Victor Osimhen bags brace for Napoli in Serie A 2023/24 opener

Victor Osimhen bags brace for Napoli in Serie A 2023/24 opener
Credit: Icon Sport

Nigeria national football team striker Victor Osimhen is up and running in the 2023/24 Italian Serie A with two opening-day goals against newly-promoted Frosinone.

I Canarini hosted the 2022/23 Scudetto winners Napoli at their stadium, Stadio Benito Stirpe, which has not seen Italian top-flight action in four years and it was a harsh welcome to the upper echelons of Italian football for the fans.

Super Eagles ace and Africa’s most valuable player, Victor Osimhen, scored two brilliant goals to kickstart his 2023/24 Capocannoniere campaign as 16,227 seated fans welcomed the 2023/24 Italian league football season.

Victor Osimhen scores in either half to down newly-promoted Frosinone

Rudi Garcia looked on as the 2022/23 Serie B champions got an early penalty thanks to the clumsiness of new signing Jens Cajuste, who was starting in the place of the injured Andre-Frank Zambo-Anguissa.

Frosinone went ahead through the ensuing spot kick in the seventh minute of the game, waking the Scudetto holders up.

Napoli pushed for an equaliser and in the 24th minute, following some good attacking play, Politano struck from the edge of the box to equalise. That was a wake-up call to the rest of the Napoli team who started pushing for a comeback.

They almost went up with an acrobatic assist from Osimhen which was finished by Giacomo Raspadori, but VAR ruled the goal out for offside in the build-up.

Victor Osimhen would go from an almost-assist to goal-scorer when he struck a first-time shot after captain Giovanni Di Lorenzo’s pulled a ball back to him after a marauding run down the wing. It was a rocket of a shot that struck the bar before going in, leaving the Frosinone keeper in no man’s land.

Osimhen would double his tally in the 79th minute when he beat Frosinone’s offside trap to blast the ball past the goalkeeper from 20 yards.

With two goals in his 2023/24 Serie A account, Goalball Live’s prediction of him scoring over 30 goals this season is looking likely to come true.

Rudi Garcia reveals scolding statement towards Victor Osimhen in opening day win

Victor Osimhen looks like he is in for a busy season with Rudi Garcia as his manager. The Frenchman, who used to manage AS Roma and most recently managed Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al-Nassr in the Saudi Pro League, knows how to manage big egos.

He showed that he is no respecter of names on his team when he scolded the former LOSC Lille man for his poor defending during the game despite his two goals that gave Napoli all three points. He revealed this in his post-match comments.

“Offensively, he was excellent, he scored two goals and there is nothing I can tell him,” Garcia told journalists. “Defensively, I didn’t like him at all and I told him during the break. He used to press more and defend better in the past. We changed this thing in the second half and we played with more quality.

“I knew he was not fit to play 90 minutes, but we waited for his second goal.

“He is a leader and this will never change, it’s his strong point.”

This article was most recently revised and updated 11 months ago

Daniel Kolade
All-round lover of the beautiful game. Massive football fan, supported Arsenal for decades for reasons that are unexplainable. One day we will win the Champions League!
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