Super Eagles skipper, Mikel Obi has countered statement made by the national team coach, Gernot Rohr, that he is being shut out at his club because he featured at the recent Rio Olympics.
Mikel, 29, who is in his 11th season at Stamford Bridge, opted to lead his country’s male football team to the Olympics instead of fighting for a place under new Chelsea boss, Antonio Conte.
“There is a reason why Mikel is not playing for Chelsea right now and that reason is because he played for Nigeria at the (2016) Olympics,” Rohr said at a press conference on Thursday ahead of Nigeria’s 2018 Fifa World Cup qualifier against Algeria in Uyo.
“He was punished for that (by Conte). I cannot punish a player who loves his country and shows that he loves the Green jersey. ”
Mikel, who has not played a minute under Conte, however, said in a statement that the Chelsea manager supported him to feature at the Olympics and there is mutual respect between him, the gaffer and the Nigeria national team.
“I’d like to clarify that the recent media claims that I’ve been punished by Chelsea FC for participating at the Rio 2016 Olympics are completely inaccurate,” read the statement.
“Unfortunately comments made by Gernot Rohr before the 3-1 win over Algeria were both mistranslated and taken out of context by the Nigerian media, as English isn’t Mr Rohr’s or much of the Nigerian media’s first language.
“To be absolutely clear, Mr Conte and Chelsea were always fully supportive of my captaincy of the Nigerian team at Rio.
“The manager gave me his full blessing to participate at the Olympics, and even encouraged me to bring back the gold medal – something I spoke to the media about at the time.
“It goes without saying there is nothing but absolute respect between myself, the Nigerian national team and Chelsea FC, something that was demonstrated by Mr Rohr’s recent visit to Cobham.
“My only focus now is on winning more silverware with Chelsea and getting Nigeria to the 2018 World Cup, two challenges I can’t wait to face in the coming months.”
