Victor Osimhen in his scintillating form helped Napoli beat Eintracht Frankfurt 2-0 in their Champions League round of 16 first leg match on Tuesday.
The Super Eagles striker has been in massive form this season for Napoli, netting 20 goals in all competitions.
Only Eric Dina Ebimbe (ankle injury) was absent for the German team, which narrowly advanced to the knockout stages as group runners-up to Spurs.
For Napoli, it was a little different picture because Giacomo Raspadori was out with a muscular issue and had been outstanding during the group stage.
Nonetheless, the Napoli club will be content with their opponents in the round of 16, since they have the ambition to advance much further in the competition.
The Serie A leaders, who were already comfortably in the lead, were confident enough to make it six wins in a row due to Osimhen.
The Napoli attacker Victor Osimhen has scored nine goals in his past nine games in all competitions, and he wasn’t without a goal tonight too.
The first 30 minutes of the game were very physical, with both teams exerting a lot of effort.
It didn’t take long before the player of the moment on the field forced a penalty kick after defender Buta had tripped him on the edge of the area.
Incredibly, Napoli has failed to score on three of its six penalty attempts in the Champions League so far this season, contributing to a larger issue from the spot.
The Partenopei were in Germany to play Eintracht Frankfurt in the Round of 16 after winning five of their six games in the group stage.
In the Deutsche Bank Park, Kevin Trapp saved a penalty shot from Kvicha Kvaratskhelia.
After the missed penalty, Victor Osimhen took it upon himself to make sure that his squad was ahead of the home team.
The Nigerian striker connected with a pass from Lozano to give his team the lead in the 40th minute.
He raucously celebrated his second Champions League goal of the year with the visiting fans.
Osimhen exults enthusiastically after thinking he had scored again, but the flag was raised right after.
Even though Frankfurt had the majority of possession, they seldom had a shot on goal and clearly needed to wake up.
Midway through the second half, crucial attacker Kolo Muani was sent off for stepping on Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa’s foot as they grappled for possession, dealing a severe blow to Frankfurt’s hopes of catching up.
After Di Lorenzo scored the second goal to increase the team’s lead, Napoli entered dreamland.
After a clever flip from Kvaratskhelia, who earlier missed the penalty, Di Lorenzo succeeded against Trapp on the first attempt.
As the 1988–89 Europa League champions try to advance into the last 16 for the first time in their history, Napoli returns to Naples for the second leg with the victory in a commanding position.
Frankfurt, the current Europa League champions, will likely lose their first Champions League game at the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium in March unless they can drastically alter the outcome of the match in their favor.
