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Former Barcelona forward Emmanuel Amuneke has come out to clear the air after receiving heat for seemingly picking Salah over Osimhen for CAF Awards.
Super Eagles assistant coach Emmanuel Amuneke has reportedly cleared the air after he was thought to have picked Egypt’s Mohammed Salah over his countryman Victor Osimhen for the CAF POTY Award.
Osimhen ended Nigeria’s 24-year wait to see a son of the soil stand above all in the continent’s pecking order for male football stars. Before the gala, however, slight controversy ensued when Amuneke, who is credited with giving the striker his big break, was shown in a clip to have picked Salah over Osimhen for the award.
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21:00 - 11.12.2023
CAFAwards2023: Osimhen beats Hakimi and Salah to become first Nigerian African Best in 24 years
Super Eagles and Napoli striker Victor Osimhen has shrugged off competition from Mohammed Salah and Achraf Hakimi to win the African Footballer of the Year Award.
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22:20 - 11.12.2023
A stupid mistake — Osimhen defends Napoli at CAF Awards
Super Eagles striker Victor Osimhen has taken the biggest prize at the CAF 2023 Awards and he used the opportunity to clear the air on his relationship with Napoli.
What happened
As Pulse Sports reported, Emmanuel Amunike came under heavy fire for seemingly opining that Mohammed Salah deserved the CAF Men's Player of the Year award ahead of his compatriot, Victor Osimhen.
Ahead of the big event on Monday night in Marrakech, Morocco, the CAF social media account shared a video where it asked legends of the African game to name their preferred winner for the African Player of the Year Award of the three nominees between Osimhen, Mohammed Salah, and Achraf Hakimi.
The legends were seemingly in transit to the gala when the content was recorded, and although the majority of them went for Osimhen, including former Arsenal striker Emmanuel Adebayor, shockingly, Nigeria’s Amunike wasted no time in naming Salah when the camera panned on him.
Amuneke’s explanation
Amuneke’s publicly expressed choice of Salah over Osimhen, as depicted in the clip, was almost unbelievable, given the role the former Barcelona player played in the striker’s career and his current role with the national team.
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His answer befuddled many, who took to social media to criticise the legend. In a report this morning, however, Amuneke explained that there was more to the viral clip than meets the eye.
The coach claimed to never have been presented with a question that pitted Osimhen against Hakimi and Salah; instead, he was only asked to pick between the North African duo, hence his Salah pick.
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He also explained that he had no real voting power, as he was never invited by the federation to poll, and the clip was merely content developed by a Moroccan journalist.
“I was never elected to vote in the CAF Awards,” he said, per Godwin Enakhena.
“A Moroccan journalist came to me and asked, ‘Hakimi or Salah’. I said Salah because I played in Egypt I lived in Egypt and I know some of the guys there. Osimhen was never in the conversation.”
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