Victor Osimhen has threatened to overshadow Nigeria reaching the quarter-final of the Africa Cup of Nations.
Nigeria, runners-up to Ivory Coast at the last AFCON, sealed their place in the last-eight with a comfortable 4-0 thrashing of Mozambique on Monday evening.
Ademola Lookman maintained his record of scoring on every start at the tournament so far with the opening goal in the 20th minute before Osimhen took his tally to three with a brace.
Akor Adams completed the scoring in the 75th minute and the Super Eagles can look forward to a quarter-final showdown against either Algeria or DR Congo.
However, the victory has been slightly marred by Osimhen’s meltdown just after the hour mark at the Fez Stadium.
The Galatasaray striker was on a hat-trick but berated Lookman and Bruno Onyemaechi for not passing him the ball. This prompted a verbal altercation which Nigeria captain Wilfried Ndidi had to diffuse while Calvin Bassey played the peacemaker role.
Osimhen subsequently requested to be substituted and was replaced by Moses Simon amid being booed by his own fans shortly after. He then skipped the team's post-match huddle on the pitch and then walked alone to the dressing room at the final whistle.
Footage has since emerged on social media of the 27-year-old being the first player to leave the dressing room as he walked past the media in the mixed zone before boarding the Nigeria team bus.
🇳🇬Osimhen heading out of mixed zone.. pic.twitter.com/qPnyXjeH0w
— George Addo Jnr (@addojunr) January 5, 2026
Lookman, who incidentally, assisted Osimhen for both of his goals against Mozambique, played down the bust-up and insisted there are no issues between the pair.
"No I've not seen him, but I don't really think that's really important, the team won 4-0," Lookman said in the post-match press conference.
"He's our number one guy, everyone knows this. Top striker, top player, the rest is not really important.
“There are no issues between me and Victor. It's just football. He is my brother."
