SSC Napoli of Italy striker, Victor Osimhen had a disappointing end to his first season in the Italian Serie A, as he could only help his side finish the campaign in fifth position, following a 1-1 draw at home against lowly Hellas Verona, megasportsarena.com reports.
On a day his former club, Lille Metropole of France ended as champions of the French Ligue 1 for only the third time in their history, Osimhen failed to score on the last day of the campaign in Italy, and his team settled for a 1-1 draw at home against Destiny Iyenoma Udogie’s Hellas Vrona.
Osimhen’s quest for ultimate glory in Italy ended in an anti-climax, as Juventus qualified for the UEFA Champions League on the final day of the season with a 4-1 thumping of Bologna and were joined by AC Milan who beat Atalanta 2-0.
Napoli, who had Osimhen, their costliest signing ever, on for 90 minutes of Sunday’s game, had to settle for a Europa League spot, finishing fifth, one point behind Juventus, after a 1-1 draw at home against Hellas Verona.
Amir Rrahmani scored for Napoli after an hour against his former club, which would have been enough to secure a berth at the top table but Davide Faraoni pulled one back for the visitors nine minutes.
Despite spending heavily on Osimhen during the summer transfer window, the youngster, who has also played for Ultimate Strikers Academy of Lagos, VfL Wolfsburg of German and Sporting Charleroi of Belgium ended with only ten goals.
While Osimhen whimpered in full duration action, Verona’s Nigerian-born Udogie got into the highlights with the visitors and ended with a yellow card, during what was match number 56 between both clubs in Serie A and the 28th at home for Napoli.
Osimhen could only slump in agony after the final whistle, but it was a huge consolation for Udogie, an Italian youth international, born November 28, 2002 to Nigerian parents, who has grown rapidly through Hellas Verona’s youth system and made his Serie A debut on November 8, 2020 in a 2-2 away draw against Milan.
At the end of it all on Sunday, Osimhen, who top scored at Chile 2015 FIFA U-17 World Cup and is the Cadet Mundial’s eternal highest goals scorer, could not lift Gennaro Gattuso’s side back to European action, after also missing out on the same ticket in the previous season.
Osimhen’s club stated afterwards on their official website: “It ends 1-1 at the Maradona Stadium. The bitterest point of the season for Napoli coming out of the Champions quartet.
“will play the Europa League. It is the result of this draw with Verona that does not crown the great comeback of the last 2 blue months.
“Napoli unlocks it after an hour with the goal of the former Rrahmani. But then there is the draw of Pharaohs and the remaining 20 minutes in which we try them all.
“Also playing with 4 strikers. Petagna’s last header one second from the end hisses the crossbar. It ends like this. See you next season.”
