Victor Osimhen, Napoli
The Nigeria international made several entries into the record books following his scintillating display for the Neapolitans at the weekend
Super Eagles striker Victor Osimhen continued his brilliant scoring form on Saturday when he smashed a stunning hat-trick in Napoli’s 4-0 demolition of Sassuolo at the Diego Maradona Stadium.
It was Osimhen’s first three-goal haul at the club level, with the Nigerian failing to reach that height when playing for Wolfsburg, Sporting Charleroi, and LOSC Lille.
The goals also took Osimhen’s tally in the Italian Serie A to seven, elevating the Napoli man to the top of the league’s goalscorer chart.
Even more impressively, Osimhen has now scored 31 goals in Serie A, making him the joint-most prolific Nigerian star in the history of the Italian top flight.
It has also emerged that Osimhen’s weekend feat makes him the fifth African to net a Serie A hat-trick after Liberia’s George Weah, Cameroon’s Patrick Mboma, Egypt’s Mohamed Salah, and Senegal’s Keita Balde.
Weah, the first African to score a hat-trick in Italy’s top flight, grabbed it for AC Milan in a 3-0 win over Atalanta in 1998.
A year later, former Cameroon international Mboma replicated the feat for Cagliari in a 5-1 thrashing of Empoli.
While wearing the colours of Roma, Liverpool’s Salah scored all the goals as AS Roma ran out 3-0 winners over Bologna in 2016.
Senegal’s Balde made the cut when he powered Lazio to a 6-2 win over Palermo in 2017.
After joining the elite group of Africa’s Serie A hat-trick kings, Osimhen is both delighted and thirsty for more such feats.
“That was my first professional hat-trick so I’m really excited about it,” Osimhen told BBC Sport Africa.
“It’s been a great return after a few challenges at the start of the season and hopefully I can continue this form.
“As a striker, you always want to help your team so I want to stay hungry for more.”
Osimhen has scored six goals in his past four outings across all competitions since his return from a month-long injury layoff.
This post was last modified on November 2, 2022 7:27 am