Eintracht Frankfurt 0-2 Napoli: Partenopei take control after Kolo Muani red card

Victor
Osimhen’s
40th-minute
opener
at
Deutsche
Bank
Park
set
Napoli
on
their
way
in
the
first
leg
of
their
last-16
clash
after
Kevin
Trapp
saved
a
Khvicha
Kvaratskhelia
penalty.

Randal
Kolo
Muani’s
red
card
after
58
minutes
only
served
to
further
Napoli’s
cause
before
Giovanni
Di
Lorenzo
netted
to
secure
a
comfortable
lead
in
the
tie.

Eintracht
will
have
the
chance
to
fight
back
in
Naples
on
March
15,
though
it
appears
little
can
stop
Luciano
Spalletti’s
Serie
A
leaders
at
present.

Kolo
Muani
blasted
an
early
warning
shot
wide
after
a
smart
flick
past
Amir
Rrahmani,
but
Napoli
soon
began
to
dominate.

Their
pressure
told
as
Aurelio
Buta
needlessly
felled
Osimhen
inside
the
area
after
Hirving
Lozano
struck
the
right
post,
only
for
Trapp
to
dive
to
his
right
to
save
Kvaratskhelia’s
poor
penalty.

Napoli
did
reap
their
rewards
four
minutes
later,
though,
as
Osimhen
turned
in
Lozano’s
right-wing
cross,
with
the
same
combination
then
denied
a
swift
second
by
an
offside
flag.

Trapp
parried
away
a
swerving
Lozano
attempt
after
the
interval
before
Kvaratskhelia
wasted
a
glorious
chance
with
a
chip
straight
at
the
onrushing
Eintracht
goalkeeper,
but
matters
went
from
bad
to
worse
for
Eintracht
soon
enough.

Kolo
Muani
was
shown
a
straight
red
for
a
lunge
on
Andre-Frank
Zambo
Anguissa,
and
Napoli
capitalised
as
a
smart
Kvaratskhelia
backheel
found
Di
Lorenzo,
who
curled
low
into
the
bottom-left
corner
to
secure
a
two-goal
cushion.

What
does
it
mean?
Business
as
usual
for
in-form
Napoli

Eintracht
had
lost
only
two
of
19
matches
in
Europe
under
Oliver
Glasner
–
and
just
one
in
nine
on
home
soil
–
but
Napoli
present
an
entirely
different
challenge
this
season.

Although
Spalletti’s
in-form
side,
who
have
won
20
of
23
Serie
A
games
this
term,
were
slow
to
get
going,
Eintracht
had
no
answer
once
they
found
their
feet.

Napoli
have
never
progressed
past
this
round
in
the
Champions
League,
but
it
will
take
something
special
to
stop
the
rampant
Partenopei
this
time.

Unstoppable
Osimhen

Osimhen’s
remarkable
form
has
led
to
speculation
around
a
move
to
Manchester
United
or
Chelsea,
but
his
focus
for
now
is
on
Napoli’s
dual
bid
for
Serie
A
and
Champions
League
glory.

The
Nigeria
international
certainly
did
not
appear
distracted
as
he
scored
in
a
sixth
successive
match
–
his
best
streak
for
Napoli.

Error
compounds
Eintracht
misery

Kolo
Muani
embodied
Eintracht’s
early
promise,
with
his
nimble
footwork
and
pace
causing
repeated
problems
down
the
right
flank.

But
hopes
of
a
positive
outcome
in
this
first
leg
–
and
perhaps
in
the
tie,
too
–
were
erased
after
a
reckless
tackle
was
rightly
punished.

What’s
next?

Napoli
return
to
action
in
Serie
A
with
a
Saturday
(February
25)
trip
to
Empoli,
while
Eintracht
travel
to
RB
Leipzig
in
the
Bundesliga
on
the
same
day.