Victor Osimhen says playing in the UEFA Champions League was a dream come true for him after he made his first appearance in the competition for Lille who suffered a 3-0 away defeat to Ajax at the Johan Cruyff Arena, Amsterdam on Tuesday, reports Completesports.com.
Osimhen was in action for 90 minutes against the last season’s semi-finalists, and despite a spirited efforts was unable to prevent Lille from going down to defeat in the game.
Despite a disappointing end to his maiden appearance in the Champions League, the forward is happy to feature against the former champions.
“The Champions League was a dream come true, a privilege for any player, and I want to thank the coach and the whole club for allowing me to play in this competition,” Osimhen told a news conference on Saturday.
“It was a bad feeling to start the Champions League with a defeat in Amsterdam. The coach reminded us of the importance of playing this competition, we learned a lot from this defeat, we have to fix that in the next game.
“We had some chances to score in the first half in Amsterdam, we were not efficient in this game, we can do a lot better.”
The Nigeria international arrived Lille from Belgian side, Sporting Charleroi, this summer and and has already made a big impression at the club, with five goals in five league games.
Osimhen is seen as the perfect replacement for Ivory Coast star, Nicolas Pepe who left Lille in a big money move to Arsenal during the off-season, but he states that he is at the club to write his own story.
“I have a lot of respect for Nicolas Pepe for everything he brought to the club, many people think I’m replacing him, but I’m here with another name and to write my own story different, we are not the same players,” he added.
“When I arrived here, I immediately spoke to the coach, who explained to me the important [role] that I could have in this team, how young people should be integrated into the project. welcomed with a lot of love, it made things easier. ”
By Adeboye Amosu
