Milan knocks Napoli out of Champions League quarter-finals
For the first time in 16 years, Milan reached the semi-finals of the Champions League. Stefano Pioli's teachers and students took advantage of the 1-0 advantage in the first leg, continuing to take the lead in the second leg thanks to Olivier Giroud's goal in the first half. Napoli protested strongly and equalized 1-1 thanks to Victor Osimhen, but everything was too late. The referee blew the whistle to end the game a few seconds later and Milan went on with a total score of 2-1. They will meet Inter or Benfica in the fourth round of the strongest teams.
Napoli welcomes the return of main striker Victor Osimhen, who has scored 25 goals in 30 games this season. Milan also carefully prepared, when taking away all the pillars in the draw with Bologna over the weekend, so that the main team that kicked in the first leg could be most physically fit when entering the field from the beginning in the second leg. For coach Pioli, it seems that the goal of going far into the Champions League is more important than finishing in the top 4 of Serie A. Pioli won a risky gamble, when his students played a brave match to knock the team out with almost certainty. won Serie A this season.
Rafael Leao, who scored twice in a 4-0 win at Napoli earlier this month, continues to shine. He recreated the legendary dribble of Diego Armando Maradona, on the stadium that bears his name. Receiving the ball from home, the Portuguese striker used technique and speed to get past three Napoli players, before smoothly passing Giroud to cushion the ball into an empty goal at the end of the first half.
That goal helped Milan as well as Giroud to relieve the pressure. If Milan is eliminated, Giroud is certainly the most tormented. He missed a penalty earned by Leao midway through the half, and then failed again when facing Alex Meret a few minutes later.
Before Giroud, the last Milan player to miss a penalty and then score in a Champions League match was Andriy Shevchenko, in March 2006 against Bayern Munich. After missing his first Champions League penalty on six occasions, Giroud corrected his mistake in the 43rd minute when he scored Milan's fifth in European competition this season.
Milan played well, and Napoli was also unlucky. The home team finished 22 times the whole match, creating suffocating pressure in the second half but only one goal. Star Khvicha Kvaratskhelia constantly created opportunities for herself with slick dribbles and then finished on the left side, but all failed.
Even at the most obvious opportunity from the penalty spot in the 82nd minute, the Georgia midfielder also missed. Mike Maignan corrected teammate Fikayo Tomori - who let the ball touch his hand in the penalty area, when he poured in the right direction and successfully saved the penalty. After seven years, the Champions League saw a match with two missed penalties.
Napoli's pressure was finally converted into a goal in the third minute of compensation. Osimhen headed bravely to beat Maignan, after Giacomo Raspadori's cross. Napoli players rushed to win the ball from the Milan goalkeeper to save time, showing their desire to go to the extreme. But the time left is too little for Napoli to score more goals. Losing with a total score of 1-2, Napoli missed the first opportunity to enter the semi-finals of the Champions League.
