- AC Milan beat Napoli 1-0 at home in the Champions League quarter-final first leg.
- Milan’s Ismaël Bennacer scored the only goal of the game in the 40th minute after a counterattack.
- In the second game of the night, Real Madrid beat Chelsea 2-0 at home.
With a sprint over half the field, Milan’s Brahim Diaz initiated the crucial moment of the game in the 40th minute. The Spaniard received the ball in his own half of the field, prevailed against two opponents and finally found Rafael Leao after a tempo run. This was perfect for Ismaël Bennacer with a cross pass. With a powerful shot, the Algerian gave the home team the lead.
In just 12 seconds, the Milanese came from their own penalty area to score. The fast switching game overwhelmed the hitherto better guests from Naples. Milan had previously come close to scoring from a counterattack, but Leao missed the opening goal after 25 minutes.
Great start from Napoli
The Neapolitans got off to a stronger start. Coach Luciano Spalletti’s team had their first top chance in the first minute, but Kwicha Kwaratskelia couldn’t put the ball in the goal from just a few meters away. After that, Napoli continued to power until the game calmed down a bit after 20 minutes.
Milan almost made it 2-0 just before the break. After a corner kick, central defender Simon Kjaer headed the ball to the crossbar, from where he jumped just in front of the goal line. Luck was not on the home team’s side in this scene.
Zambo Anguissa is sent off
After the change of sides, Napoli got off to a better start and came close to equalizing. Eljif Elmas’ header was deflected to the crossbar by Milan goalie Mike Maignan (50′), a few minutes later Giovanni di Lorenzo also missed.
The fact that the big race to catch up didn’t materialize afterwards was due on the one hand to the compact Milan defence, and on the other hand to the fact that Napoli were still weakening themselves. Frank Zambo Anguissa saw yellow cards twice within four minutes between the 70th and 74th minute and therefore had to leave the pitch early.
second leg on Tuesday
In the final phase, Napoli had two good chances to equalize through Di Lorenzo and Mathias Olivera, but they didn’t make it 1-1. The Neapolitans will hope that top scorer Victor Osimhen, who was injured, will be available for the team in the second leg. This rises next Tuesday in Naples.