Head coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Eric Chelle says top striker Victor Osimhen made him cry at the recently concluded AFCON in Morocco, where Nigeria finished third with a 4-2 penalty kick win over Egypt.
Osimhen was Nigeria’s top marksman at the tournament but got injured in the semi final defeat against Morocco forcing him to miss the third place playoff against Egypt.
Chelle revealed that while preparing for the game against Egypt, he spoke with Osimhen on the need to go all out and win the game, even though he can clearly see that the 27 year old is Injured and won’t be available for the game.
“I had a discussion with Victor on the field. I told him that we absolutely had to go for that third place. But I could see that he was injured, that things weren’t going well at all. So I told him: ‘I’m proud of what you’ve done since I took over this team. If you ever need me, whatever happens in your life, you call me, I’ll come”, he said in an interview with AfterRMC.
Continuing he said: “When I arrived, you were already a great player, I didn’t arrive as a great coach.
“He looked at me and said: ‘Coach, maybe you were a small coach, but now you are a great coach.’ At that point, I burst into tears. Honestly, it was hard to go on to training afterwards.”
