Osimhen hits winning goal as Napoli reach Champions League knockout

By Kazeem Ugbodaga

Nigerian international, Victor Osimhen scored the winning goal as Napoli defeated Braga 2-0 to qualify for the Champions League knockout stage on Tuesday.

Osimhen, who was in Morocco on Monday where he was crowned African Footballer of the Year, returned to score for Napoli.

An own goal in the early stage of the match gave Napoli 1-0. Serdar Saatci, attempting to intercept an offensive pass, scored an own goal.

Past midway in the first half, Piotr Zielinski received a precise pass and was given time inside the box to send a promising strike towards the bottom left corner. Matheus guessed his intention and denied him with a fine save.

Two minutes after that, Osimhen scored the second goal for Napoli. Natan rounded the goalkeeper and sent a pass to Osimhen, who had an easy finish to put it into an empty net.

Midway into the second half, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia ran onto a pass deep into the box and unleashed a low drive to the left side of the net. The keeper made a superb save and pushed the ball against the post.

In the 80th minute, Ricardo Horta blew a good opportunity to score. Without any hesitation, he fired in a shot from mid-range, but the ball crashed against the right post.