“We should rub each other’s back”

Super Eagles midfielder, Ogenyi Onazi has blamed his past spate of injuries on what he faced with the national team and said Gernot Rohr didn't show concern towards his state.

Onazi, invited on standby to the Super Eagles ahead of Nigeria's double-header clashes against Ghana, said he faced a tough time with injuries and administrative battles but has since bounced back.

In an interview with Omasports, the midfielder said the injury that got him “into this mess” was sustained while he played for the Super Eagles. He said “we should be able to run each other's back” as people thought he refused to play for the national team but was wasn't fit enough to play.

“I just have to give thanks to God because I had a really rough time. And if you want to be fair enough we should be able to rub each other's back – because to be honest, the injury that got me into this mess that I am started from the national team,” Onazi said.

“I was trying to tell Gernot Rohr [former Super Eagles coach] then that I had a pain on my achilles tendon and he was thinking I didn't want to play a game. This is the problem that got me out of the national team. People don't understand. And so many people were talking on the media, saying ‘why is Onazi refusing to play?' So I had to go back to my club. I went there and unfortunately I didn't pay attention to the treatment and injection that the doctor was giving to me.”

He said his achilles' tendon was ruptured but was poorly managed by the medical staff at Trabzonspor and this saw him struggle to maintain fitness for a long time.

“He [the doctor] was giving me painkiller so I would not feel pain, but using it to play, because at that time, Trabzonspor wanted to become champions, so they couldn't risk me staying out. So when I used it to play that was when it completely ruptured because I was forcing it.

“I had three surgeries on the same leg and I was out for a year without playing.”