Even without star striker Victor Osimhen, SSC Napoli has turned a corner in terms of sport and is in Serie A and the Champions League before the second leg against 1. FC Union Berlin on Wednesday (11/18/2023, 6:45 p.m., live ticker at sportschau. de) back on track.
The fact that the champions have to make do without their master-maker has been a frequent topic in Naples since the end of last season. Immediately after Osimhen helped Napoli win the Scudetto with 26 goals, there was interest from numerous top European clubs, including Bayern Munich and Manchester United are said to have been among those interested.
Al-Hilal offered a 200 million euro package
Things then got really serious when the Saudi Arabian league got involved: Al-Hilal made several offers, the last of which is said to have been almost 200 million euros: a transfer fee of 140 million euros and a weekly salary for the center forward of one million euros. Napoli President Aurelio De Laurentiis refused to budge, which is said to have annoyed the Osimhen side.
The dream marriage between the club and its superstar began to crack, and then a Tiktok affair arose: Osimhen was made fun of in a video on the club’s official profile. There you could see how the attacker with the mask first called for a penalty in a game against FC Bologna and then shot it past the goal. His voice became distorted and sounded squeaky, which Osimhen’s advisor described as “taunt” denounced and initially even wanted to take legal action against it. The video was then deleted very quickly, but the early contract extension desired by the club is likely off the table until further notice.
President publicly counts the coach
In terms of sport, things weren’t going as planned during this phase in September and the beginning of October. After an embarrassing 1:3 home defeat against AC Fiorentina on October 8th, boss De Laurentiis even publicly called out coach Rudi Garcia, who had only been hired in the summer: “It’s not a good moment with Rudi Garcia. If you choose a coach who doesn’t know Italian football anymore, that can happen. I will make the best decision at the right time.”
Publicly counted – but Rudi Garcia also got the curve.
That sounded pretty clearly like an imminent lightning dismissal, especially since De Laurentiis also mentioned which other coaches he had already dealt with – including Luis Enrique, but he went to Paris St Germain wanted. Perhaps due to a lack of available alternatives, De Laurentiis stuck with Garcia and he actually got the turn.
More responsibility at Kvaratskhelia and Politano
After the Florence defeat, seven points in three games followed, in addition to the two victories at Hellas Verona (3:1) and Salernitana (2:0), there was a 2:2 draw against AC Milan. Astonishing: the Neapolitans managed the upswing without Osimhen. According to the club, the top scorer had one in an international match against Saudi Arabia (2:2). “medium-sized lesion contracted in the right thigh”he is also missing in the duel on Wednesday against the “Iron”.
But that doesn’t seem to be an advantage for the Berliners at the moment. Without Osimhen, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Matteo Politano and Giacomo Raspadori, for example, have taken on significantly more responsibility, all three are significantly more present – and Naples is no longer nearly as predictable as it was before with Osimhen as a fixed point.
Big step towards the knockout round possible
Kvaratskhelia also played a decisive role in the first leg in Berlin. For a long time in this duel, Union were absolutely on equal terms, at times even the better team – but the Georgian left winger mercilessly exploited the only real chance with enormous precision.
In the Champions League, the Neapolitans can now take a big step towards the knockout round with a win on Wednesday. In Serie A, they made the leap from mediocrity with their recent comeback to fourth place in the Champions League, just one point still separates Napoli from AC Milan.
Approach and calm
Coach Rudi Garcia and the championship team have now become closer, President De Laurentiis has recently become a little quieter in public and the injury has also brought peace to Osimhen’s personnel.
None of this is the best news for Union, but the “Iron” have completely different things to worry about at the moment after twelve competitive defeats in a row.