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Victor Osimhen scored Napoli’s second goal against Udinese on Wednesday evening after being chosen to start the Serie A encounter despite the player’s relationship with the club souring in the past 24 hours.
The Nigerian ended his four-game wait for a goal but made the decision not to celebrate his strike as he sought to make his stance on the ongoing feud with the Italian champions and their social media antics clear.
The usually emphatic celebrator instead adopted a mooted stance while team-mates ran over to congratulate him.
The 24-year-old’s refusal to celebrate his goal is the latest act in a souring relationship after he also deleted photos of himself in the Serie A side’s shirt from his Instagram account.
Victor Osimhen scored Napoli’s second goal against Udinese on Wednesday evening
The 24-year-old refused to celebrate his goal that doubled Napoli’s advantage against Udinese
His team-mates did run up to celebrate with him including Mario Rui who was the first to congratulate him
Osimhen shook manager Rudi Garcia’s hand after coming off the pitch – after berating his manager when the same thing happened during a goalless draw with Bologna at the weekend
The first ill-advised Tik Tok video posted on Napoli’s official account shows Osimhen appealing for a penalty, but using a strange sped-up voice with the caption ‘Gimme penalty please’ before he blazed the spot-kick wide of the post.
The second compares Osimhen to a coconut with criticism directed at the club labelling the video as having a racist motive behind it.
His 39th-minute strike doubled Napoli’s lead after Polish midfielder Piotr Zielinski initially put the hosts in-front.
Osimhen was played through on goal by Italian Matteo Politano and kept his cool to finish with a powerful shot across the face of Marco Silvestri’s goal.
Osimhen was taken off in the second-half and shook manager Rudi Garcia’s hand – in different scenes to those at the weekend when he berated his manager upon being replaced.
The Napoli faithful packed out in the stands at the Diego Maradona stadium echoed their support for the troubled striker after his goal as they chanted his name while raucous cheers ensued.
Osimhen’s agent, Roberto Calenda, has suggested the player is considering legal action against his club over the now deleted videos.
Calenda tweeted: ‘What happened today on Napoli’s official profile on the TikTok platform is not acceptable.
‘A video mocking Victor was first made public and then, but now belatedly, deleted.
The video shows him appealing for the penalty using a strange sped-up voice and the caption ‘Gimme penalty, please’ (left) before blazing the penalty wide of the post (right)
A second video, allegedly from the club’s account compared Osimhen to a ‘coconut’
Napoli manager Rudi Garcia (right) named Osimhen in his starting side despite appearing to fall out with the striker
Osimhen’s name rang around the Diego Maradona stadium after his goal against Udinese
Osimhen exchanged words with his manager Garcia after being replaced against Bologna
‘A serious fact that causes very serious damage to the player and adds to the treatment that the boy is suffering in the last period between media trials and fake news.
‘We reserve the right to take legal action and any useful initiative to protect Victor.’
Osimhen was largely responsible for firing Napoli to the Serie A title last season as his 26 goals helped the club end their 33-year wait for the Scudetto.
His team-mate Khvicha Kvaratskhelia added a third goal for the hosts in Wednesday’s encounter before substitute Giovanni Simeone added a fourth late on.
