Napoli manager, Luciano Spalletti, has hinted that striker Victor Osimhen could potentially be fit to play in the club’s Champions League quarter-final first leg against Milan on Wednesday.
Osimhen, who has scored 25 goals in 29 games for I Partenopei this season, suffered a thigh injury while representing Nigeria during last month’s international break, causing him to miss last Sunday’s 4-0 loss to Milan.
Despite his absence, Napoli bounced back with a 2-1 win at Lecce on Friday, bringing them closer to their first Scudetto in 30 years.
“It wasn’t easy to secure this result after last Sunday’s defeat and some injuries,” Spalletti said at a post-match press conference.
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“A delicate situation had arisen, due to how we lost [to Milan]Â and because the Rossoneri are our next opponents in the Champions League.
“Then everyone thinks these are filler games but that’s not the case. It was essential to demonstrate that we were able to express ourselves again on good levels and that we had that kind of character.
“For this I congratulate the players. These three points give us peace of mind to face the next matches.”
On Osimhen, Spalletti revealed: “We need to see how he reacts to strong physical activities, so far he’s done some basic jogging.
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“It’s difficult without him, because he has this way of running into space, this physicality, he can draw everyone to him and create the space for his team-mates.
“[Giacomo] Raspadori had a good first half tonight, he linked up well with the midfielders. We could have done it even better, because we brought too many balls back to the two centre-backs when there wasn’t a need. On the pitch, however, we were balanced.”
Giovanni Simeone replaced Raspadori in the second half, but was forced off with a knee injury soon after, potentially giving Spalletti a selection issue for the Milan game should Osimhen not recover in time.
“We need to evaluate [Simeone] carefully,” he said. “It appeared to be a muscular problem, then the knee, then above the knee. When he tried to come back on again, he felt the muscle harden and it was best not to risk it any further.“
