Napoli’s Victor lands nervy Foxes in a hole
LEICESTER CITY squandered a twogoal lead and had Wilfried Ndidi sent off as Victor Osimhen crowned a superb individual display with a double strike as Napoli earned a deserved point from a thrilling Europa League clash.
Goals from Ayoze Perez and Harvey Barnes looked to have given Leicester victory in their Group C opener, only for Osimhen — who was allowed to play in this game only after a late change to UK quarantine rules — to strike twice, with the second arriving in the 87th minute.
Matters threatened to get out of hand as missiles were launched from the area housing the Italian club’s fans into a Leicester sector, with some hurled back. There were brief scuffles between the sets of supporters before a significant police and stewarding presence moved in to calm things.
Both clubs are now sure to face a UEFA investigation after the ugly scenes.
The result means Leicester will still be in a strong position if they can overcome Legia Warsaw in Poland in a fortnight, though this match left them in no doubt about the challenges Group C will pose.
Leicester boss Brendan Rodgers said: ‘We are disappointed with the end result but (we had) some exciting and good moments. The two goals are outstanding and one disallowed that was tight.
‘Maybe we tired a bit, some players were getting minutes in their legs. There are things for us to improve on — keeping the ball better for longer periods. If we did that, we wouldn’t tire so quickly.
‘The effort and mentality was good, it’s just a shame we couldn’t close it out. I don’t think they created too many chances, we had good possession. You have to do all the unglorified stuff, the last goal we just couldn’t quite get there to stop the cross.’
Rodgers left out Jamie Vardy and Youri Tielemans while Napoli also made four changes from the side that beat Juventus 2-1 last weekend. This was not enough to dampen enthusiasm inside the ground, however, where the flag-waving Leicester fans were in raucous form.
Napoli nearly silenced them in the third minute when Osimhen’s shot from the edge of the box was spilled by Kasper Schmeichel, with Jannik Vestergaard forced to mop up the danger.
Then Leicester found their rhythm. Perez held off Kalidou Koulibaly inside the box and found Patson Daka, who scooped it on to Barnes. The Foxes forward looked certain to score from six yards but was denied by David Ospina’s quick reflexes.
Ospina did well there but the former Arsenal goalkeeper should have done better moments later as Leicester took the lead. Barnes exchanged passes with Daka on the left and crossed for the unmarked Perez, whose volley at the far post crept in off Ospina.
Napoli slowly began to make their extra man in midfield count. A skilful, mobile striker, Osimhen was causing plenty of problems for the recalled Jonny Evans.
The Nigerian swerved past Evans and fired over from the edge of the box, before leaving Evans in his wake moments later and squaring for Kevin Malcuit, who shot wide.
At the other end, Ospina nearly cost his side again when he kicked straight to Perez, and had Koulibaly to thank for bailing him out by blocking Daka’s strike.
Napoli coach Luciano Spalletti bellowed his anger and his mood did not improve when Schmeichel produced a fine save from Hirving Lozano’s header. Aware his team were in danger of losing control, Rodgers sent on Tielemans for Perez in midfield. And the substitute thought he had made an immediate impact just before the hour mark with a delightful pass that Daka drove beyond Ospina from 15 yards.
Daka celebrated what he believed to be his first goal for the club, only for VAR to rule it offside.
Leicester did not have to wait long to double their lead. The excellent Kelechi Iheanacho seized on a poor pass from Giovanni Di 0 and immediately released Barnes, who found the bottom-right corner.
At this stage it was growing ever more tense in the stands, with objects launched by the Napoli fans, numbering about 300, into the area housing the home fans.
In the 69th minute, Osimhen got the goal he deserved as he lifted the ball gently over Schmeichel to revive his side’s hopes. With three minutes left, substitute Matteo Politano crossed from the right and Osimhen timed his jump perfectly to glance a header into Schmeichel’s far corner. Then in stoppage-time Ndidi was dismissed for a second bookable offence.