2023-04-18 23:57:11
Mike Maignan against Khvicha Kvaratskhelia PANORAMIC
TOPS/FLOPS – Mike Maignan at the top for Milan, Kvaratskhelia in disarray for Naples. Find out what caught the editor’s attention.
TOPS
Mike Maignan again and again
We have the impression of repeating ourselves so much the performances of the French goalkeeper are of an implacable regularity in excellence. Despite Osimhen’s goal conceded at the very end of the match, Maignan once again allowed his team to qualify thanks in particular to his save on the penalty saved against Kvaratskhelia. As when he kept the qualification intact in the previous round against Tottenham by taking the necessary stop at the end of the match on the return trip to London, Maignan made the decisive gesture of qualification again this evening.
Rafael Leão, le feu follet
He will have given the dizzy to a Neapolitan defense unable to stop him. First by causing the first penalty of the match, missed in stride by Olivier Giroud (the first missed by Giroud since 2012 with Arsenal), then by delivering an offering to the top scorer in the history of the French team a few minutes later. A race of more than 60 meters that Rrahmani never knew how to stop and Giroud scored his 5th goal in the Champions League this season. Leão was arguably the best Milan outfield player tonight.
The Milan defense
We must take our hat off to Davide Calabria, the captain of AC Milan, who extinguished (just like in the first leg) the number one Neapolitan offensive weapon, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia. The Georgian was consistently held back in his dribbling attempts on his left side. Simon Kjaer and Fikayo Tomori will have won the majority of the aerial duels and left only crumbs for the attackers of the future Italian champions. Imperial in the surface, the defense of AC Milan is the strength of this team and will have conceded only one goal against the best attack in the Champions League (26 goals). A goal conceded (tonight) for 6 games in the Champions League this season.
FLOPS
Khvicha Kvaratskhelia
The 22-year-old Neapolitan nugget must learn and this C1 season will surely have made him progress a lot. Capable of the best as very often it is not a usual performance from him that we have seen tonight. In constant failure against Calabria, lacking efficiency and precision on the outward and return journey, he ultimately only confirmed a failed performance, like his penalty against Mike Maignan.
Victor Osimhen
Curious to flop a man who scored for Naples, giving rise to a hope of qualification which lasted a handful of seconds. But the goal did not change his performance, surely the worst of his season. Serie A’s top scorer (21 goals in 24 games) was invisible and untraceable for 92 minutes. Only 18 balls touched in the first half and two shots attempted, his return will have made us understand that he was perhaps not fully recovered from his adductor injury. The two great architects of Napoli’s incredible season in the league, they are also the ones who did not allow their team to reach the semi-finals of the Champions League.
#Milan #Maignan #implacable #Kvaratskhelia #friable