Interim head coach of the Super Eagles, Austin Eguavoen, has shed light on his decision to start Victor Osimhen from the bench in the two African Cup of Nations qualifiers against Benin and Rwanda.

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) technical director handed Bayer Leverkusen striker Victor Boniface a starting role in the two games ahead of Victor Osimhen and Nottingham Forest’s Taiwo Awoniyi.

Osimhen came off the bench in the last 25 minutes of the game against Benin Republic in Uyo and made an immediate impact by scoring from a superb volley to double Nigeria’s lead before Ademola Lookman scored his second of the day to give Nigeria a convincing 3-0 victory.

In a similar fashion, the 25-year-old was subbed on in the second half against Rwanda in yesterday’s encounter, but this time failed to hit the back of the net as the Wasps held the Super Eagles to a goalless draw at the National Amahoro Stadium in Kigali City.

Explaining his decision to start the reigning African Footballer of the Year from the bench in both encounters, Eguavoen cited Osimhen’s fitness concerns and a difficult summer that saw his move to Chelsea collapse on transfer deadline day.

“Osimhen is our brother; you can’t throw the baby out with the bathwater. We know what he is going through in Napoli. He just moved to Galatasaray and has not been playing active football for a while now,” Eguavoen said in the post-match press conference.

“We are trying to manage his fitness. He played the last 25 minutes in the previous game, and today we had a word with him that he can’t play 90 minutes or else he will get injured,” he added.