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Osimhen out as Koulibaly headlines Napoli squad for Real Sociedad
Despite returning to training, the Nigeria international will play no part when the Blues take on the Whites and Blues on Thursday evening
Victor Osimhen has been ruled out of Napoli’s Europa League clash with Real Sociedad on Thursday evening.
The 21-year-old suffered a shoulder dislocation during Nigeria’s 4-4 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Sierra Leone and subsequently missed the Blues’ last five encounters versus AC Milan, Rijeka, AS Roma, AZ Alkmaar and Crotone.
However, the former Lille man has been undergoing physiotherapy since returning to Stadio Diego Armando Maradona and on Monday, he trained alone as Gennaro Gattuso’s men stepped up their preparations of the Spanish elite division side.
“Victor Osimhen worked on the pitch, in the gym and had physiotherapy,” read a statement from the club website.
“The squad was split into two groups for the session, with those who started Sunday’s game at the Stadio Ezio Scida doing recovery work in the gym.
“The remainder of the squad began with a warm-up and some passing drills, then focused on tactics, technique, building play and shooting, before finishing with a mini-match and a gym circuit.”
Nevertheless, he did not make the cut for the crucial game against Imanol Alguacil’s side. Senegal international Kalidou Koulibaly and Algeria's Faouzi Ghoulam are part of the 20-man squad that has Chelsea loanee Tiemoue Bakayoko, David Ospina and Lorenzo Insigne.
With 10 points from five games, the Serie A outfit lead Group F and a draw defeat could cost them a place in the next round provided Dutch outfit AZ Alkmaar defeat Croatia’s HNK Rijeka at the Stadion Rujevica.
After an impressive spell with Lille, Osimhen was snapped up by Napoli for a club record fee of €80 million.He has since scored two goals for the team across all competitions in the 2020-21 campaign.
In the first leg that ended in favour of the Italians, the Nigeria international was shown a red card by referee Craig Pawson in the third minute of added time for a second caution.
After replacing Andrea Petagna a minute after the hour mark, he was first cautioned in the 81st minute before he was given his marching orders 12 minutes later after elbowing Robin Le Normand while trying to control David Ospina’s goal kick.
SQUAD IN FULL
Meret, Ospina, Contini, Di Lorenzo, Ghoulam, Koulibaly, Maksimovic, Manolas, Mario Rui, Demme, Elmas, Lobotka, Fabian Ruiz, Zielinski, Bakayoko, Lozano, Mertens, Petagna, Politano, Insigne.
