Marek Hamsik passes Diego Maradona to become Napoli’s #2 all-time Serie A goalscorer

Napoli’s captain enjoyed not just a strong individual performance in Napoli’s 3-0 win over Palermo on Saturday, but a historic moment as well, with his goal in the 47th minute standing as his 82nd strike in Serie A action as a Napoli player — passing Diego Maradona and his 81 Serie A goals to claim second place for himself in Napoli’s all-time Serie A scoring chart.

Arguably Napoli’s two best players in history, Hamsik and Maradona will be forever tied to one another in history. Both captains of their respective squads, Maradona lead Napoli to their only two Serie A titles and European gold, and Hamsik has lead the greatest Napoli team since that era.

In fact, in many ways you could say that Hamsik’s Napoli squads have been better in many ways than Maradona’s, but with Juventus going on an all-time great run over the last five-plus years they haven’t won all the acclaim that they’ve arguably deserved. This current Napoli squad might be the best they’ve had yet, though it’s still very early in the season to judge. Still, spirits are high, and with Hamsik at the helm the potential of this team is incredibly high.

Hamsik still has a ways to go to become Napoli’s all-time leading scorer in Serie A, with Antonio Vojak’s 102 goals standing atop the chart. Maradona is still Napoli’s all-time leader in scoring across all competitions, with 115 goals — though Hamsik’s 99 all-competitions goals aren’t too far behind. A couple more strong seasons, and we could be celebrating a special kind of history for Napoli’s greatest captain.