David Okereke 6th goal not enough as Giovanni Simeone steals the show

Nigerian striker David Okereke scored his 6th league goal of the season as struggling Venezia were beaten 3-1 by Giovanni Simeone inspired Verona in a Serie A game on Sunday.

Giovanni Simeone, the son of Atletico Madrid coach Diego Simeone outshined the Nigerian striker by scoring three goals to hand Verona the win at Stadio M. A. Bentegodi.

Venezia were by far the better team at the end of the first half. But Verona started the second half on the strong foot and were rewarded with a goal in the 54th minute of the game.

A defensive blunder gifted Giovanni Simeone the chance from the right side of the pitch and he scored a fine bender to hand Verona the lead.

Nine minutes after his first goal he scored the second goal with a one-time left-foot finish.

But David Okereke pulled one back for Venezia in the 81st minute when he ran into a cross from Dennis Johnsen.

Venezia were looking for an equalizer but it was Verona who got the goal that sealed the 3-1 win. Kevin Lasagna did all the job before teeing up Giovanni Simeone for his third goal of the game.

Giovanni Simeone became the first player to score multiple hat-tricks in Serie A this season after scoring four against Lazio and three against Venezia.

He has scored a total of 15 league goals this season which is the highest scored by an Argentinian player in the Big-5 European Leagues.

David Okereke was on the pitch for the entire duration of the game but he was unable to help his team. He has now scored 6 goals in 21 league games.