'Big Respect To George Weah'... Victor Osimhen On Making History As The Highest Scoring African Player In The Serie A.

Victor Osimhen has finally broken George Weah’s record for the highest African goalscorer in Serie A history.

Having scored in the 1-1 draw at Udinese to help Napoli clinch thier first Serie A title since 1990 on Thursday, the Nigeria Super Eagles star continued his heroics against Fiorentina on Sunday evening at the Diego Maradona Stadium where his club were celebrating being crowned champions.

Osimhen scored the landmark goal in the 74th minute of the encounter from the penalty spot.

He had earlier missed a penalty kick to give Napoli the lead three minutes straight after the restart.

Luciano Spalletti's side high press forced Fiorentina into an error, with Amrabat shoving Stanislav Lobotka over for a penalty. Osimhen stepped up, but both his spot-kick and the rebound were parried by goalkeeper Pietro Terracciano, meaning he has failed to convert both efforts in Serie A and the Champions League this season.

Kvicha Kvaratskhelia cut inside and forced Nico Gonzalez into an avoidable challenge, leading to another penalty and this time Osimhen did manage to convert by finally sending Terracciano the wrong way.

The goal ensured that the Partenopei marked the Scudetto in the best possible way in front of their fans at the Diego Armando Maradona stadium, getting their first league home win since March 11 when they last won 2-0 against Atalanta.

For Osimhen, he has scored 23 league goals, four assists in 28 games this season, putting him in pole position to become the league’s highest goal scorer, and also extended his record for the Most Goals Scored by an African Player in a Single Serie A Season.

He has scored a total of 47 goals since moving to the Serie A, edging out Milan legend George Weah's record of 46 goals that has stood since 1999,  to become the highest African goalscorer in the Italian top-flight.

Speaking after the game, Osimhen confirms he was absolutely determined to take the second penalty after seeing the first saved against Fiorentina. ‘I had the confidence,’ said the Napoli hitman.

“Of course, big kudos to Zielinski. I missed the first one, so I had to score the second one and I had the confidence I would score the second one. It’s a good feeling to get the goal,” Osimhen told DAZN.

The Serie A top scorer has not also been in the Scudetto-winning side since 2016, so can Osimhen break the Capocannoniere curse?

“I think the curse is about to be broken, we still have four games to go and I want to get as many goals as possible, while winning the games.”

 

The 24-year-old also debuted a new protective mask this evening, with the Scudetto symbol and a 3 on the front, plus the VO9 with the Nigerian flag in the O.

“It’s a special mask, the Scudetto and of course I represent my country wherever I play and VO9 is my symbol, so I have the Nigerian flag there. I will keep this one forever.”

On breaking the legendary George Weah’s record, Osimhen told BT Sports;

“It’s really amazing. A big respect to George Weah. He has put Africa on the map when he was playing here with AC Milan. For me to surpass him is a big honour, a big respect to him.

“His son, Timothy Weah is my very good friend. And I want to say he has inspired a lot of African players and I’m happy to surpassed his record. He will forever be a legend for me. And I’m really happy about this feat.”