It was a night to forget for Victor Osimhen and his club Napoli as they suffered a crushing 3-1 defeat to Barcelona in their Champions League round of 16 second leg bout at the Olímpic Lluís Companys Stadium on Tuesday night.
Following a 1-1 draw in Italy weeks ago, Francesco Calzona's side felt they could pull off a good result against the Spanish giants away from home.
However, two goals in the first 17 minutes of the affair from Fermín López and João Cancelo put Barcelona in a commanding aggregate lead over the Partenopei.
After the disastrous start, Napoli regrouped and pulled a goal back at the 30 minutes mark as Matteo Politano set up Amir Rrahmani in the box who drilled lovely into the bottom left corner.
The rest of the first-half saw the Serie A side try to force an equalizer before the break which didn't come.
In the second half, the next goal was going to prove crucial in these teams' chances of progressing.
And at each side of the goalposts, the goalkeepers delivered great saves to keep the scoreline at 2-1.
Nonetheless, it was Xavi's men who increased their tally through Robert Lewandowski seven minutes from time to all but put the result beyond the visitors who suffered suffered a 4-2 aggregate defeat to the Blaugrana.
Why Victor Osimhen failed to inspire Napoli
Osimhen is capable of deciding any match as his finishing skills and athleticism makes him a threat to opposing defenders in any game.
But on a night when the Partenopei needed his goals, the Barcelona backline kept him at bay.
The reasons why the Nigerian striker failed to live up to expectations in the game are these:
- The 25-year-old did not time his runs and as a result, he was caught offside on three occasions.
- The Barcelona defense kept an eye on him in the entire game.
- Osimhen was not properly involved in the game by his teammates, this made him to register just one shot in the entire 90 minutes.
- The Nigeria international lost his duel battles, winning just one out of ten duels contested.
Next up for Napoli
With Champions League elimination all but confirmed for the Partenopei, attention will now shift to their next Serie A game.
Napoli will make the trip to Milan to face runaway league leaders Inter Milan at the San Siro on Sunday night.
Having recorded no losses in their last five league games (2W, 3D), Calzona's men will look to avoid a defeat against Simone Inzaghi's side who are currently on a 13-game winning streak across all competitions.
This article was most recently revised and updated 9 months ago
