Nigeria international, Victor Osimhen, moved to 13th spot in Napoli’s all-time scorers chart after he bagged his first hat-trick of the season within 16 minutes as the Partenopei annihilated Sassuolo 6-1 away in a Serie A game on Wednesday.
It was his second hat-trick against Sassuolo since arriving in Italy in 2020. The former Lille striker scored his first against the Neroverdi on October 29, 2022.
The 25-year-old also had an assist for Kvicha Kvaratskhelia, who scored twice in the encounter as new management Francesco Calzona recorded his first win after three games.
The treble also took Osimhen’s tally to five in three games for Napoli since returning from the Africa Cup of Nations and his 13th across all competitions this season.
Sassuolo had raced to an early lead in the 17th minute when Uros Racic curled in an inch-perfect low drive from the edge of the box but Amir Rrahmani drew Napoli level 12 minutes later after finishing off a well-worked team play involving Di Lorenzo and Andre Frank Zambo Anguissa down the right flank.
Osimhen gave Napoli a deserved lead two minutes later when he made it 2-1 after firing in from seven yards off a pass from Matteo Politano.
The Nigerian scored his second goal of the game after he capitalised on an error from goalkeeper Andrea Consigli to tap in from close range.
He completed his hat-trick straight after the restart, thanks to some suicidal defending from Sassuolo. Ruan Tressoldi tried to play it out from the back but passed it straight to Kvaratskhelia, who rolled across for the Nigerian to score.
With this treble, Osimhen becomes the third player in Napoli’s history to score at least 10 goals in four consecutive Serie A seasons after the late Diego Maradona (between 1984/85 and 1987/88) and Attila Sallustro (between 1929/30 and 1932/33), according to Opta.
Osimhen has now scored 72 goals in 122 games for Napoli and he is now joint fourth with Paulo Dybala in Serie A top scorers standings with 11 goals from 15 games.
The result keeps the champions in ninth place but they are now just eight points off the top four.
Credit: punchng.com
