Osimhen Fires second Serie A Hat-trick as Napoli Hammer Sassuolo 

Duro Ikhazuagbe 

Nigerian international striker, Victor Osimhen,  scored his second hat-trick in Italian Serie A to take him goals  to double figures this season as Napoli defeated  Sassuolo 6-1 in a rescheduled fixture.

Osimhen who has been on scorer’s card since returning to Italy after helping Nigeria to finish as runners up at the AFCON 2023 in Côte d’Ivoire, put Napoli in front at 2-1 in the 31st minute. 

He scored his brace 10 minutes later, before he made the game safe for his club two minutes after the restart.

Osimhen also provided the assist for Napoli fifth goal.

Incidentally, the Nigerian top striker’s first hat-trick in Italy was against the same Sassuolo last season. Osimhen has now scored 11 goals this season.

He has now netted five goals in three matches since his return from the recent AFCON with the Super Eagles.

Osimhen’s teammate Khvicha Kvaratskhelia bagged a brace of his own as Napoli come from behind to win their game in hand 6-1 and reignite hopes of European football.

The win lifted Napoli above Lazio in eighth place with 40 points from 26 matches.

However, they remain well outside the six-team bracket for European football places.

Elsewhere, Inter Milan continued their march towards the Serie A title with Wednesday’s 4-0 thumping of Ademola Lookman’s Atalanta which extended their league lead to 12 points,

Convincing victory in their game in hand at the San Siro took Inter’s all-competitions winning streak to 11 matches and left closest rivals Juventus trailing in the distance.

Simone Inzaghi’s side were missing key players Francesco Acerbi, Hakan Calhanoglu and Marcus Thuram but it made little difference against one of the division’s form teams.

Matteo Darmian got the ball rolling in the 26th minute with his first club goal of the season before Lautaro Martinez scored his 26th on the stroke of halftime with a sensational spin and left-footed hit.