Luca Toni hails ‘true striker’ Osimhen

Italian football legend Luca Toni has hailed Victor Osimhen as a striker born to score goals.

The former Roma, Fiorentina and Bayern Munich forward, now a commentator priased the Nigerian after scoring to rescue his club, SSS Napoli from defeat in their 1-1 draw against Barcelona in a UEFA Champions League round of 16 match played at the Armando Maradona stadium in Naples.

Osimhen who was playing his first club football in over two months due to injuries and his involvement with Nigeria at the Africa Cup of Nations in Cote d’Ivoire struck on 75 minutes to restore parity for Napoli after Robert Lewandowski had given the visitors the lead 15 minutes earlier.

Toni, who scored 157 times and provided 49 assists in 344 Serie A appearances was apprciative of how the Nigerian scored on his 120th appearance for Napoli.

‘Victor Osimhen withstood the blow of the Catalan defender, protected the ball, turned well and then in front of the goal, he wrong-footed the goalkeeper with a counter-time play,’ said Toni.

Then he added further words to praise the Nigerian’s play: “I must say that it is a goal from a true attacker. Napoli played a great match in my opinion, especially in the second half.

‘The Neapolitans had a lot to lose, but instead they managed to come out of Barcelona’s dominance and have shown that they can scare Xavi’s team. Now everything is postponed until the second leg. Napoli must continue on this path, this team was born to play the 4-3-3.”