Osimhen’s goal and assist unable to save Napoli from slim Fiorentina defeat

Victor Osimhen scored a goal and provided an assist but that could not save Napoli from suffering a 3-2 defeat to Fiorentina in Serie A on Sunday.

The loss means Luciano Spalletti's side were unable to grab the points that would have taken them to the top of the league table ahead of AC Milan and Inter Milan.

Fiorentina went ahead in the 29th minute when Nicolas Gonzalez struck to open the score. Napoli equalized in the 58th minute when Dries Mertens – with an assist from the Nigerian – found the back of the net with a low drive.

It was an instant impact from Mertens, who had just replaced Fabian Ruiz two minutes before he equalized for the home side.

However, Fiorentina restored the lead in the 66th minute when French international Jonathan Ikone scored – just a minute after joining the action – with an assist provided by Gonzalez.

Dominant Fiorentina added the third when Arthur Cabral found the back of the net with an assist from Morocco’s midfielder, Youssef Maleh.

Napoli continued to fight and in the 84th minute, Osimhen scored their second, with Mario Rui providing the assist for the Super Eagles forward.

Apart from the Ruiz-Mertens change, Napoli made other substitutions that involved Hirving Lozano, Eljif Elmas, Diego Demme, and Faouzi Ghoulam coming on for Matteo Politano, Lorenzo Insigne, Stanislav Lobotka, and Rui.

On the other hand, Fiorentina’s only two changes saw Riccardo Saponara and Joseph Duncan coming out as Ikone and Maleh replaced them.

Nikola Milenkovic, Cabral, and Ikone were the players who were yellow-carded on the part of Fiorentina, while none of Napoli’s players were cautioned.