Napoli continued their perfect start
to the Serie A campaign by winning 4-0 at Sampdoria Thursday
night to reclaim top spot in the Italian championship.
A brace by 21-year-old Nigeria striker Victor Osimhen, a 2020
signing from French champs Lille, and goals from Fabian Ruiz and
Piotr Zielinski sealed a memorable victory for the Azzurri at
Marassi.
Napoli are now two points clear of champions Inter Milan and
city rivals AC Milan, both on 13 points.
Roma rose to fourth, on 12 points, with a 1-0 win against
Udinese at the Olimpico.
Osimhen couldn't hide his delight after scoring twice to help
Napoli to their impressive 4-0 win over Samp.
"I'm really happy," said the Nigerian striker, speaking after
the game. "It was important for me to start the season well and
I want to thank the coach for his confidence in me. I'm honoured
to play for this club."
Osimhen has been in scintillating form so far this season,
following a disrupted debut campaign in Serie A.
"Last year I had COVID and then got a bad injury," he said. "I'm
in good shape this season. I'm training consistently and I'm
listening to the advice the coach gives me and the help I get
from the team. I'm pleased with what I'm doing but I know I need
to continue working hard. We all need to continue down this
track."
Luciano Spalletti praised his team but urged the Azzurri to keep
their feet on the ground after their flawless start to the
2020/21 campaign.
"It was a deserved win which we're pleased about, but we need to
keep calm and continue working," said the Napoli boss, speaking
after the final whistle on Thursday night. "The lads did very
well, particularly in the first half, because Sampdoria caused
us problems. We were able to stand up to it and [David] Ospina
did brilliantly to make a couple of tricky saves."
Spalletti credited his side for coming through those challenging
moments early on before taking control of the game as the first
half wore on.
"We did well to stand firm during the tough moments and then
kick on when we had the ball," he said. "We got the game where
we wanted it, partly through individual plays, and we took our
chances well."
The Napoli boss also had word for Victor Osimhen, who scored two
of the Azzurri's four goals in Liguria on Thursday night.
"Victor is doing well and working hard for every ball," he said.
"He finishes his chances very well. I think we did well to read
the game, both when there were challenges and when there were
more positive moments."
The result at Marassi leaves Napoli top of the table on maximum
points after the first five games of the season - but Spalletti
preached caution as he spoke to the media following the game.
"I don't want to talk about the table because the average points
you need to get into the Champions League is about 85," he said.
"That shows that we still need to get another 70 or so. We can
start talking about objectives now. It's easy to get carried
away, so we need to be strong and focus on our ideas.
"Of course there is confidence there, but this is only the
beginning. I'm well-aware that the Azzurri fans are showing us
an incredible amount of love, but we need to use that to
continue working with the same level of dedication. We need to
keep doing what we're doing, stay calm and keep the right
mentality."
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