Victor Osimhen was tipped to be the main hero of the Africa Cup of Nations final between Nigeria and Ivory Coast. However, the Eagle ended up being a sparrow: he finished the game with no goals or even shots, made just eight passes and lost half of duels. Oh, and the 2-1 defeat flattered Nigeria.
How did it happen? Let’s take a look at the Elephants’ lucky formula and how Xavi can implement it against Napoli in the Champions League.
What was Nigeria’s own plan for Osimhen?
Osimhen was doing way more than just waiting for the ball to come to his feet: early in the first half already, the striker dropped deeper to look for link-ups and make Nigeria’s attacks more structured. This had to do with a big gap between the midfield and the attack as the former were located too deep.
While Osimhen is far from being the best link-up striker in the world (he’s surely better than Lewandowski in this regard, though!), Ivory Coast still paid a lot of attention to his involvement in attacks and tried to close him down collectively.
Here, for example, Osimhen tries to escape from his marker and provide Samuel Chukwueze with a quick lightweight pass. The ball doesn’t reach its destination as Chukwueze is being followed by the right winger (!) Max Gradel. The attack is stopped. At Barca, we may imagine Raphinha emulating what Gradel does here.
In another episode, Osimhen wins the ball after a throw-in before trying to link up with his teammates up front. The immediate reaction of Ivory Coast players is brilliant as they close him down in numbers and manage to steal the ball without a foul.
Expectedly, Nigeria also tried to send floated crosses into the box to find Osimhen (Napoli often look for him with crosses) – that’s when powerful left-footed centre-back Evan Ndicka, a former Barca target, came into action. We think it’s crucial for Barca to start Inigo Martinez who is great at minimising the aerial threat.
Who was man-marking Osimhen?
This job was mostly done by Bayer Leverkusen centre-back Odilon Kossounou who did very well and had Osimhen in his pocket starting from minute one.
Nigeria often tried to find Osimhen with a long ball coming from one of the defenders or the goalkeeper. Kossounou had to make sure the striker didn't break away from him. Here he did a great job by pulling out and intercepting the ball.
Even late in the game, when Nigeria were pushing for an equaliser, Kossounou remained rock-solid in his head-to-head clashes against Osimhen.
Look how confident he was while trying to avoid pressure from Victor. Wow.
The Barca player who can do the same stuff against Osimhen is surely Ronald Araujo, also a right centre-back who’s even taller than Kossounou. We need him in his absolute top form against Napoli.
One thing Araujo shouldn’t risk doing is going with the ball forward. Firstly, he is not great at it; secondly, Osimhen may punish him for that. Shortly after Kossounou did it and Ivory Coast lost possession, they got exposed defensively as Nigeria almost launched a dangerous counterattack.
Osimhen once again dropped deeper, collected the ball from Zaidu and beat Kossounou with a backheel pass Nigeria failed to capitalise on.
How did Osimhen try to get out of Kossounou’s pocket?
By moving to the wings – that’s how he started the second half, often switching to the right and sometimes to the left as Nigeria were trying to attack in different ways after a poor first half in which they somehow found the net.
At some point, Osimhen’s marker was experienced left-back Ghislain Konan who also did well in head-to-head battles. It’s quite concerning that Barca’s left-back is going to be Joao Cancelo (who is really weak defensively), but at least he’s got pace, like Konan.
Collective effort was still key for Ivory Coast in the second half: when Osimhen was trying to connect with his teammates, they kept surrounding him and cutting his oxygen off.
While the Elephants were superb at containing Victor Osimhen, it’s worth mentioning that they managed to stop the vast majority of Nigeria’s attacks long before the ball could’ve got to the striker – even despite the latter’s contribution in the build-up.
Osimhen heat map v Ivory Coast
What should Barca XI v Napoli be?
Defence-minded (at least for the first leg), filled with powerful centre-backs who are pacy enough to contain Osimhen’s rapid runs and full-backs who can track the striker’s movement on the wings.
Here is our preferred option.
Ter Stegen; Kounde, Araujo, Inigo, Cancelo; Pedri, De Jong, Gundogan; Yamal, Lewandowski, Raphinha.
- Only the best-available centre-backs in: no error-prone Andreas Christensen and Pau Cubarsi;
- Ronald Araujo and Inigo Martinez should definitely start for their superb ability to win aerial duels;
- Joao Cancelo is the weakest link at the back but he can be supported by Raphinha who is solid defensively – he could help contain Osimhen when the Nigerian moves to his right.
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