Osimhen's magic ends as Napoli stumble against Lecce

Super Eagles striker Victor Osimhen was at the end of his wits for Napoli as he hit two matches without a goal in Wednesday's Serie A match against newly-promoted Lecce.

Napoli were held to a 1-1 draw at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona in Naples as the spirited Lecce side withstood a barrage of shots from the hosts to escape with a point.

However, Osimhen had a match to forget in front of the home fans as nothing which the Nigerian international did paid off on the night.

Napoli manager Luciano Spalletti started with Osimhen as the sole striker, backing him up with an attacking midfield trio of Matteo Politano, Giacomo Raspadori, and Eljif Elmas against an inferior Lecce team.

Lecce gave Napoli a taste of things to come when new Napoli signing Tanguy Ndombele conceded a penalty in the 25th minute but Alex Meret kept out Lorenzo Colombo's effort.

The Spalletti-led side took that as a wake-up call and went ahead almost immediately with Politano and Elmas combining to give the hosts the lead in the 27th minute through the latter's goal.

However, Napoli were in front for only four minutes as Colombo redeemed himself for his missed penalty earlier by scoring an absolute cracker in the 31st minute to level the scores.

Lecce defended stoutly, withstanding a total of 19 shots from the Napoli side as they were also helped by the profligate finishing of the hosts to escape with just their second point of the Serie A season so far.