Nigeria’s Victor Osimhen nominated for Europa awards

Napoli forward, Victor Osimhen has been nominated for the Europa League Player of The Week award following his eye-popping performance against Leicester City in the Europa League on Thursday.

The Nigeria international had a great evening at the King Power Stadium as his brace helped Napoli secured a point in England.

The Foxes had raced to a two-goal lead, before the former Lille forward stole the show, scoring two late goals to secure a 2-2 draw for the Italian Serie A side.

Osimhen’s power came in handy in the 69th minute as he shrugged off his marker inside the boxer to poke home past the advancing Foxes keeper Kasper Schmeichel to begin the visitors dramatic fight back.

The 22-year-old was not done yet as he beat Çağlar Söyüncü to a Matteo Politano cross with a glancing header that beat Schmeichel hands down to send the visiting fans of I Partenopei into wild jubilations with three minutes left on the clock.

His stunning performance earned him ‘a nomination for the Player of The Week by UEFA alongside Toko Ekambi (Lyon), Declan Rice (West Ham) and Palacios (Bayer Leverkusen).’

Osimhen’s first goal against the English club was also nominated as the goal of the round.

Improvement
Meanwhile Luciano Spalletti insisted that the Nigerian still has a lot to improve on.

He said; “Osimhen still has a few things to learn and then he will become a super hitman.”

”Comparisons are easy, but would be with some of the best forwards in the world.

“He needs to improve in the precision of his choices, both his finishing and the runs, because at times he runs for no reason,”  Spalletti  added.

PUNCH/Mercy Chukwudiebere