‘He is my brother’ – Nigeria’s Ademola Lookman shrugs off Victor Osimhen spat during AFCON match against Mozambique
Victor Osimhen’s on-field meltdown cast a shadow over what was an otherwise celebratory night for Nigeria, as the Super Eagles demolished Mozambique 4-0 to advance to the Africa Cup of Nations quarterfinals on Monday.
The Galatasaray striker was booed off the pitch after demanding to be substituted, following a heated confrontation with teammate Ademola Lookman during the Round of 16 match at the Complexe Sportif de Fès.
The incident erupted in the 63rd minute, with Nigeria 3-0 up and Osimhen on a hattrick, when he berated Lookman and Bruno Onyemaechi for not passing him the ball.
This sparked a verbal altercation so intense that Nigeria captain Wilfred Ndidi and even Mozambique defender Reinildo Mandava had to physically intervene between the players. Calvin Bassey also jumped into the fray as peacemaker.
Osimhen subsequently requested to leave the field and was replaced with Moses Simon by coach Eric Chelle.
The striker’s spicy behaviour continued in the aftermath. He sat morose on the bench, then skipped the team’s post-match huddle on the pitch, walking directly to the dressing room alone at the final whistle. He was first to board the team bus, bypassing mandatory media duties in the Mixed Zone.
Lookman, who was the recipient of the verbal riposte from Osimhen, came straight to the press conference from the pitch and waved off the confrontation, insisting there were no lingering issues between the players.
“No I’ve not seen him, but I don’t really think that’s really important, the team won 4-0,” Lookman said.
“He’s our number one guy, everyone knows this. Top striker, top player, the rest is not really important. There are no issues between me and Victor. It’s just football. He is my brother.”
Lookman proceeded to the dressing room after and captain Wilfred Ndidi dismissed any talk of a fracture in the dressing room among the striking corps, attributing the flare-up to can intense will to win.
“It was just a competitive mindset,” the midfielder said to ESPN after the game. “We wanted more, we agreed we wanted more.
“In that moment, when two people really want it, this is what happens. Of course we spoke about it in the dressing room, everything is fine. Everyone is in this together.”
Coach Chelle was unbothered too, saying that the incident would be dealt with in-house: “This is the question about my management and what happened on the pitch, it will stay in the group.
“I don’t need to tell you what happened or what will happen, I keep it for me and everything that happened in the life of the group will stay in the life of the group.”
It is not the first time Osimhen’s volatile temperament has spilled into public conversation. His widely publicized spat with former coach Finidi George led to the NFF deciding to hire a foreign coach, forcing the former Super Eagles winger to resign.
Recently, Osimhen stormed off the pitch after being substituted by Chelle during the group stages.
