Victor Osimhen said it is a ‘great privilege’ for him to make history for Napoli and explains why he clambered into the Spezia fans before kick-off. ‘I felt so sorry!’
The Partenopei took a while to find the breakthrough at the Stadio Picco, eventually gifted the opener by an Arkadiusz Reca handball for the Kvicha Kvaratskhelia penalty.
The Georgian then set up two goals for Osimhen, a towering header on the deflected cross and robbing Mattia Caldara to roll across for his teammate for the 3-0 scoreline.
The Nigerian becomes only the fourth Napoli player to score 16 goals in the first 21 Serie A games of the season, following in the footsteps of Luis Vinicio in 1955-56, Edinson Cavani in 2012-13 and Gonzalo Higuain in 2015-16.
“Congratulations to the team, it’s good to contribute two goals. Big respect to Spezia, they gave us a good fight in the first half,” Osimhen told Sky Sport Italia.
“We needed these points to keep the momentum going. I’m happy with the win and of course to be in the history of Napoli is a great privilege for me, so I am very happy for this.”
This result puts Napoli temporarily 16 points clear at the top of the table, awaiting the Derby della Madonnina this evening between Inter and Milan.
“All the victories are important, we need to keep the momentum and try to win all games. It is not going to be easy of course, Serie A is a very competitive league and we have to be on top of our game. We go back, we prepare for the next game, that is the most important thing.”
There was a curious incident before kick-off during the warm-up when Osimhen ran over and clambered into the end with the Spezia supporters to hug a young lady, posing for selfies on the way back out.
“I was making the practice shot, I shot over the goal and there was a lady in the middle of the fans. I think she was looking at her phone, the ball hit her in the face and I felt so sorry, as I didn’t mean to do that. I had to show my appreciation and say sorry for that.”