Although the Super Eagles of Nigeria secured a comfortable 2-0 victory over Algeria in the AFCON 2025 semi-final, tempers flared between both sides at Stade de Marrakech last night, Soccernet.ng reports.
Birmingham City right-back Bright Osayi-Samuel had his best-ever performance in a Super Eagles jersey against Vladimir Petkovic’s side, but in the 68th minute, he was involved in an altercation with Algerian attacker Anis Hadj Moussa.
The 28-year-old defender attempted to shoulder the ball out of the play by preventing Moussa from touching the ball, but the Feyenoord winger, out of frustration, shoved Osayi-Samuel over.
To air his displeasure, Osayi-Samuel stepped up to confront the Algerian winger, who, in return, shoved his throat before Senegalese referee Issa Sy stepped in to issue a yellow card to Anis Moussa.
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Super Eagles: Osayi-Samuel clarifies altercation with Moussa
The altercation last night wasn’t the first in Osayi’s career. During his time at Fenerbahce, a fan came to attack him during the Istanbul derby, and the right-back put the fan in his place, even earning a mural on the streets of Istanbul for the act.
While Moussa was in the wrong, Osayi-Samuel, at the end of the game, admitted he overreacted to the situation during his time on the pitch before he was taken off in the 90th minute.
“I was agitated because he punched my face. He hit my face, you know, and I overreacted,” the former QPR full-back told Soccernet.ng after the game.
“We were winning 2-0, so really and truly I shouldn’t have done it, I should have just ignored it, but you know I overreacted. It’s football, you know.
The three-time AFCON winner will play against Morocco in the semi-final, and Osayi revealed Eric Chelle’s men are looking to avoid a scenario where they’ll get knocked out by the host nation, again.
“It’s a big opportunity for me, you know. These are games that I dream of, and for me, you know, I want to win the AFCON, so, you know, there are opportunities I have to take.
“I think today I did that. I think the team did that, and yeah, each game as it comes, Morocco will be a different team, you know.
“They have the fans with them, so it will be difficult, but we believe in ourselves. I think the way we’re playing, you know, they [Algeria] didn’t have a shot on target today.
“We just keep believing in ourselves and keep believing what the manager wants us to do, and I think we’ll beat Morocco too,” Bright Osayi-Samuel concluded.
The Stade Prince Moulay Abdallah will host the AFCON 2025 semi-final game between Nigeria and Morocco on Wednesday. Kick-off is slated for 9:00 PM WAT.
