Was Osayi-Samuel hailed as a boxer upon his arrival in Morocco? Super Eagles official defends RB

Super Eagles Media Officer, Babafemi Raji has defended Bright Osayi-Samuel after what happened at the end of the Turkish Super Lig match between Trabzonspor and Fenerbahce at Papara Park on Sunday, March 17.

While the Yellow Canaries were celebrating their late win against Trabzonspor that kept them in the race for the Super Lig title, a large group of fans from the home team stormed the pitch to attack the Fenerbahce players who had to defend themselves. 

At that instant, the cameras captured Osayi-Samuel punching a masked Trabzonspor fan, before security personnel intervened and assisted the players return safely to the dressing room.

The Fenerbahce players had to wait almost three hours inside the stadium after the match before they were allowed to leave.

Osayi-Samuel was the last of the twenty-three Super Eagles players in camp to report for international duty on Wednesday, two days before a glamour friendly against Ghana in Marrakesh, Morocco.

Asked if Osayi-Samuel was hailed as a boxer when he arrived,Raji told Victor Modo: "We are all excited to have him here. We all have great players here - highly disciplined players.

"Whether he likes it or not, he's one of the most disciplined players when it comes to African football and not just talking about Nigeria and it's that high level of discipline that we always display anywhere in the world.

"We won't dwell on provocation, we have what we have here, it has to do with the national team, the Super Eagles, and he's here to fight for a place in the team here.

"Bright and the rest of the crew will be doing all they can to ensure we beat Ghana on Friday."

Nigeria are facing a crisis at right-back ahead of the back-to-back friendlies with Ghana's Black Stars and Mali's Eagles, with Empoli's Tyronne Ebuehi pulling out of the squad after suffering an injury, while Nottingham Forest's Ola Aina wasn't called up due to fitness issues. 

Despite Osayi-Samuel's late arrival, he stands a good chance of earning his fifteenth international cap on Friday. 

Ifeanyi Emmanuel

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