Osimhen was below par against Bologna, and when he was taken off, he reacted badly
Napoli coach Rudi Garcia has revealed that he had a personal conversation with Victor Osimhen after the Nigerian’s angry reaction to getting substituted in their goalless draw against Bologna, Soccernet.ng.
Osimhen was off his usual level when Napoli played Bologna in the Serie A on Sunday. The Nigerian striker was on a three-game scoreless run going into the fixture.
However, he failed to rattle the net. The 24-year-old goal poacher missed a penalty in the 72nd minute, in what would likely have been the winning goal for the Partenopeans.
Eventually, coach Garcia took him off for Giovanni Simeone in the 86th minute. However, this sparked a negative reaction as Osimhen walked off the pitch angrily, telling Garcia that he should have left him on the pitch and substituted someone else for Simeone so he would have a strike partner.
Speaking after the game, Garcia refused to speak much on the incident, but he stated that he had spoken to Osimhen about it.
“On Victor’s missed penalty, I say that it can happen to anyone,” Garcia said per Tutto Napoli.
“The attitude wasn’t good in the substitution, but I’ve already spoken about it with him and with the team.”
Aside from Garcia’s statement, Napoli have kept the incident very low. They play Udinese on Wednesday in the Serie A, and Osimhen would be looking to finally end his goal drought.