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Napoli needed an away goal as soon as possible in their Champions League playoff match against OGC Nice in order to grab a tiebreaker and a bigger aggregate lead, and thanks to Jose Callejon and Marek Hamsik, they’ve done exactly that.
Callejon scores a huge away goal early in the 2nd half to all but send Napoli through. Nice must score 4! #UCL https://t.co/gNAXgCEkGH
— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) August 22, 2017
That goal all but ended the tie, forcing Nice to score four times without conceding in less than a full half of football in order to advance. That’s a Herculean task given how well Napoli have defended against them so far in the tie, with even Mario Balotelli and Wesley Sneijder having a hard time getting much of anything going against the partenopei in Tuesday’s match.
The goal was a simple turn-in finish from Callejon to the near post, but it was made simple by an inch-perfect pass from Hamsik, flashing across the face of goal and turning the keeper. Both players have looked much better today than they did a week ago, when both looked a bit out of sync with the rest of the attack, so seeing that quality rewarded with such an important goal is excellent to see.