Europa League: Victor Osimhen brace salvages draw for Napoli against Leicester

After falling behind by two goals around the hour mark, Napoli came back through a Victor Osimhen double to take a point against Leicester City after a 2-2 draw at the King Power Stadium in a Group C match of the UEFA Europa League.

Leicester struck early in the first half through Ayoze Perez at the 9th-minute to send the stadium buzzing. Although Napoli enjoyed more than equal possession and a truckload of shots, they failed to breach the Leicester defence before the half-time whistle.

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Coming out after the break, the Foxes relied on similar tactics to sit back and hit Napoli on the break. At the hour mark, new signing Patson Daka found the net for Leicester, however, his goal was ruled offside. But four minutes later, Harvey Barnes doubled Leicester’s lead as a capped off a ferocious counter-attack with a calm finish.

However, the second goal seemed to flick a switch on in the Napoli team as they responded almost instantly through an Osimhen goal. The Nigerian found the back of the net with an audacious chip.

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Napoli looked like the team in charge throughout the later stages of the game and capping off their dominance Osimhen equalised for Napoli with a header off a Matteo Politano cross.

In the dying minutes of the game, Wilfred Ndidi was red-carded for trying to stop a Napoli counter and Leicester were down to 10 men. But it was too little too late for Napoli to capitalise on the opportunity as the referee blew the final whistle. 

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In other UEL games, West Ham earned a comfortable 2-0 win at Dinamo Zagreb after Michail Antonio intercepted a backpass for the opening goal and Declan Rice scored in his 150th game for the club. It was Rice’s European debut for West Ham, which last played in the 2016-17 Europa League.

Meanwhile, the new Europa Conference League had a sprinkling of stardust Thursday as Harry Kane played in Tottenham’s 2-2 draw with Rennes and Jose Mourinho’s Roma beat CSKA Sofia in the opening games of the group stage.