“Just to encourage my friend” – Gift Orban reacts after praising Auxerre striker’s goal vs Lyon

Super Eagles invitee, Gift Orban, has issued an apology to Olympique Lyonnais fans after inadvertently praising an opponent’s performance on social media, Soccernet.ng reports.

The Seven-time Ligue 1 champions played host to AJ Auxerre in their match day nine encounter of the French league which ended with both teams sharing the spoils.

Orban, who joined Lyon in January, had few months to mingle with Sinaly Diamonde who has turned out to be his friend before he left Lyon to join Auxerre.

The Ivorian national, opened the scoring and provided an assist in their 4-goal thriller clash, got hailed by Orban who commented with “Top” and two fire emoji.

Unaware that these contributions had come at Lyon’s expense, his post sparked outrage among Lyon supporters, prompting Orban to clarify that he had not realised the goal and assist were against his own team.

“Excuse me OL fans, it was a mistake. I made this comment just to encourage my friend. I didn’t even realise it was from our match; who would wish for his own team to lose? We work hard each day to win matches and trophies. For OL, I am sorry – thank you.” Orban expressed regret.

It’s been a challenging season for the Super Eagles invitee, who has struggled to secure regular first-team football and was recently removed from Lyon’s first-team squad over disciplinary issues.