After the first leg, Napoli fans had mixed feelings.
Happily, I returned to play at home in the second leg, but I was worried about playing from 0-1; The good news is that Osmayne has returned from injury, and the worry is that Kim Minya and Anguyisa need to be suspended.
So with so many positive and negative factors, how much better Napoli can play in the second leg than in the first leg has really become a very suspenseful thing.
There is no doubt, though, that Pioli's AC Milan can continue to play the same way as they did in the first leg.
The reason is simple, AC Milan performed well in the first leg.
Through a set of diamond-shaped 442 arrangement, AC Milan has built an excellent level at both ends of the offensive and defensive ends, and the midfield four can be well integrated into the defensive end, sweeping the space outside for the defensive line, thereby supporting the pair of two forwards with the characteristics of Giroud and Leo, the striker opens the way, and the midfield is inserted from the back to form the second echelon of the offensive end.
Such a set of content, to the Champions League knockout stage, is actually quite strong, if there are any shortcomings, it may not be beautiful enough.
And this is precisely what Naples is after.
After the start of the game, Napoli took advantage of the home side and the attacking momentum was quite fierce.
With Osmayne, Napoli's squeeze on Milan's double centre-back in the middle was immediately online, not only directly guiding long passes at the back:
Osmeyne can also form a pressure in the middle to help the wing gain more space, so the inside shot on the wing is also on the line:
Of course, Napoli's more operations in attack are still crosses, but most of them have become the clearance statistics of Milan defenders:
Shortly after returning from injury, Osmayne is obviously not at his best, and many times can only play a containment effect on the off-ball link, that is, creating space for the wing teammates, so if Napoli want to play well, the key is still on the wing.
Politano's side against Te'o, it is good to play a cross, and with the help of DiLorenzo, the cross effect can be a little more variable, basically at the end:
On the contrary, on the side of Kvarac Helia, he failed one-on-one with the Milan defender many times, and missed a large number of valuable fighters:
This makes although Leo and Giroud receive the ball in the opening stage, there are many mistakes:
But the backfield was enough to withstand it, and when it came time to produce a penalty in the 21st minute, Giroud failed to make a penalty:
Therefore, Napoli's side still failed to do their best, and their wide players played too narrowly, limited to their own acres and three-point land, which eased the difficulty of AC Milan's defense.
In fact, at the end of the first half, Napoli completed a number of lateral transfers from the left and right sides of the penalty area line, which put a lot of pressure on AC Milan, and was forced to let Leo and Giroud return to defense, which shows that AC Milan is really dangerous:
However, turning around, AC Milan scored by counter-attacking:
As soon as the goal was scored, the pressure on Napoli's side was even greater.
In the first half, they also lost Politano and Mario Rui, counting the suspended players, the small half of the team's main players could not play, and the burden on the core players was even heavier.
At this time, they especially need to be calm and play the most efficient attack, but when they returned in the second half, Kvarazhelia's two singles were still unsatisfactory:
In the meantime, Milan can also relieve a little pressure at the back by counter-attacking:
However, with Giroud coming off in the 68th minute, Milan's counter-attacking efficiency gradually declined, and there was no way around this, Giroud himself was injured, and substitute Origi was not very good in his debut season:
If the counter-attack can't be played, Napoli can unload their defenses and put most of their energy into attack, and in this way, the pressure on Milan's backfield will naturally increase.
Although there is still no significant improvement in offensive efficiency, it will eventually have an effect after accumulating, but it is still played from the right side.
In the 80th minute, Napoli's cross from the right created a penalty, but Kvarac Helia did not hit:
In the third minute of injury time, it was still Napoli's cross from the right that Osmayne pulled back a point, so that Napoli did not lose at home:
However, the aggregate score was fixed at 2-1, and Milan managed to advance to the next round.
AC Milan in this match, as in the first leg, still responded to Napoli with a tough defense and sharp counter-attack. The defensive level is a good play for traditional Italian coaches, so in the face of the very unItalian Napoli, as long as the counterattack can be played, Leo can guarantee the performance, AC Milan's defense is solid.
Even if you want to lose the goal, it will only be on Osmein, not Kvaratshelia.
Of course, even if it stops there, Napoli's season is still a success.
Domestically, they are poised to win their first league title in more than 20 years, a season to remember for a team that has often been left behind in the past few years but has a shining history.
However, there is a fundamental difference between the Champions League, especially the knockout stages of the Champions League, and the league where you can play well with consistent abuse, which is what Spalletti and Napoli will need to understand in the future, at least tonight's promotion team is a good illustration of this.
AC Milan and Real Madrid are not leaders in their respective leagues, but they both reached the last four.