the Champions League will come in handy for Harambee Stars as they make their return to the continental showpiece after a 15-year absence.
“It is fantastic firstly for him (Victor) and also Kenyans who will tonight be proud to see one Kenyan player and a fake one (Origi) on the other side. We will follow the game tonight and we are sending him an encouragement message,” Migne said.
“We expect him to join us in camp on Monday because he is the captain and the other players look at him,” the Frenchman continues to say in the video.
He admitted to being an admirer of the two coaches; Jurgen Klopp (Liverpool) and Mauricio Pochettino (Tottenham) and expects a great final.
Stars are scheduled to play two friendly matches against Madagascar in Paris and Democratic Republic of Congo in Madrid on June 7 and June 15 respectively.
They will then make the final trip to Egypt on June 19. Kenya’s first match at the continental tourney will be against Algeria on June 23 in Cairo, before they take on Tanzania in their second match four days later.
The game between Harambee Stars and Senegal will be the last group C match on July 1.
The game between Harambee Stars and Senegal will be the last group C match on July 1.