Napoli prays Osimhen returns for Milan showdown

MILAN — Napoli is sweating on the return of Victor Osimhen for the first leg of its all-Italian Champions League quarterfinal as it heads toward possibly the biggest two matches in the club's history in unconvincing form.

Southern Italy's biggest club needs just four more wins from nine matches to secure its first league title since 1990 after a 2-1 win at Lecce — though it lacked a cutting edge which Luciano Spalletti's side will need in Wednesday's first leg at AC Milan.

Friday's win only came about thanks to a bizarre own-goal. Before Antonino Gallo's back-pass slipped through his surprised goalkeeper's fingers, Napoli was put on the back foot by lowly Lecce.

And while the three points take Napoli a step closer to the league crown, as a performance it wasn't much of an improvement from the previous weekend's 4-0 home hammering at the hands of Milan.

Napoli has never before been in the last eight of the Champions League.

The team is considered a dark horse to lift the trophy, given the way it has progressed through the competition and the fact that it is on the opposite side of the draw from European soccer's contemporary powerhouses.

However, as the season has gone on, Napoli has become increasingly dependent on the dynamism of Osimhen and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia. A thigh injury for Osimhen, Serie A's leading scorer, has highlighted his importance to the team's overall play in its last two matches.

"It does become difficult without him, because he has this way of running into space and a physical presence, he can draw everyone to him and then create space," said Spalletti after the Lecce win.

Spalletti will be hoping the Nigeria international returns on Wednesday also because he will probably be without the 24-year-old's main replacement Giovanni Simeone, who suffered a thigh injury of his own after coming on as a substitute on Friday.

'Team comes first'

Osimhen has stayed — compared to previous seasons at least — relatively injury-free this season and the impact that has had on Napoli is very easy to see.

Regardless of the 25 goals he has scored in all competitions, Osimhen provides Napoli with the perfect outlet for his team when things aren't going according to plan.

He works incredibly hard to chase down and hold onto long balls sent forward from under-pressure teammates, allowing midfielders to break through opposition pressing and latch on to his layoffs.

"When I say that I always put the team first, those aren't just words. You can see that in how I play, right?" said Osimhen in an interview with France Football magazine published on Saturday.

"It's hunger, something I've always had inside myself. And thankfully here with the coach Spalletti you don't have any choice — at Napoli the attackers are the first line of defense."

Milan coach Stefano Pioli will have most of his first-choice players available, apart from the injured Pierre Kalulu, after making a host of changes for the goalless draw with Empoli last Friday.

The San Siro has seen plenty of big European nights and will be packed again on Wednesday as Milan hunts its first semifinal appearance since it was the continent's king for the seventh and last time back in 2007.

Milan failed to beat Empoli but it wasn't for a lack of trying — 23 shots and 70 percent possession in a dominant performance which only missed the scoring touch.

And Pioli is expected to stick with the same XI that gave Napoli the biggest beating of its otherwise triumphant season, in the hope that his team's European pedigree shines through.

AFP