Napoli head coach Walter Mazzarri has expressed his delight following the return of Victor Osimhen to action for the Serie A champions.
Osimhen made his comeback after six weeks out with a thigh strain as Napoli beat Atalanta 2-1 on Saturday night.
He sustained the injury in last month’s international friendly match between Nigeria and Saudi Arabia in Portugal.
The Super Eagles striker marked his return with an assist for Napoli’s winner scored by Eljif Elmas.
Kvicha Kvaratskhelia broke the deadlock but saw his opener cancelled out by Ademola Lookman.
Speaking on Osimhen’s return Mazzarri told DAZN, via Football Italia, stated he looks forward to the striker getting back to form.
“I didn’t need to be the Napoli coach to know that Osimhen is an excellent striker, I had watched him play! Fortunately he is back, I hope he gets his form back as soon as possible.”
Mazzarri explained why Napoli have struggled this season after an explosive campaign which saw them crowned champions.
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“What I said in my first press conference was true, this is a team that dominated last season, played some of the best football in Europe and with players who were not accustomed to being in this position. So there was obviously going to be some sort of a dip after that.
“On top of that, all the opponents step up a level because they know that they are facing the Champions of Italy. It was always evident this was going to be a complicated campaign in those circumstances.”
He went on to praise his team for their defensive display in the win against Atalanta.
He added:“I know a little something about tactics too and the players have done well to take on those lessons quickly. We worked on the defensive line, as I had seen in recent games that the defence sat too deep. We were tighter, more compact and I honestly didn’t expect to see these concepts put into practice so quickly against a super team like Atalanta.
“The only reason I didn’t use this system before was that my teams didn’t really have the players suited to it. The players really paid attention in training and wanted to learn as much as possible.”
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