With a hat-trick on Wednesday, Victor Osimhen moved atop the UEFA Champions League scoring table, with the Nigeria striker netting all three goals in Galatasaray’s 3-0 victory over Ajax in Amsterdam.
Osimhen moved to six goals this season in Europe’s elite club competition, one more than Harry Kane, Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland.
The Istanbul club signed Osimhen to a permanent deal from SSC Napoli in the summer for a record transfer fee in the Turkish League reportedly worth US$86 million.
Photo: Reuters
The 26-year-old striker needed less than 20 minutes to complete his first hat-trick in the competition.
He headed in the opener in the 59th minute off a cross from Leroy Sane. In the 66th and 78th minutes, his perfectly executed spot-kicks gave no chance to Ajax goalkeeper Remko Pasveer.
“We have a goal. We know what we want, and we know the magnitude of performance you need in the Champions League,” Osimhen told Galatasaray TV. “We want to match up with the elite. It won’t be easy, but we’ll go step by step. We have the individual quality to do damage to every team.”
Photo: Reuters
In the previous Champions League games this term, he scored the lone goal in a 1-0 victory over Liverpool, also from a penalty, and added two more to help Galatasaray beat Bodo/Glimt 3-1.
Galatasaray have won three straight matches and are ninth with nine points halfway through the league phase.
In other games, Inter remained among the teams with a perfect record by beating Kairat 2-1, while Barcelona were held to a 3-3 draw against Club Brugge and Haaland extended his scoring streak in Manchester City’s 4-1 home win over Borussia Dortmund.
Lautaro Martinez and Carlos Augusto scored a goal in each half for Inter, who joined Bayern Munich and Arsenal as the only teams with four victories from four matches — the league phase’s halfway point.
Kairat, the Kazakhstan club who remain among the winless teams in the league phase, equalized with Ofri Arad early in the second half before Augusto gave the hosts the victory.
“We knew we had to win the first four games, and did it,” Inter defender Federico Dimarco said. “We have to think game after game, every match is tough in the Champions League.”
Barcelona came from behind three times in their draw against Club Brugge, with Lamine Yamal being decisive in the team’s comeback in Belgium.
He scored in the 61st minute and it was his shot in the 77th minute that led to an own-goal by Club Brugge midfielder Christos Tzolis for the 3-3 score.
Phil Foden netted twice for Man City, while Haaland scored his 27th goal in 17 matches for club and country this season.
The Norway striker has scored 14 times in his past nine games. Only twice has he failed to score in a game this season.
Jose Mourinho’s SL Benfica lost 1-0 at home to Bayer 04 Leverkusen for their fourth straight loss in the league phase.
Newcastle United beat Athletic Bilbao 2-0 at St James’ Park with goals by Dan Burn and Joelinton, making it three wins and clean sheets in a row to move up to sixth in the table.
Atalanta BC won 1-0 against Olympique de Marseille with a 90th-minute goal by Lazar Samardzic.
In the early games, Chelsea drew 2-2 against Qarabag, while Pafos earned their first-ever league-phase win by beating Spanish club Villarreal 1-0 at home in Cyprus.
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