Soccer – Italy. Osimhen targeted, racist cries in Verona
Naples, forced to reinvent itself without Koulibaly, Insigne or Mertens, put on a show on the field of Hellas Verona (5-2) this Monday for its Serie A debut, in a meeting marked by a few racist insults aimed at Victor Osimhen .
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Victor Osimhen, the Nigerian striker of Napoli was, like last season in the same stadium, the target a few seconds of racist cries descended from the turn of the Verona Ultras during the first periodK
Last season, for racist choirs already targeting Osimhen and Kalidou Koulibaly, Verona was condemned to play a meeting with a closed turn.
Not enough to destabilize Osimhen or Napoli, who discovered with Khvicha Kvaratskhelia an already effective replacement on the orphan left wing of Lorenzo Insigne: the young Georgian (21) also scored and offered a goal.
As in their initial slap (1-4) against Serie B side Bari in the Italian Cup a week ago, Hellas nevertheless scored first through 29th-placed Kevin Lasagna and managed to equalize on recovery thanks to Thomas Henry, 48th.
A perfect start
But the former team of Igor Tudor, now coached by Gabriele Cioffi, must also leave without a few key players, including striker Giovanni Simeone expected soon in Naples.
Naples reversed the situation on a header from Kvaratskhelia (37th) then a recovery from Osimhen (45 + 3rd). And past the fear of the Verona equalizer on the return from the locker room, Napoli escaped thanks to Piotr Zielinski (55th), Stanislav Lobotka (65th) and Matteo Politano (79th).
» It’s important to start well, because we lost key players, real leaders. It’s up to us to take matters into our own hands “, welcomed Osimhen who was not questioned about the cries having targeted him.
» A perfect start “, he wrote then on Instagram, also without mentioning the incident.
The meeting was preceded by a minute’s silence in memory of ex-goalkeeper Claudio Garella, Italian champion with both teams in the 1980s.
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