In-form Nigeria striker Victor Osimhen grabbed a brace for Napoli in their 3-0 win over Spezia and improved his goals tally of the season to 16 from 17 Serie A games this season.
Khvicha Kvaratskhelia gave the Serie A leaders the lead in the 47th minute from the penalty spot while Osimhen grabbed his first goal of the day in the 68th minute. He jumped the highest to head the ball inside the net after the hosts failed to properly clear their lines.
He scored his second in the 73rd minute tapping in from close range after receiving a pass from an unselfish Kvaratskhelia.
Osimhen becomes only the fourth Napoli player to score 16 goals in the first 21 Serie A games of the season, following in the footsteps of Luis Vinicio in 1955-56, Edinson Cavani in 2012-13 and Gonzalo Higuain in 2015-16.
Reacting to the win, the 24-year-old says it is an important victory and he hopes the momentum continues.
“Congratulations to the team, it’s good to contribute two goals. Big respect to Spezia, they gave us a good fight in the first half,” Osimhen told Sky Sport Italia after the win.
“We needed these points to keep the momentum going. I’m happy with the win and of course to be in the history of Napoli is a great privilege for me, so I am very happy for this.”
“All the victories are important, we need to keep the momentum and try to win all games. It is not going to be easy of course, Serie A is a very competitive league and we have to be on top of our game. We go back, we prepare for the next game, that is the most important thing.”
The brace takes Osimhen’s goals tally of the season to 16 from 17 league games surpassing the 14 goals scored in the entirety of the 2021/22 league season.
With the win, Napoli go 16 points clear of second-placed Inter Milan who have a date against arch rivals AC Milan later in the day. The Partenopei are moving closer to to winning their first league title in over 30 years.
Osimhen has also extended his lead on the top scorers chart. He is four goals ahead of second placed Ademola Lookman (12 goals) who fired blanks in Atalanta’s 1-0 loss to Sassuolo on Saturday and five goals adrift of Inter’s Lautaro Martinez (11 goals) who has an opportunity of closing the gap against AC Milan later in the day.
