The French Connection sent Milan to the Champions League Semi Finals. Olivier Giroud opened the scoring on Tuesday night as he made the best out of a phenomenal assist from Rafael Leao. Mike Maignan preserved Milan’s lead when it mattered the most, denying Khvicha Kvaratskhelia from the spot and cancelling Napoli’s residual hopes.
The Italian Champions League Derby at the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium ended 1-1 as Victor Osimhen grabbed a late equalizer for Napoli. But the Nigerian’s late goal was not enough for the Partenopei, who ultimately surrendered 1-2 on aggregate to Stefano Pioli’s Milan and their European DNA.
And so, it will be the Milanese side to play in the last four of the top European competition, 16 years after their latest dance on the top four stage. Taking the full 180 minutes into account, it looks like a fair outcome.
Napoli looked like a pale version of the formidable squad that is dominating the Serie A. Their starlet Kvaratskhelia disappointed on both games, well guarded by a monumental Davide Calabria. Osimhen did what he could but only found the back of the net well into stoppage time.
The Nigerian retaking his spot in the center of the Partenopei‘s upfront was Luciano Spalletti’s trump card ahead of the game. Osimhen was greatly missed one week ago at the San Siro, when Napoli’s pocket-sized front line had struggled to put the Rossoneri defense in danger. Stefano Pioli answered with his usual 4-2-3-1 setup after rotating ten men (!) in the past weekend campionato game at Bologna.
The match at the Maradona followed the expected pattern: Bound to defend their one-goal lead, Milan were under pressure from the start as Napoli had to play aggressively from the get-go. The Partenopei collected three corner kicks in a row early on, sending a clear warning sign to the Rossoneri.
The first ten minutes were a Neapolitan monologue, which culminated with a Matteo Politano shot off target. The Napoli’s right winger did it again on 20 minutes with the same outcome, just before leaving the pitch due to an injury.
Right, injuries. Luck was not exactly on Spalletti’s side as the Azzurri coach had to make two substitutions before the half time break. It was Hirving Lozano to replace Politano, while Mathias Olivera took Mario Rui’s place.
Before raising a white flag, the Portuguese full back also had his chance to put his stamp on the match, although not for a good reason. His clumsy tackle on his fellow countryman Rafael Leao offered Milan a golden chance to draw first blood from the spot.
Olivier Giroud is a penalty specialist but, incredibly, the Frenchman saw his central shot pushed back by Alex Meret. It was the first time he missed a spot-kick conversion since 2012 and it could have costed the Rossoneri much. Before that, Milan had not had any chance to trouble Meret, their only signs of live coming from a few feeble attempts to trigger Leao’s accelerations.
On 27 minutes, Giroud tried to redeem himself with a close-range shot, only to be denied again by the Napoli goalkeeper.
There should have been a penalty for Napoli as well, but the referee Szymon Marciniak and the VAR had a different opinion when they reviewed Leao’s slide tackle on Lozano.
On 40 minutes, the fate of the match changed: Tanguy Ndombélé lost the ball in the attacking third and Rafael Leao didn’t ask twice to grab it and launch a deadly counterattack. The Portuguese dashed for no less than 70 meters, dribbling three opponents in the process, before offering Giroud an easy chance to tap the ball in from close range, making it 1-0.
Osimhen almost immediately found an equalizer but he clearly hit the ball with his hand in the build-up and the referee promptly disallowed his effort. Napoli did feel the hit and their chances dwindled in the second half.
Kvaratskhelia was the most dangerous of the Azzurri lot but should have done better on 57 minutes, when he fired the ball past the crossbar from a favorable position in the middle of the box. Spalletti tried to reshuffle his cards, sending in Elif Elmas and Giacomo Raspadori but his side seemed to have run off fuel and Pioli’s boys were able to weather the storm without suffering any real threat.
It took a single episode to give Napoli a new hope: There were only ten minutes left when Fikayo Tomori blocked Giovanni Di Lorenzo low cross with his hand. Marciniak pointed at the penalty spot again. Kvaratskhelia’s conversion attempt was not great, Maignan dove in the right direction and neutralized the Georgian’s threat.
It was over, even though Osimhen’s clinical header on 93 minutes set the score at 1-1 and revitalized the Napoli supporters for a few seconds. But Marciniak soon blew for full time, extending Milan’s European dream and the prospect of a possible cross-town derby with Inter – exactly 20 years after the epic UCL 2002/03 confrontation.