Femi Solaja with agency report
Super Eagles forward, Victor Osimhen, has apologised to Napoli coach, Rudi Garcia, over his outburst when substituted at Bologna on Sunday night.
The top scorer at the just concluded AFCON 2023 qualifying round of matches had missed a penalty in the course of the game in Bologna but when the coach substitute the forward, a mild drama ensued when he snapped at the Napoli coach.
Not accepting the substitution and explaining to the coach that he should have left him on the pitch until the end of the match.
The incident no doubt should have resulted into sanction on the Nigerian but according to Gazzetta, “the case appears to have been resolved and from the company, it transpires that there is no desire to fine the Nigerian,” the Italian tabloid reported yesterday.
The champions have had too many bad results so far in the season having only obtained two points in the last three matches and a hard-fought victory against Braga, the weakest team in the Champions’ League group.
The Neapolitans need a less nervous Osimhen, who returns as the driving force and leader of the blue group, as he was last year.
Earlier yesterday, team’s captain, Giovanni Di Lorenzo had called out Victor Osimhen after the striker exchanged words with Garcia.
The 24-year-old Ballon d’Or nominee visibly frustrated by his inability to help his team convert their chances, Napoli travelled to Bologna with the hopes of a win, after a positive outcome in their midweek clash against Braga.
“These become more noticeable when things go wrong. In these moments we do not need such attitudes, we must be united and focused on the goal. We’ll talk to the team and the coach to solve it,” the captain noted.
The game took another turn entirely for last season’s Serie A Golden Boot winner, as he had just two shots on target and to compound things, he missed a penalty with about 20 minutes to go.
Napoli’s coach, Rudi Garcia opted to take the forward off with four minutes to go, replacing him with Giovanni Simeone, a decision that didn’t go down well with the Nigerian, as he exchanged words with the Frenchman on the touchline.
“We are not happy with the result. The mood is not the best, we wanted to win again in the league. Now there is no time but to keep thinking about this game, you have to think about the next,” the coach said in his post-match interview.
Napoli’s draw against Bologna leaves them with eight points from their first five games, three less than they had after five Match-days last season.
