Bacary Sagna Warns France Team-mates Not To Underrate Nigeria

French Manchester City defender Bacary Sagna has warned his team-mates to be wary of their last 16 opponent Nigeria.

France topped Group E at the 2014 FIFA World Cup, seeing off Honduras and Switzerland after before drawing with Ecuador on the last day to set up a clash with Nigeria on Monday June 30.

"They are the best African team at the moment.

"They have very good players. Some play in the biggest European clubs, especially in England.

"They will fight and they have a lot of qualities,'' the former Arsenal defender warned.

Sagna who made his first appearance at the World Cup in the game against Ecuador admonished that they concentrate on themselves:

"As players, we aspire to go as far as possible, to win trophies.

"It would be a failure not to win the trophy. Initially, we wanted to qualify from the group. Now, we want to go step by step.

"There are 11 players who will start, but the 23 are important. The atmosphere is very important and we try to keep this dynamic."

Hearing that Nigeria boycotted training on Thursday, Sagna reacted saying: ''I heard they had a little strike. For me, it does not change anything because they are still the champion of Africa, the current best African team.

''They have very good players, some from the best European teams. This is a dangerous team.''

France will be hoping to overturn a 1-0 defeat they conceded to Nigeria at home in an international friendly back in 2011.