Portuguese international Rafael Leão has showered praise on Super Eagles striker Victor Osimhen following an extraordinary act of generosity that saw the Nigerian sacrifice an opportunity to score twice in celebration of his newborn daughter, allowing his Galatasaray teammate to end his goalscoring drought, Sports247.ng reports.
The touching incident occurred during Galatasaray’s emphatic 4-0 victory over Konyaspor in the Turkish Super Lig on Friday, October 30, when Osimhen voluntarily handed Leão the responsibility of taking a second-half penalty despite being the club’s regular spot-kick taker.
Osimhen had already opened the scoring in the 12th minute with a powerful header from Gabriel Sara’s delivery, celebrating a special moment following the birth of his second child.
However, when Galatasaray were awarded a penalty in the 55th minute, the Nigerian international surprised his teammate by stepping aside, allowing Leão to score his first competitive goal for the Turkish champions.
Speaking after the encounter, the former AC Milan winger revealed that he had jokingly challenged Osimhen to score twice before the match to celebrate becoming a father again.
“Yesterday, Osimhen had his second child. So I told him, ‘You need to score two goals today,’” Leão explained.
“He scored the first one, but during the penalty, he gave the ball to me.”
The Portuguese star admitted that the gesture meant a great deal to him, particularly after struggling to open his goalscoring account since arriving at Galatasaray during the summer transfer window.
“I’m very grateful to him. He knows how much I struggled for that goal,” Leão revealed.
The winger described Osimhen’s decision as evidence of the remarkable unity within the Galatasaray dressing room, where individual ambitions are being balanced with collective success.
“We have a great group. I’m really happy to have this kind of teammate,” he added.
The victory, which also featured goals from Yunus Akgün and Aleksey Batrakov, strengthened Galatasaray’s position at the top of the Turkish Super Lig standings.
For Osimhen, the occasion became more than another goalscoring performance, as his selfless gesture demonstrated that helping a teammate achieve a personal milestone can be just as rewarding as scoring himself.
