Napoli have a 2-0 lead in their Champions League playoff tie with OGC Nice, but that result doesn’t feel good enough to a partenopei squad that dominated the day and needed to put their French foes away in the first leg of the tie before going to France next week.
The first half was an absolutely dominant display from Napoli, launching attack after attack onto a scattered Nice defense, and scoring early via a wonderful Dries Mertens strike in the 13th minute. But Napoli struggled to follow up that goal with more scoring, despite having chance after chance handed to them by their French opponents.
In return, Nice were able to generate a few chances of their own on the counter attack, and looked a bit stronger in the second half as the heat and humidity started wearing on Napoli after running so hard and so much trying to press their advantage in the first half. Napoli’s defense bent and bent and bent some more, making too many mistakes and giving Nice too many chances — but it was another Nice defensive error that created the second goal of the game, with Mertens getting bowled over at the edge of the box in a very close call and Jorginho coolly converting the ensuing penalty kick.
Nice tried to fire up to come back after going down two goals, but that only lead to their downfall — in the 80th minute, a rashly late challenge from Vincent Koziello saw him sent off with a straight red, then Polish referee Szymon Marciniak sent off a second Nice player moments later when Alassane Plea earned a yellow card for dissent, 15 minutes after being booked the first time.
But Napoli couldn’t take full advantage of the situation, failing to score again despite being two men up for fifteen minutes by the time the five minutes of stoppage time slipped away and Marciniak blew the whistle to end the game. There were more chances to score, to be sure, but Napoli’s finishing touch was just as off as it had been all game, and instead of putting Nice away, they left the door open just a crack for them to mount a comeback in the second leg in France next week. Hopefully that fate does not come to pass — but this is Napoli, and we’ve seen stranger things happen.
Still, a win is a win, and Napoli were unquestionably the better team today. That’s a huge and important thing, and if they can take this quality and smooth out some of the rougher edges, they’ll be in a great position to play some fantastic football this season. Hopefully including the Champions League.
Napoli: Pepe Reina; Elseid Hysaj, Raul Albiol, Kalidou Koulibaly, Faouzi Ghoulam; Allan (Marko Rog 85’), Jorginho, Marek Hamsik (Piotr Zielinski 59’); Jose Callejon, Dries Mertens (Arkadiusz Milik 75’), Lorenzo Insigne
Goals: Mertens (13’), Jorginho (pen. 70’)
Nice: Yoan Cardinale; Christophe Jallet (Patrick Burner 90’+4), Arnaud Souquet, Dante, Maxime Le Marchand, Malang Sarr (Olivier Boscagli 60’); Pierre Lees-Melou, Jean Michael Seri, Vincent Koziello (red 80’), Allan Saint-Maximin (Remi Walter 82’); Alassane Plea (red 80’)
Comments
Title is misleading
They were a full team for 80 minutes and we were 2-0 up.
The problem was Milik. He needs to be kicked out.
By ForzaNapoli on 08.16.17 11:20pm
not sure he needs to be kicked out just being out of form
Since his injury he is clearly not himself. He is not a bad player but his confidence is probably somewhere near to zero, non existent. He needs to score some crucial goals in the league and he will be the great player as he was before his injury…give him time, dont judge too fast
By Napoletano on 08.16.17 11:35pm
It's like Gabi
He just won’t get the chance in CL or the league against Mertens. Sarri will never risk it. I don’t know how he was before Napoli but we can’t just judge him at Napoli based on a few games where he scored.
By ForzaNapoli on 08.16.17 11:51pm
I think Milik will come good
Yea he’s low on confidence right now, but I think we’ve all seen that unlike Gabi, he fits well into our team and also provides us with a different approach (physical presence, aerial threat).
Even though he won’t take away Merten’s starting role, I honestly believe that Milik will be crucial for us this season.
By Kinam13 on 08.17.17 1:08am
The title is a specific mention to the last 15 minutes, so it's not misleading in the slightest.
And kick out Milik? You must be mad.
By Conor Dowley on 08.17.17 3:48am
Disagree
Title imo is misleading cuz we won the game. They had 9 men. So what? Only for 15 minutes while all 9 men were defending. Finishing was the problem but Milik should’ve finished that chance at the end tho.
By Bayern_Thunder on 08.17.17 4:59am
Milik should have finished
But Insigne had 2-3 huge missed opportunities as well, one right front of the goal. So did Mertens as well, had a hit clearly few meters from the goal. Milik wasnt the only one missing big opportunities, he was just more obvious and pressure is on him because he hasnt really scored for a long time. But Sarri admitted that all forwards are wasteful and the team needs to work hard on finishing. Not only Milik…I have to agree with him. While defense was shaky at times it seemed much more solid than last season. This will be crucial so this a good sign. We played and won yesterday like juve does many times. Not big difference, but clean sheet and mandatory comfortable win. Team seems more mature and clean sheet is more important than scoring 3-4 goals every game…it was promising but there is always room for improvement.
By Napoletano on 08.17.17 3:26pm
I am not ready to write off Milik yet
I think he can still come good. There will be games where we will need his aerial advantage. The miss was dreadful but give him some time. Our biggest goal threat is still Mertens and no way for crucial games should play Milik before Mertens at this stage. That’s why I do not understand the decision to sub out Mertens for Milik when we need goals.
All our three little forwards didn’t finished their clear cut chances as expected although only Mertens had a goal to show for it. Insigne is once again doing his usual "shooting the pigeons" routine in a desperate attempt to get goals for himself. But the more he tried, the more he won’t scored. After a few games, he will realise the futility and then start to assist others so that the others will scored. And in due time, he will suddenly score loads again. Every season he got a mini goal-drought of some sort follow by a goal scoring run. What we can be sure baring a drastic drop in form is that he usually outdid his previous season performance. Insigne has not peak yet.
By RichardBarker on 08.17.17 4:09pm
What's up with Pavoletti
Too many strikers?
By Bayern_Thunder on 08.17.17 1:15am
I think we're being a little harsh here
Yes we should definitely have scored more but we were still absolutely dominant.
Perhaps we are forgetting that this was our first competitive match of the season and thus, there are bound to be some rough edges (hopefully our finishing improves). Anyway, let’s be honest here, we all would’ve taken a 2-0 before the game started..
By Kinam13 on 08.17.17 1:24am
I even predicted 2-0
Nice lost their home opener to a promoted team in Ligue 1. We’ll be fine in the second leg. #ForzaNapoli
By Bayern_Thunder on 08.17.17 2:01am
Well it was without Sneijder and Balotelli...
But I feel considering this result wasnt as large as it could have been, it’ll spur Napoli to continue to put on a good performance in France too. No worries lads :)
By PandaNapoli on 08.17.17 4:57am
Sneijder is good...
…but let’s not forget that he still hasn’t played a single minute for Nice, and is out of shape, and is well past his prime. That’s not to say he isn’t dangerous or won’t add something to the team, but most of the coverage of this tie overplays his importance. With two starters missing and the lack of control they had over the match yesterday, it’s hard to imagine Nice scoring 2 or 3 goals AND not concede at all. Not to jinx it or anything…
By Mavolio on 08.17.17 4:14pm
odds are good that we will go thru...
We kept a clean sheet at home so Nice doesn’t have any away goal advantage. If 2H of last season is anything to go by, we tend to do better in away games.
By RichardBarker on 08.17.17 4:00pm