Osimhen bags brace, becomes fifth most prolific African goal-scorer in Serie A

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By Johnny Edward.

Victor Osimhen scored twice and made an assist for Napoli who moved 10 points clear at the top of the Serie A after their 5-1 win over Juventus at the Diego Maradona stadium on Friday, PUNCH Sports Extra reports.

The Nigeria international headed in a rebound effort after Wojciech Szczesny had parried Kvicha Kvaratskhelia volley from 12 yards in the 15th minute for his 12th Serie A goal (36th league goal) of the season and his 40th for the Napoli since he joined the club.

The goal was Osimhen’s first against the Bianconeri in four games since he joined Napoli in 2020.

The strike also ended Juventus’s unbeaten run of eight games in the Serie A and Szczesny’s eight straight clean sheets which lasted for 770 minutes.

Osimhen’s latest strikes keeps him well out in front in the Serie A goal charts — four ahead of Lautaro Martinez, Marko Arnautovic and M’Bala Nzola.

In the 39th minute, the former Lille striker made an assist for his side’s second goal after he intelligently rolled the ball across for Kvaratskhelia to sweep home from 10 yards out before Angel Di Maria halved the deficit with a sublime strike inside the box.

A stunning strike from the edge of the box from Amir Rrahmani restored Napoli’s two goal cushion before Osimhen made it 4-1 with his second header of the game to become the joint top fifth most prolific African goal-scorer in Serie A with Keita Balde.

George Weah leads the pack with 46 goals while the trio Gervinho,Mohamed Kallon and Khouma Babacar are joint second with 39 goals.

Eljif Elmas scored Napoli’s fifth from close range to complete the rout.

In the French Ligue 2, Josh Maja, bagged his 11th goal of the season in 19 games for his Ligue 2 club, Bordeaux from the spot in their solitary win over Amiens who paraded Tolu Arokodare for 71 minutes.

In the LaLiga, Samuel Chukwueze made an assist for Gerard Moreno who opened scoring for Villarreal who were held to a 1-1 draw away at Celta Vigo.