The manager of Napoli, Luciano Spalletti has given an update on the injured Nigerian striker Victor Osimhen.
Victor Osimhen left Napoli for Nigeria in mid-March for the international break. After participating in two Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers against Guinea-Bissau, the 24-year-old returned to Italy with a muscular injury.
Due to the injury, he missed Napoli’s humiliating 4-0 league defeat at the hands of AC Milan at home. He will also miss the league game against Lecce on Friday, April 7. The game will kick off at 18:00.
During a pre-match press conference ahead of the league game, Spalletti revealed that there is a possibility that Osimhen might be fit enough for the first leg of the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals round against AC Milan on April 12.
The coach said, “Tomorrow there is no chance, we go to the following week with the work schedule. For the following matches, there are many possibilities from a programming point of view, but you have to wait for the practical development of the work.”
While reflecting on the humiliating league defeat to AC Milan, the coach added, “You have attributed the concept of infallibility to us, we have always remained humble, knowing that we have flaws like the other teams. The players only could bring out the best qualities they have, seeing nothing else more frequently, making us win all these games.
“We know that Milan came into the match with the fear of losing it, we probably came into the match with the belief that it could be a filler match towards the Champions League. That made a difference in the motivation for the match.
“After talking calmly about what happened, we know very well that from here on it will all be difficult battles to win to bring home this Scudetto.
“As long as we are one point away we will have done nothing, everything will be swept away until that point! Then there’s also training, talking about some defeats, you can’t win all the time.”
Napoli are still topping the Italian Serie A table with 71 points in 28 games, 16 points above second-placed Lazio. Even though they might not desperately need Victor Osimhen for the game against Lecce, they will pray very hard for their top scorer to be ready for the Champions League clash against Milan in 6 days.
