Nigerian Players Abroad: Osimhen Caged, As Napoli Suffers 1st Season Defeat To Lazio
- September 04, 2023
- In Nigeria Players Abroad
Nigerian Players Abroad: Osimhen Caged, As Napoli Suffers 1st Season Defeat To Lazio
By Emmanuel Chinedu
Nigeria’s Super Eagles forward, Victor Osimhen featured for Napoli, as they suffered a 1-2 loss to Lazio, in an Italian Serie A Matchday 3 encounter, BSNSports.com.ng reports.
Last season’s Serie A top-scorer was on for the entire game at the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium in Naples but did not get enough supply to score as the champions suffered a defeat.
Osimhen’s best chance on goal came in the 17th minute when he powered a header just wide of the opposition goal.
It was Lazio who opened the scoring on the half-hour mark.
Felipe Anderson did well down the right-hand side to pull the ball back to Luis Alberto in the six-yard box to beautifully back-heel the ball past Napoli goalkeeper Alex Meret for 0-1.
Napoli pulled back almost immediately when Politano’s ball into the box was cleared only as far as Zielinski who got the ball out of his feet before firing home with the help of a deflection from Romagnoli.
Both sides went into the halftime break level 1-1.
In the second half, Felipe Anderson was again involved as he drove down the right wing before pulling the ball back to Luis Alberto on the edge of the box. The Spanish midfielder allowed the ball through his legs for Daichi Kamada who fired home into the bottom corner to gift Lazio the lead.
Matteo Guendouzi scored to make it three for Lazio but his attempt was ruled out by VAR for offside.
Napoli did push to equalize but Lazio were excellent in defence to keep Osimhen quiet as they saw out a 1-2 Italian Serie A win over the champions.
With the International break to follow, Victor Osimhen will hopefully report for the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifiers with Nigeria this weekend.
Nigeria will face Sao Tome and Principe on September 10, hoping to end their 2023 AFCON qualification series with victory.
The list of Super Eagles players for the game is yet to be published, but as one of Nigeria’s standout players, Victor Osimhen should be on the plane to Uyo.
