ANALYSIS Why did Osimhen get angry at Spalletti during Napoli’s win over Inter?

The Nigerian unloaded his annoyance at his manager for taking him off against the Nerazzurri, demonstrating his ambition to end top scorer ahead of Lautaro Martinez.

After a week that was dominated by rumours about Luciano Spalletti’s Napoli future, Sunday brought Capocannoniere contenders Victor Osimhen and Lautaro Martinez face-to-face.

The Partenopei’s season is effectively done and dusted after securing their first Scudetto title in 33 years. But Inter Milan’s campaign is far from done, with a Coppa Italia final to come this week and a Champions League clash with treble-chasing Manchester City in June.

Osimhen unsurprisingly started for the Serie A champions, looking to add to his 23 league goals in a productive campaign that has seen him eclipse his previous best return of 14 in Europe’s top-five leagues.

With the cup final against Fiorentina imminent on Wednesday, Simone Inzaghi expectedly left 20-goal man Martinez on the bench, effectively continuing his smart rotation of his four forwards: Martinez, Edin Dzeko, Romelu Lukaku and Angel Correa.

Lautaro Martinez's impressive goalscoring form

That has not prevented the World Cup winner from making an impact off the bench. The Inter forward has netted eight times in all competitions since April 19, with six of his 20 Serie A goals coming in the last month.

The fact that four goals have come in games the Argentina international has not started has underscored the 25-year-old’s ongoing knack for making the most out of little match action.

Not starting the game at Stadio Diego Armando Maradona meant little in the race for the Capocannoniere, as he netted at Empoli despite playing 22 minutes, twice in the comeback victory over Champions League-chasing Lazio after playing 30 minutes and a goal off the bench last weekend in the 4-2 success over Hellas Verona following his half-time introduction.

Osimhen probably felt Inter’s top scorer breathing down his neck. The Nigerian, like many of his Napoli teammates, has tailed off recently, even if it was the Super Eagle’s goal at Udinese that secured the club’s third-ever Scudetto title at the start of the month.

That was the striker’s 22nd goal of the season, and the young marksman made that 23 after netting a rare penalty against Fiorentina, having missed one earlier in the game — his second failure from 12 yards in all competitions this season.

He has scored twice in his last seven league appearances, a return which pales to Martinez, who has found the back of the net six times in four weeks.

Why did Osimhen go berserk against Inter?

Sunday evening’s tea-time game ended with neither striker adding to their goal tallies, but a key talking point, buried underneath Napoli beating their 19th different Serie A opponent, was Osimhen’s angry reaction after Spalletti withdrew the striker with 20 minutes remaining.

The Nigeria international was incandescent with rage and questioned his manager’s decision to take him off right after Andre Zambo Anguissa opened the scoring for the Partenopei. 

Clearly in no mood to entertain any explanation from the Scudetto-winning boss, Osimhen walked past the 64-year-old. 

Now, that reaction has undoubtedly dominated the post-match talk on social media. Heck, it generated heated debates instantly, with observers saying their piece — either defending the 23-goal man or reprimanding Serie A’s top scorer.

The oft-repeated line of being pleased a player is not accepting of an early withdrawal somewhat agrees with Osimhen’s irritation, although there was probably more riding on the rest of the game for the Super Eagle.

Opening the scoring with a chunk of the game to play against 10 men would have benefitted the Nigerian. The game state at the time meant there was an increased possibility of playing through an Inter side that were bound to tire, having had Roberto Gagliardini sent off just before the interlude.

The Nerazzurri, also chasing a top-four berth in the league, were likely to push more men forward in search of an equaliser. An open game was expected in the closing quarter of proceedings at the Maradona. An end-to-end match plays into Osimhen’s frightening qualities in transition.

However, Spalletti took him off when his top-scoring striker was about to thrive in his element. Call the Napoli frontman selfish, but ending as this year’s Capocannoniere is a big deal.

Understanding Osimhen's Capocannoniere ambition

On a smaller scale, Osimhen is looking to break the “Capocannoniere curse”, which has seen no title winner end atop the scoring charts since Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s 25 league goals in 2008-09 aided Inter Milan’s Scudetto success.

On a grander scale, no African has ever claimed the top-scorers award in Italy’s top flight, a feat the Nigerian likely knows about heading into the season’s concluding gameweeks. 

While the Partenopei have already claimed the title, some individual success would be deserved for the striker, whose impact in Napoli’s year needs this cherry on the cake.

That probably explained the Nigerian’s eventual frustration, having had a 23rd-minute header go straight at Andre Onana, see Alessandro Bastoni’s shirt pull prevent him from turning and shooting in minute 29, and direct an ambitious overhead kick wide off target just after the half-hour mark.

In a season that has seen Osimhen eclipse George Weah as Africa’s top-scoring marksman in Serie A, ending as the Capocannoniere would be desirable. 

Martinez got only 10 minutes of game time on Sunday, further underscoring the feeling that a huge opportunity was lost to put some daylight between both players in the game’s final 20 minutes.