NAPLES, Italy /December 23, 2017 (AP)(STL.NEWS) —  Marek Hamsik became Napoli’s all-time record scorer on Saturday after netting his 116th goal for the Serie A club to surpass Argentina great Diego Maradona‘s tally.

Midfielder Hamsik took the record outright by scoring what proved to be the winner in the 39th minute of Napoli’s 3-2 victory over Sampdoria.

Allan dribbled through three players in the area before picking out Dries Mertens, who rolled the ball across for Hamsik to tap in from close range for his second goal in as many matches.

The Slovakia international was immediately surrounded and embraced by nearly all his teammates.

It has taken Hamsik 11 seasons and 478 appearances to reach the outright record. Maradona, who was a forward, set the 115-goal mark in 259 games in seven seasons with Napoli.

Maradona led Napoli to its only Serie A titles, in 1987 and 1990.

(This story has been corrected to show that Hamsik plays for Slovakia, not Slovenia.)

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by Associated Press, published on STL.NEWS by St. Louis Media, LLC (AS)

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