UCL: Osimhen fires blank as Napoli bow out of Europe's top competition

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Tuesday night wasn't for Super Eagles striker, Victor Osimhen as his Napoli crashed out of the 2023/24 UEFA Champions League after losing 3-1 to Barcelona at the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys, Nigeriasoccernet.com writes.

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Osimhen after scoring the equaliser for Napoli in the 1st leg 1-1 draw at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona failed to hit the target in a game largely dominated by the Blaugrana.

Fermin Lopez out Barcelona ahead in the 15th minutes of the encounter, and two minutes later, Joao Cancelo doubled the lead for the host. Armi Rrahmani halved the deficit for Victor Osimhen's side on the half hour mark, leaving the scoreline 2-1 going into the break.

With all to play for in the 2nd half, Napoli came out firing and could have gotten the equaliser but Barcelona defense was strong enough to curtail the attacking prowess of the Italian champions, limiting their efforts on goal despite having a larger share of the possesion.

Barcelona put the game beyond the reach of Napoli when Robert Lewandowski scored the host's 3rd in the 83rd minutes of the encounter.

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The game finished 3-1 as neither sides could increase their tally on the night as Napoli crahsed out of the competition on a 4-2 aggregrate scoreline.

Osimhen and his teammates attention will now be shifted to the home front where their title defense looks impossible as they currently lie 7th on the with 44 points, 31 points behind league leaders Inter Milan with 10 games left.

 

By Oluwayemi Omolagba