After the Super Eagles defeated Angola 1-0 on Friday to advance to the semifinals of the Africa Cup of Nations, Nigerian star Victor Osimhen stated he does not care about his lack of goals at the tournament.
Their victory in the round of eight match at the Felix Houphouet Boigny Stadium in Abidjan was secured by a single goal from Ademola Lookman towards the end of the first half.
A quarter of an hour from the end, Osimhen headed in a Lookman free-kick to find the net, but the attempt was flagged offside.
Read Also:AFCON 2023: DR Congo Bounce Back To Send Guinea Out
“Those who know me, they know I don’t put myself before the team. If my goal comes, they come,” the Napoli striker told broadcaster Canal Plus Afrique.
“I want to help the team with goals of course, but if I am not scoring I am defending. If I am not defending I am fighting for them.
“I just want my team to be in the right mentality to win this tournament.
“It is a big prize for us, as an individual and also as a country.
” So I think we have the right mentality to make sure we bring the trophy home.”
Nigeria is now set to play in a semifinal in Bouake next Wednesday, where they will play either Cape Verde or South Africa.
They are still on course to win a fourth continental championship, their first since 2013.
“We had to make sure we went into the competition with the right mentality,” added Osimhen, who was substituted in stoppage time after taking several knocks over the course of the match.
“We have the quality, we have the squad to win games and to reach the final for me.”
The former England Under-21 international Lookman, a forward for Atalanta, has taken the spotlight away from Osimhen with his winner against Angola, having previously scored both goals in the team’s 2-0 elimination of Cameroon in the round of 16.
Osimhen, on the other hand, has not scored since Nigeria’s first-leg 1-1 tie with Equatorial Guinea.
The man of the match, Moses Simon, who assisted Lookman in scoring, stated that the Nigerian players weren’t concerned about their star forward’s goal drought.
“The mood is very good in the camp. We don’t even think about this and I believe he doesn’t think about scoring,” Simon remarked.
“He thinks about victory. If he has the opportunity he will score. But the important thing to say is we just want to win, we don’t care who scores.”