Osimhen snubs penalty duty in Napoli win

Victor Osimhen came off the substitute’s bench to score his fifth Serie A goal of the season in seven games for Napoli who thrashed Lecce 4-0 at the Stadio Via del Mare on Saturday, PUNCH Sports Extra reports.

Napoli took the lead with Leo Ostigard’s debut Serie A goal, shaking off his marker for a header on Piotr Zielinski’s free kick at the far top corner.

Osimhen who was rested ahead of the Partenopei’s Champions League clash against Real Madrid on Tuesday came on for Giovanni Simeone at the start of the second half and made an immediate impact, heading in a cross from khivcha Kvaratskhelia in the 51st minute. His strike sees go joint top on the top scorers chat with Lautaro Martinez.

The Nigerian striker had a chance to add to his tally in the game from the spot in additional time of the game but for the second game running, since his mocked miss against Bologna, Osimhen left the spot-kick to a teammate, this time Matteo Politano who scored Napoli’s fourth goal of the encounter.

Meanwhile, Napoli coach explained why the Nigerian didn’t start the encounter.

“There has to be squad rotation, it is almost a third of the team that changed since the game with Udinese, so it’s natural to look to everyone, including those who come off the bench,” Garcia told DAZN.

The Frenchman also assured that the TikTok video controversy will ‘take care of itself’.

“The extra-sport issue is not important, I prefer to talk about what happens on the field and Osimhen has scored five goals in seven games. The rest will take care of itself,” shrugged the coach.

In Turkey, Paul Onuachu scored his third goal in as many matches for Trabzonspor to beat promoted Pendikspor 2-1 on
Saturday.

The Nigerian lanky forward headed home the opener from a corner for Trabzonspor in the third minute of the encounter.

Two seasons ago, he was top scorer in Belgium.