Napoli swatted aside Eintracht Frankfurt to book their spot in the quarter-finals of the Champions League for the very first time in its history. Victor Osimhen continued his prolific season to score on either side of the break, steering the Italians to a comfortable 3-0 victory over Frankfurt at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona on Wednesday. This win has secured a 5-0 aggregate victory for Napoli. It keeps Luciano Spalletti’s in-form team on the run for what would be a historic domestic and European double. Piotr Zielinski scored Napoli’s third through a penalty to put the game to bed.
The game started tightly but quickly opened up as it was clear Frankfurt was going to try to take the game to Napoli as they set up high up the pitch. Mario Gotze had a good opportunity when he was slipped through on goal by Daichi Kamada, but was hesitant when Alex Meret rushed off his line to come and challenge for the ball and missed a golden chance to pull Frankfurt back into the tie.
Despite Frankfurt’s effort to score their first goal, visiting goalkeeper Kevin Trapp was kept busy at the other end and made his best save to deny Khvicha Kvaratskhelia from close-range. In the second minute of injury time at the end of the first half, an unmarked Osimhen got the opener when he jumped high to reach Matteo Politano’s cross.
With Napoli leading the tie 2-0 on aggregate from the leg, the Nigeria striker who also scored in their 2-0 win over Frankfurt in Germany, stretched his team’s overall advantage to three goals with a stunning header. The 24-year-old Nigerian doubled Napoli’s lead on the night with a close-range finish from Giovanni di Lorenzo’s cross eight minutes after the break. It was a well-worked team goal. Osimhen has scored 23 goals in 28 matches in all competitions this season. He is also the first Napoli player to score in both legs of a Champions League knockout tie.
Despite being in complete control of the tie, the Italians continued to dominate the game and push forward. As a result, they were rewarded with a spot-kick when Zielinski was brought down by Djibril Sow inside the box with just under half an hour to play. Zielinski took the spot-kick himself and scored easily, firing the ball straight down the middle on a memorable night for the hosts.
Napoli is the third Italian team to advance to the quarters after Inter and AC Milan.
