Napoli continue awful European tradition after AC Milan knockout

Serie A side Napoli sank to familiar lows when they played against AC Milan in their UEFA Champions League quarterfinal tie, failing to overcome the deficit from the match as they got knocked out despite a 1-1 draw in Naples. 

Victor Osimhen’s header in stoppage time rescued a draw on the night, but the Nigerian’s goal was not enough to stop Napoli from getting knocked out. 

The Partenopei will rue Georgian star man Khvicha Kvaratskhelia’s missed penalty in the 82nd minute, which could have turned the tie on its head. 

Instead, AC Milan’s French goalkeeper Mike Maignan pulled off a remarkable save to deny the Napoli winger and send I Partenopei down a very familiar path in European competition. 

Napoli’s failure to overturn AC Milan’s advantage from the first leg of their UCL quarterfinal tie saw them continue a terminal tradition that has seen them knocked out of the last 11 European fixtures where they lost the first leg. 

With defeat on aggregate against AC Milan, Napoli ensured that they would continue a bad habit that goes back to 1988/89 in the days of Diego Maradona when they last overturned a first-leg defeat in the UEFA Cup.  

That season, they went all the way to win the UEFA Cup with inspiring performances from Maradona and Brazilian Careca, and on the way, they beat Juventus 3-0 in the quarterfinals second leg, after losing the first leg 2-0. 

Since then, Napoli have failed to replicate this feat in any of their other European campaigns, and the defeat over two legs against AC Milan goes to show that they still have a long way to go as a team if they are to conquer territories outside the Serie A. 

Despite the poor outcome, Napoli can still be proud of goalkeeper Alex Meret, who became the first goalkeeper in European competition to save a penalty from an AC Milan player since Liverpool’s Jerzy Dudek in the 2005 UCL final against Andriy Shevchenko.