Victor Osimhen Plays Down On Importance Of Penalties

Napoli striker, Victor Osimhen has played down the importance of penalties in his fast-rising football career after helping his team qualify for the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals.

After his brace knocked out Eintracht Frankfurt on Wednesday, Osimhen told reporters that regardless of whether he takes penalties, he will continue to score frequently for Napoli.

Osimhen’s comment is a reaction to a scenario in which he passed a penalty kick to Polish midfielder Piotr Zielinski during a Champions League clash with Frankfurt.

Before Zielinski was fouled in Frankfurt’s penalty box, Osimhen was already on two goals, hence, he was expected to take the spot-kick to record his first hat-trick in the Champions League.

However, Zielinski took up the challenge and scored skillfully to give Napoli a 3-0 win over Frankfurt which was enough for Napoli to reach the Champions League quarter-finals for the first time in the club’s history.

After the game, the 24-year-old Nigerian striker who was the man of the match said, “Zielinski asked if he could take the penalty and I said no problem. It does not matter who scores as long as the team achieves success.

“It’s the most important thing. I know my goals will come with or without penalties.”

Meanwhile, Victor Osimhen had stressed that his Italian team would make it to the final and probably win the UEFA Champions League even though they have never gone beyond the round of 16 before now.

The highly sought-after striker thinks Napoli, the current Italian Serie A table-toppers, can win the European championship because of their record-breaking total of 26 goals in the Champions League this season.

“I think anything is possible and we have the squad to achieve this dream,” Osimhen told BT Sport.

“We want to go step by step and we will see what happens at the end of the season. It feels good to make history with this win. It was a huge win. Congratulations to the team on a good performance from the whole squad.”