Italian football legend Giorgio Chiellini has identified Super Eagles forward Victor Osimhen as one of the toughest strikers he’s come up against npflupdates.com reports.
Giorgio Chiellini drew the curtain to his professional football career few days after his side Los Angeles FC lost the MLS Cup title to Columbus Crew.
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The former Italy international in a recent report by Soccernet Nigeria confessed Napoli’s Victor Osimhen was a nightmare to him. Chiellini and Osimhen shared the same pitch a couple of times when the, 39-year-old was still contracted with Juventus in the Italian Serie A.
Chiellini talks about the strength and quality of Victor Osimhen
According to Chiellini, he struggled more when he come up against Osimhen when compared to Inter Milan’s Lautaro Martinez.
“Which attacker bothered me more? Honestly, I marked Lautaro well, Osimhen a little worse. I was struggling more.
“I was at the end of my career with both of them; after the knee operation, I suffered from it and I couldn’t hold it any longer.”
Speaking to defenders in the Serie A and UEFA Champions League who will in one way or the other meet Osimhen, Chiellini advised they allow Osimhen take the ball to them.
“How do you stop Osimhen? You let him take the ball towards you, which isn’t dangerous,” Chiellini pointed out,” he said.
“Even if he turns, he doesn’t bother me and when he gets to the area I’m on top of him and don’t let him breathe. It’s difficult for the ball to enter the net on its own; they always score the goals; Osimhen scores them, not Zielinski in the third half. If Politano then scores from 30 meters I’ll tell him well done, but it doesn’t happen very often.”
While reacting to Osimhen’s header against Cagliari last weekend, the former Los Angeles FC defender, faulted the position of the defenders. According to him, he’d have used his shoulders against Osimhen, thus making it impossible for any of them to go for the ball.
He added, “In the goal against Cagliari, I don’t see anyone close to Osimhen; I only see two in the area, and the cross can only arrive there: it’s a mistake.
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“If I had been there, Osimhen would not jump. With a shoulder, I would have made sure he didn’t reach the ball. I wouldn’t have taken it, but he wouldn’t have taken it either.”
