In the European House of Football in Nyon on Monday, Frankfurter Fußball AG board members Philipp Reschke and Markus Krösche sat in the row behind Oliver Kahn and Hasan Salihamidzic from FC Bayern. And when the former Munich professional Hamit Altintop on the podium at lunchtime drew the match between Eintracht Frankfurt and SSC Naples for the round of 16 of the Champions League, Krösche flashed a subtle smile on his face.
Real Madrid or Manchester City, the big names, were not given to the Hessians. But Naples, which is currently in impressive form, is also a well-regarded house number in international business. “Naples is a very difficult draw. It was clear that we would definitely get a chunk,” said sports director Krösche. “I don’t think one team doesn’t take the other seriously. Napoli aren’t super happy to have us either.”
Klopp: Napoli the “team in the best form right now”
The Neapolitans were the first to finish Group A – tied on points with second Liverpool FC. The Italians won the first leg against Liverpool 4-1 at home on the first day of the game. This was followed by confident victories against Glasgow Rangers (3-0 and 3-0) and Ajax Amsterdam (6-1 and 4-2), before Napoli lost 2-0 at Liverpool on the last day of the group match. Before this game, Liverpool coach Jürgen Klopp had ranked the Italians as probably the strongest team at the moment – “perhaps the team with the best form at the moment” – in Europe.
Naples is on everyone’s lips. Also because the club scored a total of 20 goals in its group – no other team was more successful – with eleven different shooters. Only for Borussia Dortmund did more players (14) score in the group stage in the 2016/17 season.
Italian Serie A leads coach Luciano Spalletti’s side by six points over AC Milan. Last Saturday, Napoli prevailed 2-1 at Atalanta Bergamo, who were second at the time. Napoli have won 11 of 13 matches and drawn two. The championship contender from Mount Vesuvius abounds in goals with his appetite for attacking football. For enchanting and exhilarating football. In Serie A, the Neapolitans score three goals or more in every second game.
The Nigerian center forward Victor Osimhen (nine goals across all competitions) and the right-back Giovanni Di Lorenzo make a significant contribution to the dominance, playful class and defensiveness. Playmaker Khvicha Kvaratskhelia has made a name for himself. The 21-year-old Georgian, who joined from Dinamo Batumi for €8m before the season, has recorded eight goals and eight assists in all competitions.
The daily newspaper “Corriere della Sera” recently reported that Cristiano Ronaldo had needed twice as long to achieve this after entering Italian football, and Zlatan Ibrahimovic even three times as long. The offensive player Kvaratskhelia, who has 19 senior national team appearances, impresses with his speed, understanding of the game and technique. “Kvaratskhelia is perfect, he can do everything,” says Spalletti about the shooting star. He is now called “Kvaradona” in Neapolitan vernacular, in reference to the deceased world star Diego Armando Maradona, who played in Naples from 1984 to 1991.
The last meeting between the Italians and Eintracht dates back to the 1994/95 season. In the Uefa Cup, Frankfurt won the first and second leg 1-0. The first leg of the Champions League will be played in Frankfurt on February 21 (9 p.m.) and the second leg on March 15 (9 p.m.). “Naples are one of the best Italian teams and very stable. But we also have a really good team and showed what we can do in the group phase,” said Krösche confidently in the club’s own media.
