AC Milan has qualified for the semi-finals of the Champions League with a draw in the second leg of the Italian duel with SSC Napoli. On Tuesday (18 April 2023) in the Diego Maradona Stadium, Napoli did not get more than 1-1 (1-0). The northern Italians won the first leg 1-0.
Olivier Giroud scored (43′) from a centre-forward position after failing in the middle of the first period with a penalty to Napoli keeper Alex Meret. Victor Osimhen equalized shortly before the end of the game (90th +3).
Early injuries at the SSC
Naples thought they were lucky when Giroud was unable to convert the justified penalty kick (Mário Rui to Rafael Leão). But a little later, penalty-causer Rui and Matteo Politano had to be replaced injured at the same time.
There was also controversy about a hard challenge from that Leão against substitute Hirving Lozano. But the video assistant recognized that the Neapolitan had twisted his ankle before he made contact with his opponent and thus fell. In addition, the southern Italians were unlucky when a goal by Victor Oshimen was disallowed for handball.
Shortly before, Giroud had easily pushed a cross pass from Rafael Leão over the line from close range after the SSC defense had behaved far too passively.
Napoli turns up – but too late
In the second half of the game, the hosts braced themselves against the impending defeat with all their might. Kwischa Kwaratschelia (46th, 58th) tried several times with individual actions, but was unsuccessful. What ran from the hosts’ attacks to the Milanese defense was handled reliably and successfully by Simon Kjaer and Fikayo Tomori.
And it became clear that the Naples semi-finals would not happen on April 18th when Kwaratschelia was also unable to convert a flattering hand penalty: Mike Maignan in the Milan box had guessed the corner (82nd).
Things got hectic again in the third minute of added time when Oshimen equalized for Napoli. But the goal came too late – seconds later, Milan celebrated their first semi-final appearance in 16 years.