Napoli Won’t Play Victor Osimhen Against AC Milan In UCL Clash

Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis has announced that the club’s talisman Victor Osimhen won’t be fit enough to play the first leg of the Champions League quarter-finals round against AC Milan later tonight, April 12.

Victor Osimhen, who is currently the top scorer for Napoli and in the Italian Serie A so far this season, has been sidelined since after the March international break. It is believed that the 24-year-old Nigeria international returned from the break with a muscle injury that needed two to three weeks to heal.

Since then, Osimhen has missed two league matches – one against AC Milan which ended in an embarrassing 4-0 defeat, the second was a 2-1 victory over Leece.

Earlier, Napoli’s head coach Luciano Spalletti assumed that Victor Osimhen would be fit enough for the Champions League game tonight as he has resumed individual training ahead of the match.

But about 24 hours before the game which will kick off at San Siro at 20:00 (8 PM WAT), the club’s president said the Nigerian international is not in the position to feature in the game.

“Victor is not in a position to play, unfortunately,” De Laurentiis said according to the Italian publication La Repubblica.

“We hope to have him back as soon as possible on the 18th at the (Stadio Diego Armando) Maradona.”

Osimhen has been very instrumental in the rise of Napoli in both the Italian Serie A and the UEFA Champions League. With his help, the Italian side got to the quarter-finals stage of the European competition for the first time in the history of the club.

Also, with the help of the Nigerian international, the Italian team are on the verge of winning the Scudetto for the first time since 1990. Hence, the club would wish to have him back before the Champions League return leg at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona on April 18.