Victor Osimhen Trumps Cristiano Ronaldo In First-Ever Meeting With Portuguese Megastar

The 22-year-old Nigerian finally shared a football pitch with the former Real Madrid man six months after completing his multimillion-euro move to Italy 

Victor Osimhen faced Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo for the first time in a Serie A match and came out on the winning side as Napoli secured a narrow 1-0 victory over Juventus at the Stadio Diego Maradona on Saturday evening.

Lorenzo Insigne’s perfectly executed penalty on the hour-mark handed Gennaro Gattuso’s men the lead in a half where the visitors dominated possession.

But despite the Old Lady cranking up the pressure after the interval, the home side held on to bag their first win in the last three matches.

Despite failing to add to his two league goals, Osimhen will be delighted to have led Napoli to a first victory of the season over the defending Serie A champions.

Juventus have had the measure of Napoli this term, with Andrea Pirlo’s men highlighting their superiority in the only meeting against Il Partenopei before Saturday evening’s Serie A faceoff.

Osimhen missed that Super Cup clash in January as he was recovering from the coronavirus infection.

Ronaldo was the hero on that night,  opening the scoring in the 64th minute of the tie before Spanish forward Alvaro Morata struck late at the MAPEI Stadium to claim a 2-0 victory.

But it was Napoli’s turn to celebrate tonight. 

Gattuso withdrew Osimhen and sent on Petagna midway through the second period as the hosts looked to fight back the visitors’ relentless attack.

The trick worked, though, as Napoli defended their slender lead to rise to fourth on the league table and move to within nine points of leaders AC Milan.