Khvicha Kvaratskhelia lived up to comparisons with icon Diego Maradona with a wonder goal that puts Napoli high ahead of their Champions League clash with Eintracht Frankfurt. The Georgia winger has become one of Europe’s hottest players after an incredible first season in Naples. He is Napoli’s most supernaturally gifted player since Maradona made his attempt in southern Italy in the 1980s. And now he is poised to lead Napoli to the quarter-finals of Europe’s top club competition for the first time in their history, scoring 13 goals and an equal number of assists in all competitions, making him the star – alongside Victor Osimhen – of a truly brilliant team.
His outrageous goal, which propelled Napoli to a 2-0 victory over Atalanta on Saturday, was the perfect example of the 22-year-old’s tight control and precision that has been decisive time and time again this season.
Having been beaten at home by Lazio the week before, there was some fear after the goalless first half that a spring collapse, typical of Luciano Spalletti sides, was on the cards, but then ‘Kvaradona’ sprinkled his stardust.
After receiving a pass from Osimhen in a Napoli counter-attack, Kvaratskhelia attacked the Atalanta defense without backup.
His first feint sent Rafael Toloi spinning and Giorgio Scalvini slide-tackling into thin air, but having already fooled four defenders he cut back into the confused Toloi before blasting in at the near post.
By the time he took his shot, Kvaratskhelia was alone in the penalty area with seven Atalanta players powerless to stop the goal that propelled Napoli to victory and virtually sealed their first Scudetto since 1990.
“He scored a goal worthy of Maradona, this time you can really tell, given the quality of control in such a tight space… when he runs towards you, he’s basically unnoticeable,” Spalletti told after the contest to reporters.
Italy’s champions-elect take on Eintracht with a 2-0 lead to defend after a crushing first leg in Germany and nothing but positive feelings surrounding the team.
– Deep running –
With an incredible 18 points lead at the top of Serie A, Spalletti’s entertaining side is looking at a deep run in Europe and has the perfect chance to make it to the last eight.
Spalletti said after the first leg that Napoli’s biggest enemy was “to think it’s already done”, but the stars could hardly have aligned better for his team.
He should have his entire squad available for Wednesday’s game, after the blows from starting goalkeeper Alex Meret and centre-back Kim Min-jae before and during Saturday’s win proved to be minor.
Meanwhile, Eintracht are without their star striker Randal Kolo Muani, who was sent off in the first leg and has scored eight goals in 11 appearances in all competitions since the turn of the year.
And Eintracht will not have their usual army of away fans in Naples after the city’s prefecture banned people living in Frankfurt from buying tickets on Sunday.
On Saturday, an initial ban on anyone in Germany from buying tickets, imposed on Friday by Italy’s interior ministry following problems in the first leg, was reversed following an appeal from Eintracht.
The latest decision to limit ticket sales as a public safety measure has enraged Eintracht, whose board member Philipp Reschke said in a statement that the club would not take any of its allocation.
“It is a known fact that two-thirds of our fans come from outside the Rhine-Main region and not from Frankfurt,” he said.
“There are countless ways to actually get around this decree and get parts of our fan base into the stadium… we’re not going to divide ourselves into zip code areas.”
Eintracht is appealing the decision despite not taking the 2,700 places available, but “given the timing, it’s more about the principle for us and how it affects future decisions.”
(This story has not been edited by DailyExpertNews staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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