‘Osimhen is in pain’ – Galatasaray manager gives injury update

Galatasaray manager Okan Buruk confirmed Nigeria striker Victor Osimhen left the pitch in pain after the Turkish side lost their Champions League return leg against Liverpool at Anfield on Wednesday.

The Super Eagle was withdrawn in the 46th minute for Leroy Sane as Galatasaray went on to suffer a 4-0 humilating defeat at Anfield.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Galatasaray (@galatasaray)

The Reds produced a performance of authority and class to emphatically overturn a 1-0 deficit from last week’s first meeting in Istanbul, with Dominik Szoboszlai, Hugo Ekitike, Ryan Gravenberch and Mohamed Salah getting the goals.

‘We tried to keep Osimhen on the pitch’

“Noa has a serious finger injury. He will first go to a hospital here; he will be examined as soon as possible. It’s a bad injury to his finger,” Buruk told Galatasaray website after the game.

“Osimhen is also in pain. It happened at the beginning of the game; we tried to keep him on the pitch, but his pain increased, so we had to substitute him at halftime.

“Looking at Osimhen’s position, we saw that Konaté was able to commit these fouls very easily, he could easily apply any kind of foul. While we were expecting the best referee in the world, perhaps one of the worst referees officiated the game.”

Buruk bemoans Osimhen injury

Buruk added:”But our opponent deserved to win the match much more than us. There were unfortunate events; our start to the game,

Osimhen’s injury, our inability to make our presence felt during the game, and the confidence we gave to our opponent… They played with more confidence, while we lost ours. Our fans always expect a much more courageous Galatasaray, but none of our pre-match plans worked on the field.

“Injuries and the wrong decisions we made during the game had an impact. My players put in a great deal of effort, and I respect their efforts. You congratulated us, Galatasaray, and our club for being here; however, I am saddened by this defeat today.”

He concluded: “It wasn’t just about the score; you can lose a match based on the score, but in terms of the game itself, we really didn’t deserve to win. We should have done better, but we couldn’t.

“We conceded four goals and gave away many chances. Uğurcan put in an important performance today, but despite that, we suffered a 4-0 defeat. I’m very upset about that.”

Osimhen has already been left out of the Nigeria squad for the upcoming friendly matches during the FIFA international break.