Napoli celebrated the Scudetto with their fans and Victor Osimhen shook off a penalty miss to set a new record as the top African scorer in Serie A, beating Fiorentina 1-0.
The title was secured with a 1-1 draw away to Udinese on Thursday, so this was the first opportunity to enjoy the moment together with their fans at the Stadio Maradona. Mario Rui was out injured, while the Viola missed Arthur Cabral and suspended Lucas Martinez-Quarta, but Fiorentina welcomed the new Champions of Italy with a guard of honour.
Luka Jovic nodded an Aleksa Terzic cross over the bar, then had another header well saved by Pierluigi Gollini, who spent the first six months of the season with the Viola.
Gollini was again called into action as Leo Ostigard slipped to let Jovic through, while Giovanni Di Lorenzo’s volley was smothered by Pietro Terracciano and Kim Min-jae was there to stop Jovic reaching the Terzic cross.
Osimhen hit the side-netting from an Eljif Elmas slide-rule pass, but Lozano had to be carried off the field after a knee injury.
Straight after the restart, Osimhen’s high press forced Fiorentina into an error, with Amrabat shoving Stanislav Lobotka over for a penalty. Osimhen stepped up, but both his spot-kick and the rebound were parried by Terracciano, meaning the Nigerian has failed to convert both efforts in Serie A and the Champions League this season.
Amrabat stung Gollini’s gloves from distance, but Mathias Olivera over-hit the pass that would’ve been an easy tap-in for Osimhen.
The striker was incredibly unlucky when his dink over Terracciano bounced on the turf, hit the underside of the crossbar and rebounded back out of an empty net, although it might’ve been disallowed anyway for a push on Nikola Milenkovic.
Kvicha Kvaratskhelia cut inside and his dummies drew Nico Gonzalez into an avoidable challenge, leading to another penalty and this time Osimhen did manage to convert by sending Terracciano the wrong way, adding to his Capocannoniere tally and breaking George Weah’s record of Serie A goals for an African player.
Nico Gonzalez got it all very wrong when trying to pass a Lorenzo Venuti pull-back into the net from 12 yards, an ideal opportunity to equalise.
Christian Kouame also failed to make the most of a Jovic pass, as his poor first touch saw him prod over the bar.
Napoli 1-0 Fiorentina
Osimhen pen 74 (N)
Saved penalty: Osimhen 48 (N)
Match statistic
