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Sports News of Saturday, 14 January 2023

Source: www.premiumtimesng.com

Serie A: Osimhen scores twice as five-star Napoli crush Juventus

Victor Osimhen is not slowing down at scoring goals this season.

The gangling Nigerian striker added two more goals to his tally as Napoli humiliated Juventus 5-1 on Friday night in their Serie A clash at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona.

With Friday’s brace, Osimhen has scored 12 league goals this season, making him the top scorer in Italy’s top division.

Though adjudged as prolific, Osimhen has always found it difficult scoring against the top Italian teams.

However, the 24-year-old showed he is capable of wrecking havoc against any team when he shot Napoli into the lead just 14 minutes into the game.

Juventus had played more than 700 minutes of football lately without conceding a goal before Osimhen finally breached their defence.

Having set the tone, Napoli built on the foundation set by Osimhen as they doubled their lead in the 39th minute through Khvicha Kvaratskhelia who fed on an assist from the Nigerian striker.

However, Juve were handed a lifeline when Angel Di Maria pulled one back for the visitors just before after time as the first 45 minutes ended 2-1 in favour of Napoli.

While many expected Juventus to come out strong to at least wrestle a point against Napoli in the second half, they were simply blown away by Luciano Spalleti’s men.

Ten minutes into the second half, Amir Rrahmani made it 3-1 before Osimhen popped up with another goal in the 65th minute.

Eljif Elmas completed the rout with another goal for Napoli in the 72nd minute as they solidify their position at the top of the standings with 47 points from 18 games.

It is worth noting Friday’s trouncing is the first time Juventus have conceded five goals in a Serie A match since 30 May 1993 when they also lost by a similar scoreline.

For Napoli, this is only the second time in their history they have scored five goals against the Bianconeri in a Serie A fixture.

The only other time was November 20, 1988.