UCL RO16: Osimhen leads Napoli to impressive win in Germany
Serie A leaders claim huge first-leg advantage over Frankfurt
Red-hot striker Victor Osimhen took his exploits to Europe as he helped Napoli claim a 2-0 win away to Eintracht Frankfurt in their UEFA Champions League Round of 16 first leg clash. The Nigerian striker led the Partenopei to a vital win heading into the second leg of the tie.
Coming on the back of a brilliant run of form that has seen them open up a 15-point gap in Serie A, Napoli were up against reigning UEFA Europa League champions Eintracht Frankfurt in the Champions League Round of 16.
The German outfit settled in quickly and threatened in the opening stages of the encounter, with Napoli struggling to feed the ball to their forward players.
Napoli took 35 minutes to get into the game fully, with Mexican winger Hirving Lozano crashing an effort against the woodwork after a brilliant pass from captain Giovanni Di Lorenzo. From the ricochet, Osimhen pressured the Frankfurt backline and won a penalty after nicking the ball off the defender. Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, however, saw his effort from 12 yards saved by former PSG goalkeeper Kevin Trapp.
Five minutes later, however, Osimhen took matters into his own hands to open the scoring for Napoli. The Italians caught Frankfurt out on a counter attack, with Lozano playing an inch-perfect cross for the run of Osimhen, who tapped the ball home from close range for his 20th goal in all competitions.
Napoli and Osimhen thought they had their second straight from kickoff as Lozano found Osimhen in a carbon copy of the opener, but the Nigerian striker was a fraction offside as he finished off the attack.
Frankfurt saw their day go from bad to worse as star forward Randal Kolo-Muani was sent off for a studs-up challenge on Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa in the 58th minute.
Napoli added a second goal in the 65th minute to kill off the encounter after a brilliant flowing move. Anguissa played a pass to Kvaratskhelia in the box, and the Georgian winger back-heeled a pass into the path of captain Di Lorenzo, who rolled an effort into the bottom corner.
Napoli claimed a comfortable win ahead of their second leg clash in Naples as the Italian side continued to impress.
