SSC Napoli of Italy coach, Luciano Spalletti has scolded the Italian Serie A club’s Nigerian striker, Victor Osimhen for getting sent off in last weekend’s clash with newly promoted Venezia, megasportsarena.com reports.
Osimhen got the red card early in Sunday’s game and, though some pundits argued that it was a harsh decision by the match official, Spalletti has revealed that it was simply because the Super Eagles’ star applied his arm on an opponent.
Much to Spalletti’s chagrin, Osimhen will miss Napoli’s next match against Genoa on Sunday and he could be banned for another game, making it two absences, due to his 21sts minute straight card at Diego Armando Maradona Stadium in Naples.
Speaking at the post-match press conference after Napoli’s 2-0 victory at home, Spalletti refused to complain about the match arbiter, Gianluca Aureliano’s decision to send Osimhen off in the first half without consulting the video assistant referee.
Aureliano independently took the decision because he was close to the incident, as Osimhen got into a violent struggle with Venezia midfielder, Daan Heymans during a corner kick for his side and he ended up hitting the opponent in the face with his swinging arm, following which he was shown a red card in the 23rd minute.
Rather than throw his weight behind Osimhen, who is set to miss another match against Juventus, as it was injury ruled him out against The Zebras last season, Spalletti accepted the ref’s verdict and blamed his player for being excessive in his physical approach to the game, which his markers tend to use against him.
Spalletti told ilnapolista.it: “He has to be careful of his emotional reactions. He is a strong attacker and all the defenders will try to help themselves by limiting his physical exuberance.
“He will always have his hands on the defenders. He must be careful. The referee was very correct when he explained to me what he saw.”
