July 31, (THEWILL) – It might have been a friendly and Bayern Munich may not boast of the full compliment of their first team squad but Nigerian international Victor Osimhen continued his inspired form in front of goal in the pre-season this summer with two well-taken goals in Napoli’s 3-0 win at the Allianz Arena.
The early signs have been encouraging for the Italian side so far and their new manager Luciano Spalletti has enjoyed a good turn ahead of his first season in Serie A. One big reason for that has been the form of Super Eagles forward, Osimhen.
The pre-season had been Osimhen’s opportunity to gain the confidence of the manager and stake his claim for a first team start as he did under previous manager, Gennaro Gattuso. With four goals against well-beaten side Anaunia and the winning lone goal against Pro Vercelli, he had done that.
Yet, those were considered easy victories and were scheduled to get the players back into shape. Saturday’s game against world champions Bayern was seen as a test of the mettle of Spalletti’s influence and the team he was preparing for the challenge for honours in the domestic competition and the UEFA Europa League.
Again, Osimhen rose up to answer that challenge with a brace that cements the newfound confidence reposed in him by Spalletti. Excuses such as Bayern playing a partially strong side may be valid but winning at the Allianz does not happen every day. Napoli have shown tactical strength with their three wins out of three, scoring 16 goals and not conceding any.
Out of the 16 goals, Osimhen found the net seven times to get nearly 50 percent goal total for the team. On Saturday, he opened the scoring nine minutes after the hour mark and inside two minutes after that he had completed his brace for a sense of his form going into the 2021/2022 campaign.
After his goals, he was substituted off in the 81st minute and Zinedine Machach completed the goal-scoring four minutes later to give Bayern’s new manager, Julian Nagelsmann a lot of headache. Since taking over from Hansi Flick, he has not been able to fashion a win from the Bavarian giants.
A 3-2 loss to FC Koln was followed by the only game out of four played that did not end in a loss: a 2-2 draw against Ajax. Two losses came after, with Bayern unable to score against Borussia Mönchengladbach 2-0 and against Napoli 3-0. It was not the kind of start Nagelsmann expected and he will be in a hurry to assemble his best to begin winning again.
The excuse of not having his full team can apply to Napoli’s Spalletti too. In Saturday’s game, he was without key starters in the Napoli squad like Lorenzo Insigne, Dries Mertens, Hirving Lozano, Fabian Ruiz, Diego Demme, Giovanni Di Lorenzo, Alex Meret, David Ospina and Andrea Petagna.
The signs are good for Osimhen as he can even do more exploits with a complete squad of Napoli’s best back in the side. It will be a richly rewarding experience if his form carries into Serie A and the Europa League to give Napoli a better end of the upcoming campaign than the one that led to the sack of Gattuso.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
