“A lion-hearted game from him” – Napoli boss praises Super Eagles star’s excellent Leicester City performance

Three Nigerians were involved from the start at the King Power Stadium on Thursday, but one outshone others by a country mile

Napoli manager Luciano Spalletti has been left bewildered after Nigerian striker Victor Osimhen delivered one of his best performances in a Napoli shirt.

Osimhen dropped a man-of-the-match display as the Italian side battled back from two goals down to draw their matchday one Europa League clash against Leicester City at the King Power Stadium.

With the Neapolitans staring defeat in the eye, the Super Eagles forward smashed two brilliant goals to earn the Serie A giants a share of the spoils.

Even more impressive than Osimhen’s two goals was his all-round performance on the night.

Osimhen terrorised Leicester’s centre-back pairing of Jannik Vestergaard and John Evans at will. And when Evans was replaced at halftime by Caglar Soyuncu, the youngster tormented the Turkish defender even more.

Earning a near-flawless 9.2 rating on Sofascore, Osimhen had a 100% dribble success, a 100% passing accuracy, making two key passes, creating one big chance, while showing his strength in winning five of eight ground duels.

At full-time, even his manager could not help but describe the ex-Lille man’s performance as lion-like.

“It was a really quality performance,” Spalletti told UEFA.com on Osimhen’s performance.

“He opened up passing options, attacked, and put pressure on the entire defence. A really lion-hearted game from him.”

Osimhen’s two Europa League strikes are his first official goals for Napoli this term. The young striker will hope the goals continue to flow when Napoli return to Serie A action away to Udinese on Monday.