Championship dreams shattered for Østigård and Napoli
Napoli were on their way to the club’s third Serie A title and their first since 1990, but their Italian Champions League quarter-final against AC Milan came to a halt.
– I think we run the game from the first minute. I think we are a better football team than them, Napoli’s Leo Skiri Østigård told TV 2, praising Milan’s defensive and counter-attacking play at the same time.
The two teams also met in Naples in the early April series. Then Milan won 4-0 and they took that advantage to the quarter-finals of the Champions League. At home in Milan they won 1-0 and in Naples on Tuesday night it was another 1-0 win for Milan.
Admittedly, there could and should have been more goals. Napoli started in a hurry, but midway through the first half the visitors were awarded a penalty. However, Olivier Giroud was unable to get the ball past Alex Meret in the Napoli goal.
20 minutes later things got even better, when the Frenchman was able to easily slot the ball into an open net after a fantastic set-up by Rafael Leâo.
The score was still 0-1 when Leo Skiri Østigård was substituted a quarter of an hour from the end. Minutes later, Napoli were awarded a penalty but star Kvicha Kvaratskhelia’s effort was easily saved by Mike Maignan. With a minute and a half remaining from four minutes of added time, Victor Osimhen headed 1-1 for Napoli, but it was too little for Napoli and Milan progressed 2-1 on aggregate.
Now either city rivals Inter or Portuguese Benfica await in the semifinals for Milan.
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