SSC Napoli of Italy striker, Victor Osimhen will this weekend seek to net his first goal in the Italian Serie A, as he goes out for his third match since arriving from Lille Metropole of France, megasportsarena.com reports.
After coronavirus scare scuttled his hopes of playing against Cristiano Ronaldo and Juventus last time out before the international break, Osimhen will now seek consolation in Saturday’s high-profile battle with equally in-form Atalanta.
Osimhen was fully involved in preparations for the game, which began with a morning session at Napoli Training Center, with the fourth matchday Serie A billed to kick-off 3pm at Sao Paolo Stadium, ahead of which the team started their drills with a series of bulls in groups, followed by tactical work divided by departments, a technical session and closed with a small game.
It promises to be a testy outing for the 21-year-old lanky lad, who is yet to justify his 80m euro transfer and salary of 4.5m euro a year, as he is yet to net any goal for his Naples-based side, with only an assist to show from their last outing.
That was a 6-0 thumping of Genoa, which came after their opening day victory over AC Parma, and Osimhen will now hope to finally open his Serie A goals account when his side welcome Atalanta, who have pulled off some stunning results in both domestic and continental competitions of recent.
A report out of The Land of The Azzurri hinted that Osimhen will lead Napoli’s attack in a 4-2-3-1 formation, as he heads into his second start since his summer arrival from Lille, and he will aim to spur his side back from the controversial walkover their suffered against Juve, after the team failed to turn up for the away fixture on account the COVID-19 outbreak in their camp.
Faulty communication between the club and Serie A officials failed to pass on information that local authorities in Naples had stopped Osimhen and his pals from travelling for the fixture away to Juventus, following which the league body award three points and three goals against them.
At the same time, Osimhen could not be part of the Super Eagles’ recent friendly matches against Algeria and Tunisia, as he and the entire Napoli squad were quarantined in a hotel, after which all the players tested negative and are set to play at home on Saturday afternoon; with eyes on another victory by the side that won their first two games of the season.
That came before the Juve fiasco, but Osimhen failed to net any of his clubs’ amazing haul of eight goals and he will now target the bull’s eye versus Atalanta, while also hoping that his team’s defenders will hold forte well enough at the back and help their side maintain the clean sheet they have gained so far, aside the 3-0 deficit they suffered in the boardroom.
A report but Tuttomecartosports noted; “Napoli dropped three points against champions Juventus after the Naples side failed to travel to Turin for the encounter over Covid-19 fears. But coach Genaro Gattuso has encouraged Osimhen to study their Saturday’s opponents closely.
“(Osimhen was told to) learn one or two things that could aid his goal-scoring on Saturday. The former Lille forward impressed everyone in his first few weeks in Naples, scoring double hat-tricks in friendly games, but is yet to find the net in the Serie A after three matches.”
Gazzettadellosport added: “The former Royal Charleroi striker missed Nigeria two friendly matches, and stayed back in Castel Volturno Bubble to study how the Serie A leaders initiate the attack, and how best he can press and recover high balls to make Napoli attack more dangerous.”
A match preview on Napoli’s official website stated: ‘The spotlight will be on San Paolo for the Napoli-Atalanta match which will have television coverage in all 5 continents. The connection of the major European nations, England, Spain, Germany, Russia, Portugal, Holland, Denmark, and South American ones such as Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Chile and Mexico is foreseen.
“Australia, China, Japan, Canada, United States, Jamaica, Thailand, as well as the African states of Algeria, Angola, Burundi, Cameroon, Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Guinea, Nigeria Senegal, Sudan, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia and Zimbabwe are also connected. It will be the referee Di Bello from Brindisi to direct Napoli-Atalanta. Assistants: Passeri-Tegoni. IV Man: Easter. VAR: Nasca-Preti.”
