Ghana vs. Nigeria: Osimhen sends warning to Black Stars with a brace against Verona
Napoli climbed to second in Serie A after a double from Super Eagles striker Victor Osimhen fired them to a 2-1 win at Hellas Verona on Sunday.
Osimhen made the difference in a tight match in Verona, heading the visitors in front in the 14th minute after darting across his man.
The Eagles striker performances in recent matches is good news to Nigerians, especially Super Eagles Interim Technical Director Austin Eguavoen but for Black Stars coach Otto Addo, Osimhen’s recent form will be giving him sleepless nights.
Verona applied plenty of pressure after the break, with Osimhen feeling the effects of one of several robust Verona challenges, before Napoli's top goal scorer recovered to double his side's lead with 19 minutes left.
A spirited Verona refused to give in and got back into the contest as captain Davide Faraoni headed home, but Federico Ceccherini's sending off for two bookable offences seven minutes from time ended their hopes of completing the turnaround.
The victory took Luciano Spalletti's title-chasers on to 60 points from 29 matches played, three points behind leaders AC Milan and two ahead of Inter, who play Torino later on Sunday.
Verona stays ninth. Losing to Milan was a blow to us but we’re keen to bounce back and make amends.”
Osimhen's performance in the Sunday match is the fulfillment of the promise he made to fans after they lost 0-1 at home to AC Milan last Sunday.
Speaking to Radio Kiss Kiss two days away from Napoli’s away clash against Verona Osimhen said
“The most important thing is that we dust ourselves down and get back to winning ways. We’re really sorry for having let people down on Sunday but we’re aware of how good we are.
“We’ll fight to win the title until the last moment and we want to get back to winning ways. There’s still a long way to go. We believe in ourselves, as should our fans. They give us so much strength.
“We’ve now got to think about Sunday. Verona are a good team, on good form and it’ll be a tough game playing in front of their fans. We’ll give our all in pursuit of a win."
