Victor Osimhen Breaks Record Again As He Wins The Serie A Golden Boot Award, And The Scudetto.

Victor Osimhen wins the Serie A Golden Boot for scoring the highest number of goals in the 2022/23 season.  

Osimhen is the fourth Napoli player to win the award, following in the footsteps of Diego Maradona, Edison Cavani, and Gonzalo Higuain.

He had earlier been named as the Best Striker in the Serie A this season for his prolific goalscoring efforts.

The 24-year-old, scored his 26 goals in 32 matches, edging his closest rival Inter Milan’s Lautaro Martinez to land the highly coveted “Capocannoniere” prize.

Argentine World Cup winner, Martinez is on 21 goals and could not score a goal in Inter Milan’s victory against Torino on Saturday night.

Osimhen ended a remarkable season by opening the scoring having converted a penalty kick in the 64th minute after being brought down by Nicola Murru.

Giovanni Simeone then made sure Napoli would finish the season on a high in the 85th minute with a stunning long-range strike before celebrating by holding up a Napoli shirt worn by icon and compatriot Maradona.

The Nigerian Super Eagles star, becomes the first African player in the 125-year history of the Italian top-flight to win the Serie A Golden Boot.

He is also the first player in the league to combine that prize with winning the Scudetto since 2009.

Former Sweden international Zlatan Ibrahimovic was the last player to combine both the Scudetto and the top scorer award during his days at Inter Milan in 2008/09.

Victor Osimhen, MFR scores his 26th goal of the season 🔥

Now 50 goals in the Serie A as he comes African highest goalscorer ever in the history of the Serie A. 🇳🇬🇳🇬 #PoojaInNapoli pic.twitter.com/3s9dfCDUFy

— POOJA!!! (@PoojaMedia) June 4, 2023

 “This season has been brilliant for me, for my teammates, and for Napoli. We deserved this,” Osimhen told DAZN before discussing whether he might leave in a big-money summer move.

“I don’t know, the president has to decide that. I love the people of Napoli, they have shown me so much love. For me, I don’t mind, the president decides and I will just go with the flow.”

Sunday’s award comes after years of attempts by notable African players to land the Serie A Golden Boot. The continent’s only Ballon d’Or winner George Weah (now President of Liberia) who played in Italy, could not win it.

Osimhen also surpassed Weah as the highest-scoring African player of all time in Serie A with his 50 goals in the league. 

Other Africans that had tried to win the Capocannoniere, includes Osimhen’s compatriot Simy Nwankwo in the 2020/21 season. He scored 20 league goals for Crotone but finished nine strikes behind eventual winner Cristiano Ronaldo.

Cameroonian legend Samuel Eto’s appeared to be the closest African to landing the gong in the 2010/2011 season.

He netted 21 league goals which were five shy of Napoli’s Edinson Cavani’s strikes and seven behind the winner Antonio Di Natale of Udinese who scored 28 goals.

Napoli finished a triumphant season with 90 points from 38 games, their second-highest tally in Serie A, having collected one more under Maurizio Sarri five years ago. While Sampdoria ended bottom on 19 points.

The match on Sunday was the final game for the managers of both sides.

Napoli's Luciano Spalletti had announced his intention to take a sabbatical, while Sampdoria boss Dejan Stankovic told DAZN before kick-off that he would not lead the team in Serie B next season.

The Partenopei had won the Serie A title for the first time in 33-years and their third overall weeks ago, but the cup was officially presented to them on the last day of the season.