Super Eagles on High Alert as Osimhen Suffers Groin Injury After Galatasaray Wondergoal

By Samuel Akpan

Despite scoring a brilliant long-range goal in Galatasaray’s 3-2 win over Istanbul Basaksehir, Victor Osimhen suffered a groin injury on Friday.

The 27-year-old Nigerian international opened the scoring in the 17th minute with a powerful strike off the crossbar, but his night ended abruptly just 16 minutes later as he was escorted off the pitch by medical staff while holding his left inner thigh.

Galatasaray later announced Osimhen had an “advanced-moderate level strain (bleeding and strain) in the right adductor (groin) muscle group”.

The club offered no indication of how long the former Napoli forward would be sidelined.

“Following the completion of MR and advanced examinations at our sponsor Acıbadem Hospital, advanced-moderate level strain (bleeding and strain) has been detected in the right adductor (groin) muscle group of our footballer Victor Osimhen,” Galatasaray said.

The statement said: “Similarly, advanced-moderate level strain (bleeding and strain) has been detected in the right adductor muscle group of our player Mario Lemina, whose examinations have also been completed, and their treatment processes are ongoing.”

Such groin injuries usually take about three weeks to heal, leaving Osimhen little time to recover.

That timeline puts him in a race against the clock for Nigeria’s first 2027 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.

PerSecondNews reports that the Super Eagles will face Madagascar on September 25 before meeting Guinea-Bissau four days later.