Victor Osimhen scored a hat-trick in the first eight minutes of Napoli’s 11-0 friendly win over L’Aquila, with Lorenzo Insigne’s treble, Dries Mertens and Chucky Lozano braces too.
The Partenopei officially began their pre-season preparations with a mini-tournament against local teams Castel di Sangro and L’Aquila.
Coach Gennaro Gattuso used a 4-3-3 formation for the opener, a 10-0 victory over Castel di Sangro with Matteo Politano bagging a hat-trick, braces for Arkadiusz Milik and Amin Younes, then goals for Giovanni Di Lorenzo, Gianluca Gaetano and a spectacular Kalidou Koulibaly overhead kick.
Gattuso changed things up for the second match with L’Aquila, which was probably closer to the team we’ll see starting the Serie A season.
It was a 4-2-3-1 system with Hirving Lozano, Dries Mertens and Lorenzo Insigne fanning out behind summer signing Osimhen.
It’s safe to say the Nigerian got off to a good start, as he’d sprinted past defenders to score within 59 seconds.
Osimhen’s second goal arrived within three minutes and he’d completed his hat-trick by the eighth.
A Faouzi Ghoulam header, Insigne hat-trick, plus braces for Lozano and Mertens rounded out the scoreline at 11-0.
Osimhen showed precisely what Gattuso had meant when he said the striker wasn’t just a target man, as the former Lille forward also contributed two assists and sparked several other moves with his passes.
Allan, who is reportedly on the verge of a transfer to Everton, was nowhere to be seen.
Napoli (4-2-3-1): Ospina; Malcuit, Manolas, Rrahmani, Ghoulam; Elmas, Lobotka; Lozano, Mertens, Insigne; Osimhen
