On Tuesday, Napoli defeated Braga 2-0 to stop a two-month home losing streak and advance to the round of 16 of the Champions League.
Victor Osimhen’s first goal since early October and a foolish own goal by Serder Saatci helped the Italian champions qualify second in Group C, behind Real Madrid. Both goals came in the first half.
After ending a six-match winless drought at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona, Walter Mazzarri’s team easily qualified for the following round. They would have advanced even in the event of a single-goal defeat.
After defeating Udinese in late September, Napoli had not won at Naples before. As a result, they ended the group stage with 10 points, six more than Braga, who were demoted to the Europa League.
With just two minutes remaining, Bruma missed a fantastic opportunity to give the away team the lead following some miscommunication in the Napoli area. Braga knew they needed to win by at least two goals in order to overtake Napoli.
But in the ninth minute, Matteo Politano’s low cross caused the unfortunate Saatci to misstep, sending the ball spinning towards his own goal and making their work even more difficult.
Despite his greatest efforts, Braga goalkeeper Matheus was only able to claw the ball out after it had crossed the line.
Napoli pressed for a second, but Braga’s long-range rocket from Ricardo Horta kept it from leveling thanks to an incredible save by Alex Meret.
But Osimhen, the recently named African player of the year, essentially guaranteed Napoli’s advancement to the next round in the thirty-third minute.
The Nigerian striker was left speechless moments earlier when Piotr Zielinski chose to smash a shot straight at Matheus instead of squaring to him when he was absolutely unmarked only yards from goal.
However, after sprinting down the left flank, Natan played the right ball this time, allowing Osimhen to bundle in his seventh goal of the challenging season thus far in southern Italy.
Braga had to score four goals without reply after Osimhen’s first goal in this season’s Champions League to advance, and there was a palpable sense of relief in the stands and on the field.
Andre-Franco Zambo In the 65th minute, Anguissa had a great opportunity to score after Osimhen set him up, but he was only able to shoot straight at Matheus.
The sole unfavorable aspect of the proceedings was Khvicha Kvaratskhelia’s ongoing form struggles; this season, the unmotivated Georgian has yet to make an impression in the highest club tournament in Europe.
But in the new year, he will get another chance because of a victory that ended a terrible run of three straight defeats and might give struggling Napoli some confidence. (AFP)