Victor Osimhen found the net in his first Serie A start since November as Napoli squeezed past newly-promoted Venezia 2-0. Luciano Spalletti’s side failed to impress at the Stadio Pierluigi Penzo, but they walked away with a precious three points.
Napoli encountered a spirited Venezia side on Sunday afternoon, but Osimhen made sure to make his first Serie A start in three months count. After a scoreless first half, the Nigerian striker met Matteo Politano’s lofted ball to put the Partenopei in front on the stroke of the hour mark.
Although they restricted Paolo Zanetti’s team to very few clear-cut chances, Napoli had a handful of scoring opportunities of their own. But Andrea Petagna’s 100th-minute strike gave Spalletti’s side a landslide victory over sub-par opposition.
Napoli took advantage of Inter’s 2-1 defeat at the hands of Milan in Saturday’s Derby della Madonnina, reducing the gap to a single point. Even though the defending champions have a game in hand on closest followers, the coveted Scudetto is now open for the taking for both Milan and Napoli.
Osimhen, who took his seasonal tally to five goals in 13 Serie A appearances, refused to hide his enthusiasm after scoring his first league goal since mid-October.
“It feels good to play from the first minute, I trained well this week and of course I am really happy with the performance from the whole squad and my goal,” he told DAZN (via TUTTOmercatoWEB).
Osimhen also delivered his verdict on his side’s bid to dethrone Inter this season as Napoli target their first Serie A title since 1989/90.
“We’ll take every game step by step. Of course Inter a very tough opponent, it won’t be easy, but with the steps in the right direction, I think we can achieve our objective this season.
“Of course, we have many objectives and the Scudetto is one of them. Step by step, I think we can get there.“