Osimhen and Koulibaly lead Napoli past Udinese

Victor Osimhen scored his first Serie A goal of the 2021-22 campaign as Napoli silenced Udinese 4-0 on Monday night.

Still fresh from his splendid performance in Thursday’s Europa League performance against Leicester City, where he scored a brace at the King Power Stadium, the Nigeria international was named in the Parthenopeans’ starting XI.

In a 4-3-3 formation adopted by manager Luciano Spalletti, Osimhen led the charge for goals alongside Lorenzo Insigne and Matteo Politano.

Udinese - who are unbeaten in their last seven games in all competitions – began the fixture on a bright note, but they leaked the first goal in the 24th minute.

Insigne latched onto a superb ball to lift the ball over onrushing goalkeeper Marco Silvestri before Osimhen made sure of the goal by pushing it in just before it crossed the goal line.

Spalletti’s men doubled their advantage ten minutes before the halftime break as Kalidou Koulibaly’s well-executed cross was headed past Silvestri by Amir Rrahmani for his first goal of the season.

The hosts came into the second half stronger, but they were unable to get past goalkeeper David Ospina thanks to solid defending by the visitors.

In the 52nd minute, the ball fell to Koulibaly in the box and the Senegal international blasted it home with a clinical finish any forward would be proud of.

With that, the 30-year-old centre-back has found the net in two consecutive matches for the first time in his career in Serie A.

Udinese’s miserable night got worse when substitute Hirving Lozano converted the fourth goal just six minutes from full-time having profited from a Mario Rui pass.

While Koulibaly and Cameroon international Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa were in action from start to finish, Osimhen was subbed off for Andrea Petagna in the 81st minute.

Napoli with their result became only the third club in Italian top-flight history to find the net in 30 consecutive matches. They now lead the log having accrued 12 points from four matches.

Now unbeaten in their last 13 league games, the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona giants would be hoping to extend their fine run when they visit Sampdoria on September 23.