Galatasaray striker Victor Osimhen has returned to full first-team training and is in contention to face Juventus in Wednesday’s Champions League second leg in Turin, Footynaija.com reports.
The concern started last Friday when the Super Eagles striker was left out of Galatasaray’s squad for their league trip to Konyaspor, with the club confirming he had been nursing pain in his right knee.
He spent Sunday working through a personalised recovery programme with the club’s medical staff rather than training with the group, and with the Juventus game looming, that set alarm bells ringing in Istanbul.
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Galatasaray fell 2-0 at Konyaspor without him, their second league defeat of the season, and Fenerbahce took full advantage to cut the gap at the top of the table.
Turkish journalist Kutlu Akpinar reports that Osimhen returned to full training on Monday, putting the Nigerian in contention for Wednesday’s tie.
Galatasaray head into the second leg at the Allianz Stadium holding a 5-2 advantage from the first leg in Istanbul, where Osimhen was at the heart of everything, tormenting Gleison Bremer and Lloyd Kelly all night and providing two assists in what was a commanding performance.
The 27-year-old knows the Allianz Stadium well from his years at Napoli, and that familiarity is another reason Okan Buruk will be desperate to have him available.
Galatasaray need to avoid a three-goal defeat to go through, so the tie is effectively done. But having Osimhen on the pitch changes everything and gives Juventus a very different kind of problem to manage on their own ground.
