SSC Naples played a furious preliminary round in the Champions League, scoring the most goals of any team there with 20 goals. The Neapolitans also dominate in Serie A. The good news for Eintracht Frankfurt before the duel with Naples (Tuesday, February 21, 2023, 9 p.m., live ticker and audio stream): There may be more important things for the southern Italians this season than the Champions League.
“The SSC Napoli is a symphony,” writes the Corriere dello Sport. “The extraterrestrials of the SSC Napoli,” headlines the Gazzetta dello Sport. It’s the fresh headlines after Naples’ successful Champions League dress rehearsal (2-0 win at Sassuolo). And they suggest that Eintracht Frankfurt will face an opponent who is in frighteningly good shape. Match after match, Italy’s sports media are faced with the task of inventing new hymns of praise for Luciano Spalletti’s team.
Because like Naples at the moment, no team has ever dominated Serie A, with the exception of Juventus Turin 2014, who became champions with over 100 points. The current point average of the Neapolitans (2.69) is even better than that of Juve’s all-time record team.
Napoli’s performances on the pitch are as impressive as the statistics. With attacking football and playful dominance, SSC has gained a 15-point lead over second-placed Inter Milan. The city on Vesuvius has rightly dreamed of its first championship title since 1990, since the era of Diego Maradona.
Priority is on the championship
This could be a chance for Eintracht. Coach Spalletti, just as clever in his rhetoric as in football tactics, would never think of downplaying the Champions League. Also not because a success in the double duel against Frankfurt for Naples would be a historic one.
Given the club’s glorious history, it’s hard to imagine, but true: never in its 97-year history has SSC Napoli managed to advance to a quarter-finals in the Champions League or the European Cup.
Currently, however, there is a clear priority for Naples. It’s Scudetto and nothing else. Spalletti doesn’t want to lose the Italian championship title (it would be his first). That’s why Naples’ mastermind is doing everything possible to avoid a similar form and result low as in the past season. At that time, Naples fell after a few weeks at the top. This time the lead is significantly larger and the season is more advanced.
No players spared in Sassuolo
Spalletti’s signals to the team and those around him at the weekend in Sassuolo were clear: Contrary to international practice, he didn’t rest any of his players in the league despite the upcoming Champions League game. All Napoli stars had to play, almost the entire game (against Sassuolo!).
Spalletti also only got his two most accurate strikers, Victor Osimhen and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, off the field in the closing stages, despite a secure 2-0 lead. Message: Under no circumstances do we take our foot off the gas in the league. The Champions League is an additional game.
However, this has not prevented Naples from showing their “beautiful, modern, lethal football of the future” (Corriere dello Sport) on the European stage. Already in the preliminary round in November, Jürgen Klopp ennobled Naples to the best-formed team in Europe. Previously, the SSC had furiously won their Champions League group with Liverpool, Ajax Amsterdam and Glasgow Rangers.
Osimhen unlucky in Wolfsburg
Naples’ best attacker Osimhen personally has something to straighten out in Frankfurt. It is the Nigerian’s first appearance in Germany since his difficult year and a half at VfL Wolfsburg. 14 games, zero goals is the record in the Bundesliga. The 24-year-old made his last appearance for VfL on April 13, 2018, when his then coach Bruno Labbadia substituted him on in the 80th minute against Augsburg. Of the 23,500 spectators at the dreary 0-0 draw in the Volkswagen Arena, nobody could have guessed that the hapless boy with the number 18 shirt would one day become one of the most sought-after footballers in Europe.
For the Champions League game in Frankfurt, Osimhen returns to Germany as the top star of SSC Naples and current top scorer in Serie A. 19 games this season, 18 goals, Osimhen scores on average every 88 minutes. Preferably served by his congenial strike partner Kvaratskhelia (called Kvara or Kvaradona in Naples for the sake of simplicity). The Georgian, who is good at dribbling, is second in the list of scorers in Serie A with 19 points – behind Osimhen.
The breadth of the SSC squad inspires respect. Even if Naples’ Champions League motto is “Everything can, nothing has to” – in the premier class, Italy’s national striker Giacomo Raspadori and Giovanni Simeone (son of Atletico coach Diego Simeone) are listed as the top scorers with four goals each – the two who only the reserves are for the top strike duo Osimhen-Kvaratskhelia.