Nigeria’s Osimhen restricted as Napoli see off Torino

Nigeria’s Victor Osimhen and Senegal’s Kalidou Koulibaly were selected as Napoli secured a 1-0 win over Torino in a Serie A contest on Saturday.

Although the Senegal centre-back played for the entirety of the match, his Nigerian teammate was substituted in the third minute of added time in the second half as Andrea Petagna came on for him.

Spain international Fabian Ruiz scored the only goal of the encounter in the 73rd minute as Napoli emerged winners against the 10th-placed Torino side.

Napoli would have come out with a bigger scoreline had Lucas Insigne scored his penalty awarded a minute after the hour mark.

In a bid to inject fresh blood into his team, Luciano Spalletti made two changes in the 68th minute with the introduction of Matteo Politano and Piotr Zielinski in place of Hirving Lozano and Dries Mertens.

The changes paid off as Ruiz – who came on in the 77th minute for Stanislav Lobotka - scored five minutes later and Napoli were able to hold onto the slim lead to the end and claim the victory.

Napoli’s other changes saw Lorenzo Insigne come off and his place taken by Eljif Elmas.

Despite making five changes, Nigeria’s Temitayo Aina did not feature at all for Torino. Tommaso Pobega, Karol Linetty, Cristian Ansaldi, Ivory Coast’s Levy Djidji, and Pietri Pellegri replaced Rolando Mandragora, Samuele Ricci, Mergim Vojvoda, Armando Izzo, and Josip Brekalo, respectively.

Napoli, who will face Genoa and Spezia in their remaining games, are third with 73 points, behind Inter Milan, who are leading with 78 points, and AC Milan, who have 77 points and are due to play their 36th game of the season against Verona on Sunday.

They moved four points above Juventus, who are fourth with 69 points, after the Turin club lost to relegation-threatened Genoa on Friday.