Soccer
Victor Osimhen of Galatasaray celebrates after scoring the second goal of his team with teammates. [Photo Credit/ Imago].
Super Eagles forward Victor Osimhen will not be in action tonight when Eintracht Frankfurt take on Galatasaray, Soccernet.ng reports.
The 26-year-old striker suffered a bruised shin in Nigeria’s 1-0 win against Rwanda at the Godswill Akpabio Stadium, and travelled back to Turkey, missing the 1-1 draw against South Africa.
He missed team training on Tuesday and yesterday, it was confirmed that the former VfL Wolfsburg striker will not make the trip to the Deutsche Bank Park tonight.
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Soccer Buruk confirms Osimhen‘s exclusion
“Osimhen’s hurt, you know. We didn’t play him in the league game, so we had the hope of at least getting this game up,” the Galatasaray coach said in quotes revealed by the club’s official website.
“It was important here whether he could play with that network. He’s tried in practice for the last two days, but the feedback from him is not enough to play right now.
“That’s what we talked about with our paramedics. The health of our players is very important to us. Every player can participate in every game; regardless of the outcome, they play.
“Osimhen is also an actor in this character, but of course it won’t do us what it’s going to do to him, or he’s not a hundred-thirds-affectively.
“We didn’t put him on the roster with his feedback, but of course, we have very important players. We have very important players on the offensive line. We’ll try to do the best with them tomorrow,” the 51-year-old concluded.
With their top goalscorer out of action, Galatasaray are in disarray ahead of the clash against Frankfurt tonight. Their best bet in attack would be Mauro Icardi, but the Argentine striker still isn’t at 100% after suffering an ACL tear last November.
The former Inter man has yet to play 90 minutes since his surgery, and that could prove costly for Galatasaray tonight as there’s no reliable backup option for the 32-year-old.
Baris Yilmaz could be an option off the bench for the Cim Bom Aslan, but the Turk winger isn’t an outright centre-forward.
Adefolahan Guerreiro
Adefolahan is a multilingual journalist and writer at Soccernet Nigeria.
With a track record of involvement in College sports, Adefolahan is focused on crafting engaging football content and utilising his language skills and extensive sports knowledge to enhance content accessibility for a global audience.
He has interviewed Nigerian stars like Finidi George, Junior Lokosa, Sikiru Alimi, Sodiq Ismaila and Abraham Onahi Ogbu.
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