Rome: AC Milan can move one step closer to reviving its past European glory. Napoli can add another milestone to its extraordinary season.
Figuring out which team will come out on top after the second leg of their all-Italian Champions League quarterfinal Tuesday at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona may come down to the status of their center forwards.
Serie A scoring leader Victor Osimhen is back from an injured abductor muscle in his left leg that kept him out of Milan’s 1-0 win in the first game last week. And now veteran Milan striker Olivier Giroud is an injury concern with an Achilles tendon problem.
Milan won the last of its seven European Cup and Champions League titles in 2007, while Napoli is playing in the quarterfinals for the first time.
Napoli is also nearing its first Serie A title in more than 30 years, with a 14-point lead over second-place Lazio. Maradona led the southern club to its only two Serie A titles in 1987 and 1990, as well as its only European title in 1989 when Napoli lifted the UEFA Cup.
Osimhen returned in the second half of Napoli’s 0-0 draw with Hellas Verona Sunday in Serie A and showed immediately how dangerous he can be by rattling a shot off the crossbar.
“Osimhen has this physicality and speed whereby you can throw the ball up to him and he can protect it, use his head or use a change of pace,” Napoli coach Luciano Spalletti said.
“He has so many different alternatives.”
The 24-year-old Osimhen has been one of the top strikers in Europe this season with 25 goals in 29 appearances across all competitions.
At age 36, Giroud leads Milan with 12 goals in 37 games. But the France international had to sit out training Sunday, possibly leaving coach Stefano Pioli to choose from Ante Rebic and Divock Origi as a replacement – with Zlatan Ibrahimovic also out injured.
Ismael Bennacer scored for Milan in the first leg, which also included two yellow cards to physical Napoli midfielder Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa.
Zambo Anguissa and Napoli’s top center back Kim Min-jae, who is suspended for accumulated cards, will both miss the second leg.
Milan also routed Napoli 4-0 in Serie A at the start of the month but Osimhen missed that game as well as the first leg laast week, after which Pioli said it’s still “50-50” who will advance.
Milan failed to add to its advantage after Zambo Anguissa was sent off 16 minutes from time.
“There are regrets, but the tie is wide open and that is what we wanted,” Pioli said.
The winner will play either Inter Milan or Benfica in the semifinals. Inter holds a 2-0 advantage heading into the second leg at the San Siro Wednesday.
The final will be held June 10 in Istanbul, where Milan wasted a three-goal halftime lead in the 2005 final and was beaten by Liverpool in a penalty shootout.
Current Milan sporting director Paolo Maldini was Milan’s captain for that game and current Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti was the Rossoneri coach.
Madrid takes a 2-0 first-leg lead into its quarterfinal against Chelsea Tuesday.
Ancelotti turns 64 on the day of the final.
“We spoke to each other shortly after the draw and we said, Wouldn’t it be nice to celebrate his birthday together in Istanbul,'” Maldini said.
“We both have something to reclaim in Istanbul.”
AP
