Nigeria vs Morocco: Referee was appalling – Osayi-Samuel

By Editor

Super Eagles defender Bright Osayi-Samuel has condemned the quality of officiating in their match against Morocco in the semifinal of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations. Nigeria lost the encounter via the penalty shootout after it ended goalless.

After the game, the Birmingham City player was very disappointed but satisfied that the Super Eagles were not disgraced.

“Painful, very painful, to obviously lose. I think we played very well, defense was…the back four was amazing,” Osayi-Samuel told Victor Ademola, a Nigerian content creator.

“I’m proud of the team. The manager came down and said he’s proud of the team, the (NFF) board members came down and said they’re proud of the team, so it’s just really painful that you know, we lost on penalties. Penalty is all about luck; it’s a lottery, and today we didn’t win that.”

​The referee of the game between Nigeria and Morocco, Daniel Laryea, has received a lot of criticism for his performance. In particular, his yellow card to Calvin Bassey was controversial and costly, as that effectively ruled the Fulham star out of the third-place game.

​Osayi-Samuel did not hold back when talking about the officiating after the game. He admitted that Laryea was not the reason for their loss, but stated that his performance on the night was disappointing.

“One thing I would say is that the referee was appalling. I’m not saying that that’s the reason why we lost, but just making very, very wrong decisions,” Osayi-Samuel added.

“It’s really painful to see that we have refs like that in a big game like today, you know. But I wish Morocco all the best.”

The Super Eagles will take on Egypt in the third-place match on Saturday.

Osayi-Samuel was one of the standout performers for Nigeria against Morocco on Wednesday.

Soccernet.

Photo: Daniel Laryea