Former Super Eagles captain Sunday Oliseh has revealed that Taribo West once almost lost his cool with Austin Okocha over the midfielder’s excessive dribbling during a game, saying he had to hold the defender back from confronting his flamboyant teammate.

Okocha’s flair and style of play have been making headlines and trending on social media following an interview he had on the Obi One Podcast, where he revealed that he chose to play to his strengths despite criticism that he prioritised entertainment over results.

“It was always about winning. Do not forget it is business, and you live off it,” Okocha said when asked if he cared about entertaining the crowd over winning.

“The way I played may have made it look as if I was not playing to win, but I hated losing. I could not sleep if we lost. I just had to play to my strength because that was the value I could add to the team.”

The comments sparked different reactions on social media, with an old interview of his former teammate, Oliseh, also resurfacing. In the interview, Oliseh spoke about how he and other teammates coped with Okocha’s flamboyance on the pitch.

Oliseh spoke in a chat with the Special Delivery Podcast, hosted by former Eagles goalkeeper Emmanuel Babayaro and Matthew Edafe.

He narrated how Taribo went berserk at Okocha for repeatedly losing possession and how he had to restrain the former Inter Milan defender from confronting the midfielder.

“With Jay Jay, most people would say he was a difficult player to play with, as teammates, as defensive players. But I personally had a way, an understanding with Jay Jay that made it easy for me to play with him,” Oliseh said.

“There was one particular game. I’ll share a story with you. We were playing, and Jay Jay was doing his normal thing, and Nigerian fans were going crazy. In our team, as much as we disagreed, every player was a king in their position.

“We had match winners — most of the players could win games, but if someone did something bad in the group, the defenders always told me, ‘Sunday, tell am o.’

“They knew I was the only one who could say to Jay Jay, ‘My man, release the ball,’ and Jay Jay would release. There was one particular game, he was doing it, and we lost the ball. And the ball was coming, and Taribo was going crazy about him.

“And he lost the ball one more time, and I told him, ‘Hey, my man, I’m tired of running.’ And the next time, he went on dribbling and lost the ball. I left the man. I let the opponent pass, and they almost scored.

“Taribo went crazy. He crossed ahead of me, and I had to grab him. Don’t joke with Taribo. He wants to win. He’s fanatical about winning.”

The 47-year-old former Eagles coach and midfielder played alongside Okocha for several years across different age-grade teams of the Nigerian national setup.

They were part of the Nigerian U-23 team that won gold in the football event at the Atlanta ’96 Olympics. They were also members of the Eagles side that won the 1994 Africa Cup of Nations in Tunisia.

Okocha was renowned for his flair and dribbling prowess and is widely regarded as one of Nigeria’s most skilful footballers.

Okocha, who turned 53 earlier this month, won 73 caps for Nigeria between 1993 and 2006, scoring 14 goals. He featured at five Africa Cup of Nations tournaments and three FIFA World Cups.

One of his most memorable performances for Nigeria came in Lagos during the 2000 Africa Cup of Nations final against Cameroon, when he scored a spectacular long-range effort as the Eagles drew 2-2 with the Indomitable Lions before losing 4-3 on penalties.