In-form Osimhen nets brace as Napoli demolish Sampdoria

Nigerian striker Victor Osimhen continued his hot goalscoring streak as he notched a brace for Napoli in their 4-0 win over Sampdoria. His goals helped Napoli maintain their 100% record after five Serie A matches.

After scoring a brace against Leicester City last Thursday in the Europa League and adding another against Udinese at the weekend, 22-year-old Osimhen led the line for Napoli against Sampdoria at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris.

From the early stages of the match, it was a clear mismatch between Osimhen and Sampdoria’s central defensive pairing of Maya Yoshida and Omar Colley as the striker was too strong and too fast for the duo. The first real chance for Osimhen came when a ball was played over the top by Napoli captain Lorenzo Insigne, and the striker left Sampdoria defender Yoshida in his trail as he ran into the acres of space ahead of them to pick up the ball. His composure let him down when faced by Emil Audero in the Sampdoria goal, and his shot was straight at the goalkeeper.

Ten minutes into the game, there was no such mistake from Osimhen as he put Napoli ahead with an improvised finish. The Nigerian striker hounded Sampdoria’s defenders in their half and forced an errant backpass which he collected before sweeping the ball out wide to Insigne. Insigne sent in an inch-perfect cross that found a stretching Osimhen, whose miscued first-time finish looped over the head of the wrong-footed Audero, who desperately tried to claw the ball out from his net.

Napoli needed the services of goalkeeper David Ospina to keep out goal-bound efforts from Sampdoria’s Mikel Damsgaard and Antonio Candreva and help preserve his side’s lead. They finally got a second goal just before halftime as Spanish midfielder Fabian Ruiz casually guided home a shot from outside the box after another Insigne assist in the 39th minute.

Napoli began the second half as they did the first and just five minutes in, Osimhen struck again to put them 3-0 up and put the game beyond Sampdoria. The striker was on hand to convert a low cross from Mexican winger Hirving Lozano from just outside the six-yard box, taking his tally for the season to three in four league appearances and five in five appearances in all competitions.

Lozano then set up Polish midfielder Piotr Zielinski just before the hour mark in the 59th minute to round off the scoring for Napoli and return them to the top of the Serie A standings. Napoli have won all five of their league matches this season, making them the the only side in the Italian top flight and one of only two sides in Europe’s top five leagues to still have a 100% record in the league.