Experience And Big Moments The Difference Between Napoli And Milan

It was a tie decided on moments.

When history looks back on the two legs between Napoli and Milan, it will be defined by moments: Khvicha Kvaratskhelia’s miss in the opening seconds of the first leg at San Siro; Brahim Diaz’s skill in the build up to Ismael Bennacer’s strike; the second yellow card for Andre-Frank Anguissa; Mike Maignan’s outrageous top corner save from Giovanni Di Lorenzo’s shot in the dying minutes; Matteo Politano’s injury in the second leg; the penalty on Hirving Lozano that wasn’t given; Rafael Leao’s sublime solo run; Maignan saving Kvaratskhelia’s penalty.

All those moments eventually added up and went in Milan’s favour, with the Rossoneri reaching their first Champions League semi final since the last time they won the trophy 16 years ago.

In between the moments, however, Milan played like a side with more big game experience than Napoli. They sat deep, kept Napoli at arm’s reach for the majority of the two games, and knew when to hit on the break. Stefano Pioli’s game plan was executed to perfection.

At a feverish Stadio Diego Armando Maradona, the pressure was on the home side. The weight of expectation, such has been the level of football Napoli have played this season, seemed to influence their game. Napoli finished the game with 63% possession to Milan’s 37%; 23 shots at goal to Milan’s six; 16 corner kicks to Milan’s one.

And yet for all of Napoli’s gung-ho approach, they ended the game with the same total of shots on target as Milan: four. This sums up their two performances over the tie, a lot of good play, but little end product.

In Naples, they snatched at half-chances, hurried any marginal opening Milan afforded them. It all smacked of inexperience, not quite sure of how to handle the pressure of playing in games of this magnitude. It was a little all-too-predictable.

Milan, in contrast, played like seasoned campaigners of the latter stages of the Champions League, which is rather odd considering this iteration of the club has about as much as experience of a European quarter final as Napoli.

Out of the 11 players who started the game in Naples, only Olivier Giroud and Simon Kjaer had ever played in a quarter final tie before, and even then, Kjaer had only appeared at this stage once before, with Sevilla five years ago. Yet Pioli’s side played with an experience that belied their inexperience. They played with a calmness, stuck to their tactical plan, and hit Napoli on the counter, with the Neapolitans constantly resembling boxer losing in the final rounds of a fight, swinging relentlessly yet never truly hitting the mark.

Napoli’s inexperience can be highlighted in Leao’s 50-yard run in the build up to Giroud’s goal. Tanguy Ndombele has received blame for losing control of the ball, no doubt it was sloppy from Ndombele – who’d performed relatively well up to that point – but the criticism cannot be laid at his feet solely, not when Leao skipped past three players and none of them thought to haul him down. Experienced players at this level would’ve brought Leao crashing to the ground and taken the yellow card for the good of the team.

Only Amir Rrahamani attempted to bring him down, but by that point Leao was in full flow, and Rrahamani couldn’t have caught him even in an Uber
UBER
.

From the 4-0 league defeat in Naples on March 31 through to the two games in the tie, Milan have had Napoli’s number. Luciano Spalletti couldn’t figure out a way to outfox Pioli tactically, and the big moments favoured Milan, yet Napoli will learn from the experience and come back the better for it next season. After all, this was their first-ever Champions League quarter final. Should Victor Osimhen and Kvaratskhelia be kept in the summer, with one or two signings, Napoli could go one better next season and make it into the final four.

Moreover, a first Scudetto since 1990 is mere weeks away, and a party that will surely rage for weeks and possibly even months lies ahead. This has been a spectacular season for Napoli, and the money earned from their Champions League run could go a long way in tying down Osimhen to a longer stay in southern Italy.

Yet there is a feeling that Italy’s best representatives in the competition have exited the stage prematurely. With Milan through, a Derby della Madonnina is 90 minutes away from becoming a reality, yet the chances of either beating one of Real Madrid or Man City in the final are slim. Napoli’s progression to the final would’ve arguably been best for Italy’s chances of winning the competition.

But then again, not many give Milan a chance of beating Napoli before the tie. Stranger things have happened in football, and in Istanbul, of all places.

As for Milan, Pioli’s young side continue to grow. Their run to the final four has earned €85m ($92m) in UEFA
EFA
prize money (excluding stadium revenue from Champions League nights), and with the club’s debt minimal compared to the likes of Inter and Juventus, they could be in a position to keep Leao long-term and make the kind of investments in the transfer market they couldn’t a year ago.

Experience begets experience, and both teams will be better off in the long run.