Naija News reports that the emphatic win secured Nigeria’s place in the quarter-finals, but the performance was overshadowed by a confrontation involving Osimhen midway through the second half.
The Galatasaray forward appeared frustrated with what he saw as selfish play from his teammates in the final third, directing his frustration at Lookman and Bright Osayi-Samuel. During the outburst, he pushed away the hand of captain Wilfred Ndidi, who had tried to calm him down, before signaling to the bench for a substitution a minute later.
The incident carried on after the game, as Osimhen chose not to join his teammates for the customary post-match prayers or the lap of honor with fans, instead heading straight to the dressing room alone.
Lookman downplayed the incident in his post-match press conference, but fans quickly criticized Osimhen’s behaviour, arguing that shouting at teammates was unnecessary.
Mikel Obi, however, has defended the striker’s passion and competitiveness. Speaking on the Obi One Podcast, the former Chelsea midfielder said: “Victor Osimhen is a fantastic young player, a player that wears his hat on his sleeve, plays like a warrior, and fights.
“He plays in Turkey, and that’s what they like there. You have to fight on the pitch. If you do that, they give you anything you want. You have to show you want to fight on the pitch, you’re like a warrior.
“You have to be angry on the pitch, and that’s how Osimhen plays. He plays the way you see him; he fights with the defenders, and he gets the best out of himself by doing that. I can understand his frustration. As a striker, if you score two goals, you want to get a hat-trick. Strikers are happy when they get hat-tricks.
“Victor is a guy that scores the goals, he’s that guy that makes us play well with what he does on the ball and off the ball, and we have to give him credit for that. This incident that happened, I’ve been there before. Tensions fly, you want a hat-trick and when you don’t get the ball, you get frustrated especially when you’re in a good position.
“I get where he’s coming from, and I like the fact that they both had an argument on the pitch. I like to see that, it’s been a long long time that I haven’t seen that with the national team. Everybody’s too nice with each other. They want to hold hands, they want to give you a blanket and lie down.
“I want to see us get back to where we get angry with each other. We pull each other around, we scream at each other, we hold each other’s necks and say do your job. You don’t win by being nice, you win by being nasty on the pitch. Outside the pitch, we make up, we go out as friends, we go for dinners and drinks, but whatever happens on the pitch, we forget about it.”
While Mikel fully supports Osimhen’s intensity, he did highlight areas for improvement. He believes the striker should not have requested a substitution or walked into the dressing room while his teammates were still on the pitch.
“Victor is a smart and humble kid. But he plays the way he is, and I don’t want that taken away from him,” Obi said. “The way he plays, his aggressiveness, the warriorness he has on the pitch, he fights like a lion. But you have to manage him.
“What I didn’t like about the situation was the afters. He stopped playing, he stopped putting the effort, he stopped running. He will look back and say maybe I’ve crossed the line. The part where he walked straight into the dressing room. It’s always about the team, it’s always about the country. Nobody is bigger than a club or country. Jay-Jay, Kanu, me, we all came and left, the national team is still there.”
https://www.naijanews.com/2026/01/08/mikel-obi-defends-victor-osimhen-after-on-field-fracas-against-mozambique/