Galatasaray's Victor Osimhen ruled out of UEFA Champions League opener with injury

Galatasaray have ruled Victor Osimhen out with a groin injury, with the Nigeria striker expected to spend between two and three weeks on the sidelines, ruling him out of the club's UEFA Champions League opener.

Osimhen will miss Galatasaray's Champions League trip to Sporting CP on Wednesday, and is also expected to be unavailable when Nigeria begin their 2027 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying campaign later this month.

The Turkish Super Lig champions confirmed that examinations show the forward suffered what the club described as an "advanced-moderate level strain" in his right adductor during Friday's 3-2 league win at İstanbul Basaksehir.

"Following the completion of MR and advanced examinations at our sponsor Acıbadem Hospital, advanced-moderate level strain (bleeding and strain) has been detected in the right adductor (groin) muscle group of our footballer Victor Osimhen," Galatasaray said in a post on Twitter.

The injury also comes just as Osimhen had started the club season in prolific form.

He scored Galatasaray's opening goal against Basaksehir in the 16th minute, taking his Super Lig tally to six goals in four appearances this season, with another two assists to boot. But his evening ended only 17 minutes later.

Osimhen appeared to feel some discomfort and signalled that he could not continue before being replaced by Barış Alper Yılmaz in the 33rd minute. Galatasaray eventually won 3-2 through Gabriel Sara's 90th-minute goal after twice surrendering the lead.

The club initially said Osimhen had experienced pain and strain in the right adductor area and that MRI scans and further examinations would follow. Those tests subsequently confirmed the extent of the injuries.

While Osimhen will miss Wednesday's Champions League opener, he is expected to recover in time for their second league-phase game on Oct. 13, when Barcelona visit Istanbul.

The diagnosis comes at an awkward time for both club and country. Galatasaray begin their Champions League campaign away to Sporting on Sept. 9, while Nigeria host Madagascar on Sept. 25 before traveling to face Guinea-Bissau four days later.

His absence has been compounded by an injury to Trabzonspor striker Paul Onuachu, who was forced off during his club's 5-0 win over Genclerbirligi on Sunday.

Because both Nigeria games fall inside Osimhen's projected recovery period, it leaves coach Eric Chelle without his leading striker for the start of another qualifying campaign, an issue that bedevilled Nigeria's ultimately ill-fated 2026 World Cup qualifying run.

Nigeria have been drawn in Group L alongside Madagascar, Guinea-Bissau and co-host Tanzania. With Tanzania already qualified automatically as one of the three hosts, only the highest-placed team outside the hosts is guaranteed to advance from the group.

Osimhen's absence also slows down a run toward a record that has stood for more than two decades. Yekini scored 37 times in 58 appearances for Nigeria between 1984 and 1998 and remains the country's leading international goalscorer but the Gala striker has moved within two goals of that mark after scoring eight times in seven Nigeria appearances in 2026.

His most recent international goal came in Nigeria's 2-0 AFCON quarterfinal victory over Algeria in January.