Italy’s media houses hail Osimhen as Napoli’s saviour, and Politano and Calzona agrees

 

The cream of Italy press on Thursday hailed Super Eagles striker Victor Osimhen as the savior of Napoli, a fact that his coach and teammate agreed with.

The Eagles striker led to a 1-6 demolision of Sassuolo on Wednesday night, he scored a hat-trick.

Leading the praise singing was La Gazzetta dello Sport notes that Osimhen is more than the ‘solution to Napoli‘s problems’ after his hat-trick in a 6-1 win over Sassuolo.

The pink paper analysed Napoli’s convincing victory over the Neroverdi on Wednesday in a rescheduled fixture from Week 21.

It was inspired by a stunning Osimhen hat trick. The 25-year-old has netted five times in three matches since returning from Afcon.

‘He is the solution to Napoli’s problems, but not only,’ wrote journalist Pierfrancesco Archetti.

‘He made errors sometimes but continued to create chances. He even played a long ball for Kvara, who then scored the 5-1.’

Osimhen was rated 8/10 by Gazzetta and Il Corriere dello Sport and 9 by Tuttosport.

Corriere dello Sport called the Nigeria international ‘unstoppable’ and a ‘hurricane’ that overwhelmed Ruan Tressoldi and Gian Marco Ferrari.

Napoli hadn’t scored at least six goals in a game since October 2022, when they secured an away 6-1 win at Ajax in the Champions League group phase.

Osimhen made history because of the hat trick. He also crossed the ten-goal mark in the game and as a result, he has become only the third Napoli player in the club’s history to have scored ten or more goals for four consecutive seasons. Diego Maradona is one, as he did that between 1984 and 1988 and one has to go as far back as 1929, when Attila Sallustro achieved the same feat for the Partenopei, as per Opta.

Osimhen has now scored in all three games under Francesco Calzona, scoring five times in just three games for the club.

The defending Serie A champions sit 9th in the Serie A table, eight points below 4th-placed Bologna.

Also, Matteo Politano thinks Napoli have turned a corner with their 6-1 victory over Sassuolo because of Francesco Calzona’s influence and the return of Osimhen. ‘We had lost our self-belief.’

“We knew it was fundamental, we were missing this win and I think we proved today that we are a strong squad. It is a pity we lost so many points along the way, but if this is the approach, I am sure we can do well over the next few games,” Politano told DAZN.

“We needed a match like this, as it is important in terms of mentality and confidence, we had recently lost some of our self-belief. We stepped onto the pitch calm and knowing our capabilities.”

It is perhaps harsh that Walter Mazzarri was sacked the moment Osimhen returned, as he barely had the striker at his disposal during that tenure.

“Victor and Kvara are great players, obviously it is all easier when you’ve got an Osimhen like this.”

Napoli coach, Calzona confirms Osimhen and Kvicha Kvaratskhelia ‘were struggling’ at Napoli, but the 6-1 win over Sassuolo should give them ‘hope’ of Champions League qualification.

.“Victor is returning to his levels. He wasn’t in great shape after the Africa Cup of Nations, he was away for over a month and is slowly rediscovering his form.

“Kvara also struggled, but today showed just what he can do,” Calzona told DAZN.

“I sensed positivity from the first training session, the lads always gave me their all. I was surprised to see how eager they were to work, to stay together, and that gave me hope.”

Calzona is no stranger to the Napoli squad from his time as an assistant manager to both Maurizio Sarri and Luciano Spalletti, while he currently holds the role of Slovakia coach.

“It has been a difficult season for these players and it is not easy for them to shake off those negative effects. We’ve been working together for a week now, I saw the intensity rise and a different quality of training. It is thanks to the lads, as they want to improve the current situation.”

This could prove to be a turning point, especially as they have old rivals Juventus coming up on Sunday evening at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona.