Victor Osimhen of Napoli will miss Nigeria’s friendly encounter against Portugal due to an injury he picked up last weekend in Serie A.
Victor Osimhen, a forward for the Super Eagles, will not play in Portugal and Nigeria’s international friendly on Thursday in Lisbon.
The three-time African champions, who were prevented by Ghana last March in Abuja from qualifying for the World Cup in Qatar, will play their first high-profile match in this category.
The 23-year-old was chosen to participate in the Super Eagles international friendly game on Thursday. Unfortunately, he can’t as the forward sustained a knock during Saturday’s 3-2 Serie A victory against Udinese.
The federation informed Nigerian fans of the bad news and added that Olisa Ndah will not also feature in the friendly game.
Victor Osimhen has been replaced, according to the update the Nigerian Football Federation posted on their Twitter page, even though they did not specify the nature of his injury.
Victor Osimhen will miss his second significant friendly match since rejoining the team, having also missed the AFCON 2021 in Cameroon due to a facial injury.
Osimhen is thought to be loyal to Aurelio De Laurentiis, the president of Napoli, who does not want his top player to participate in international responsibilities for his country and get hurt.
This season, Osimhen has been outstanding for Napoli and leads the team in goals scored with nine after just 11 games. He has also provided two assists.
Osimhen missed the most recent friendly encounter against Algeria due to injury, but Nigerian fans had hoped he would play against Portugal on Thursday.
Ahmed Musa and Taiwo Awoniyi were left out of Super Eagles coach Jose Peseiro’s team for the international friendly against Portugal.
Dessers, who has fought for playing time with the national team, now has a chance. He has only participated in three friendly games, scoring once.
Dessers has played 13 games for Cremonese in Serie A, contributing to one assist and two goals.
Ahead of the friendly match against Portugal, Fenerbahce player, Bright Osayi-Samuel has arrived at the Super Eagles camp in Lisbon.
Osayi-Samuel has been included in the 23-man roster for the match by head coach Jose Peseiro, and he will soon make his Super Eagles debut.
In preparation for the friendly game, 19 players practiced on Monday evening. Moses Simon, Adebayo Adeleye, William Troost-Ekong, Wilfred Ndidi, Alex Iwobi, Bruno Onyemaechi, Kevin Akpoguma, Oghenekaro Etebo, and Chidiebube Duru were present for the evening training session.
Emmanuel Dennis, Paul Onuachu, Ademola Lookman, Calvin Bassey, Joe Aribo, Tyrone Ebuehi, Frank Onyeka, Terem Moffi, Chidozie Awaziem, and Bright Osayi- Samuel were also not left out.
Portugal’s next friendly encounter will be their final test match before they head to Qatar for the 2022 World Cup.
Dessers will have a chance to show his talent on Thursday, while Osimhen will now concentrate on recovery from his injury and then wait for club football to resume in January.
