Trezeguet's record eludes Osimhen as Spalletti blames lack of quality in Napoli's loss to Lazio

Super Eagles striker Victor Osimhen failed to equal an Italian Serie A record held by former Juventus striker David Trezeguet after firing blanks in Napoli's shock 1-0 loss to Lazio at the Diego Maradona Stadium on Friday night.

Had the Super Eagles player scored a non-penalty goal against the Biancocelesti, he would have become only the second player to score in nine consecutive matches in the three points for a win era in the Serie A without taking a penalty. 

The only goal of the encounter was scored by former Inter Milan midfielder Matías Vecino, who produced a moment of magic in the 67th minute - firing home from long range. 

​Osimhen, who had scored in every game since the 8th of January, could not prevent his team from suffering their second loss of the season.

He, however, came so close to scoring eleven minutes from time when his header came off the woodwork.

The Nigerian striker had an average game by his standards. He couldn't muster a shot on target and was only limited to 21 touches of the ball.

Napoli and Osimhen's places are safe as table toppers and top scorer respectively despite the loss. 

The Blues have 65 points after 25 games, seventeen more than their nearest challengers, Lazio. 

Osimhen, on the other hand, has 19 goals which is six more than Inter Milan's 2022 World Cup winner with Argentina, Lautaro Martínez.

Meanwhile, Napoli coach Luciano Spalletti admits Napoli ‘passed it around in the messiest way yet’ and lacked ‘quality’ during the surprise home defeat to Lazio, but ‘nobody has taken their hands off the wheel.’

“There just wasn’t enough quality. We passed it around in the messiest way yet, we rushed moves down the flanks where they were allowing us more movement,” Spalletti told DAZN.

“After doing it three or four times, we had the chance to go into the centre, but we lacked patience and didn’t attempt enough passes to free the midfielder. The midfield was the key to this game, for both teams.”

The coach was asked what he had told the squad at half-time, when it was already looking frustrating.

“We tried to do the same things with more quality, because the options were there to release Lobotka and create chances. Even if we did it better in the second half, the quality was still not good enough. When Lazio pulled their wide strikers back, we had the chance to get around their defence, but again lacked quality in our passing.

“This is how I expected Lazio to play, they often remain in a block to defend, but we made the worst choices of the season. On the positive side, I saw hunger, determination and humility from my players, I saw no arrogance or presumption.

“Lazio defended well, were fortunate on the crossbar and great save, while we were naïve with the clearance to the edge of the area for Vecino’s shot. He found that tiny gap between Rrahmani and the post, so congratulations to Vecino for that finish.”

This ended a run of eight consecutive Serie A victories for Napoli, the last four without conceding a single goal.

They had not lost at home in the league since April 2022 against Fiorentina, so almost a full year, although they were knocked out of the Coppa Italia here by Cremonese on penalties.

“From what I saw of the attitude and the disappointment when we got back into the locker room, it was a game that went a bit wrong, but nobody here has taken their hands off the wheel.”