TikTok Row: Osimhen Rejects Napoli Penalty Duty

Nigerian striker Victor Osimhen has taken himself off penalty-taking duty for Napoli after a now infamous series of TikToks were posted to the club’s social media channels in recent weeks.

Osimhen had been left furious after two seemingly insulting videos were posted to the club’s TikTok account, one of which had mocked him as begging for a penalty then his miss from the spot in a Serie A match against Bologna at the end of September.

It was gathered that the videos caused an uproar for Osimhen and his supporters alike, eventually leading to the departure of one of Napoli’s social media executives.

Since the incident, Napoli have played three matches and been awarded penalties in every one of those games, yet Osimhen has not taken any of them.

Instead, Piotr Zielinski took on the responsibility against Udinese as well as against Real Madrid in Wednesday night’s Champions League clash at the Maradona.

Matteo Politano took the injury-time kick against Lecce in the game that was played between the two aforementioned fixtures.

According to reports from La Repubblica, reported via TMW, it was Osimhen himself who decided to take himself off penalty duty, having felt unnecessarily mocked by the club’s social media team.

Osimhen had scored two of the three spot-kicks he took in Serie A during the title-winning 2022/23 season, and had scored one of the two he had taken in the early stages of the 2023/24 campaign.

• Sodiq Lawal