GALATASARAY striker Victor Osimhen feels he ‘didn’t need’ to celebrate his decisive goal against Juventus, and it was ‘important’ to ‘respect’ an important person in his career, Luciano Spalletti.
Juventus beat Galatasaray 3-2 last night, but were still eliminated from the Champions League knockout play-off with a 7-5 aggregate loss.
The Bianconeri went 3-0 up in the 90th minute despite being reduced to ten men at the start of the second half.
Yet, Osimhen scored the decisive goal in extra time to pave the way for Galatasaray’s qualification.
The ex-Napoli star, however, didn’t celebrate his goal.
“I didn’t need to do it. I think it was important to respect a man I care about who has had an important role in my career,” Osimhen told Prime Video Italia.
“Obviously, I’m talking about Spalletti. I didn’t feel the need to celebrate.
“We played badly, even when they went down to ten men, so there was no reason to celebrate. Even when I scored the decisive goal, I didn’t feel the need to celebrate. I’m not that type of player, one who tries to hide his emotions. I saw these people applauding Juventus for their performance. I can say I’m happy.”
Despite Galatasaray’s qualification for the Round of 16, Osimhen was not exactly in a good mood as he also reiterated during his interview with CBS Sports.
“I have to be honest, I’m disappointed with the performance of the team, the whole team,” he said.
“I have to give kudos to Juventus for the kind of display. We qualified, but we have a lot to improve on if you have to go in the next one and play the big dogs. The performance wasn’t really good; Juventus deserved to win, but I’m happy my team qualified for the next one.”
Galatasaray will face Liverpool or Tottenham in the Round of 16. Atalanta are the only Serie A representative left in the competition and will face Bayern Munich or Arsenal in the next phase.
—football-italia
