Osimhen scores sixth Serie A goal as Napoli push for Champions League spot

Victor Osimhen scored his sixth Serie A goal of the season in Napoli's 5-2 hammering of Lazio on Thursday night.

After he failed to find the back of the net in the Blues' 1-1 draw with Inter Milan on Sunday, the Super Eagles forward came off the bench to seal his team's big victory at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona.

Lorenzo Insigne's double and goals from Mattaeo Politano and Dries Mertens powered Gennaro Gattuso's men to a comfortable 4-0 lead but quick-fire efforts from Ciro Immobile and Sergej Milinkovic-Savic in the 70th and 74th minutes respectively were not enough to inspire Lazio's comeback.

Osimhen replaced Mertens - who became Napoli's all-time top scorer in Serie A with 102 goals - in the 72nd minute and eight minutes later, the Nigerian benefitted from Hirving Lozano's assist before blasting home Napoli's fifth goal of the night which sealed all three points.

The strike was Osimhen's third goal in his last five league appearances and he appears to have rediscovered his goalscoring touch after enduring a nine-match goal drought earlier this year.

The 22-year-old has now scored six goals after 18 appearances in his debut Serie A campaign following his big-money move from French Ligue 1 club Lille last August.

Also in action in Naples were Senegal centre-back Kalidou Koulibaly who played the entire duration for the hosts while Algeria’s Mohamed Fares featured for Lazio and Ivory Coast’s Jean-Daniel Akpa Akpro was introduced with seven minutes left on the clock.

Although they are fifth in the Serie A table with 63 points from 32 matches, the triumph boosted Napoli's push for Champions League qualification as they are two points behind fourth-placed Juventus and third-placed Juventus.

Lazio, meanwhile, are sixth in the standings with 58 points though they have a game in hand.

Osimhen will be expected to build on Thursday's goal when Napoli travel to Torino for their next Serie A fixture on Monday.