Direct Chronicle
Father and son crossed paths between Flanders and the Netherlands. Cholo Simeone suffered in Bruges while his son Giovanni capped off a great match across the Meuse in Amsterdam. The Atlético manager’s eldest son came off the bench and scored the sixth goal for Napoli, a revelation side in this Champions League.
1
Pasveer, Calvin Ughelumba, Jurrien Maduro (Florian Grillitsch, min. 79), Daley Blind, Devyne Rensch (Youri Baas, min. 83), Edson Álvarez, Kenneth Taylor (Klaassen, min. 71), Tadic, Berghuis (Brian Brobbey, Minute 71), Steven Bergwijn and Mohammed Kudus
6
Alex Meret, Rrahmani, Kim Min-Jae, Mathías Olivera, Di Lorenzo (Alessandro Zanoli, min. 83), Lobotka (Gianluca Gaetano, min. 79), Franck Zambo, Zielinski (Tanguy NDombele Alvaro, min. 45), Khvicha Kvaratskhelia (Elmas, min. 63), Giacomo Raspadori (Giovanni Simeone, min. 63) and Hirving Lozano
Gates 1-0 min 8: Mohammed Kudus. 1-1 min. 17: Giacomo Raspadori. 1-2 minutes 32: Di Lorenzo. 1-3 mins. 44: Zielinsky. 1-4 mins 46: Giacomo Raspadori. 1-5 mins. 62: Khvicha Kvarachelia. 1-6 mins. 80: Giovanni Simeon.
referee Francois Letexier
Yellow cards Giacomo Raspadori (min. 20), Jurrien Maduro (min. 29), Tadic (min. 37) and Mohammed Kudus (min. 90)
Red cards Tadic (min. 72)
Few metamorphoses were more complete and genuine than that of Luciano Spalletti with Napoli. The Italian coach decided a few years ago that the new reality of football contradicted his old beliefs owed to neocatenaccio. At the age of 63, he finally buried the old tactics handbook of the nineties with a resilience that was unusual for his guild, took his midfielder out of the zone of influence of the central defenders and plunged into the unknown. The 6-1 his team scored at the Johan Cruyff Arena this Tuesday confirms that it’s never too late to regenerate. At this start of the season, there is no team in continental Europe more dynamic, braver and more rigorous than the south, brilliant on the ball and sophisticated in pressure, crushing Liverpool (4-1), scourging Rangers (0-3) and martyrdom at Ajax .
“We achieved a great result by always pressing and looking for the goal until the end of the game. But now let’s focus on the Cremonese!” said Spalletti, remaining cautious. Serie A, the first Scudetto after Maradona’s last in 1989, is his ultimate goal.
From a coordinated 4-3-3 to obsession, the Florentine has done what coaches who respect the core principles of their craft do. First and foremost, choose the Praetorians well: the indefatigable Di Lorenzo, their spiritual guide; the wise Lobotka, her pilot; Zambo Anguissa, his creative midfielder; and the intrepid Raspadori, who acts as a false nine to download, unload, and fly into space. Together they put together the traps from which this inexperienced Ajax, poorly remodeled following the departures of Antony and Lisandro Martínez, did not escape.
“Star team, cosmic achievement!” Aurelio de Laurentis tweeted after the game in a fit of euphoria. The Napoli owner has been living on a cloud since the team began developing a football that is unstoppable in Italy last spring. This is also confirmed by the classification in Serie A, which leads with 20 points in eight games.
Tank Lewandowski is not missing from Bayern
If Napoli are afloat thanks to some of the most innovative football seen in Italy, Bayern aren’t far behind in the arduous evolution of the modernist experiment that oversees the eccentric Nagelsmann.
Like Napoli in Amsterdam, Bayern took nine points from three games in Munich and practically secured qualification. A win on one of the three remaining days in Group C is enough for Bayern to advance to the round of 16. Half the ticket came as a result of a 5-0 win over Pilsen. More than a resounding scoreboard, confirmation that Bayern have another important one after the game and results crisis that gripped them in September and Julian Nagelsmann’s work in the difficult company he takes on following the sale of Robert Lewandowski to Barça step.
A wall and a whistle from Musiala with Leroy Sané dismantled Viktoria Pilsen’s fragile matted defence. The 1-0 was followed by more combinations from Musiala, Davis, Mané, Sané and Choupo-Moting to fatten the victory without defensive setbacks for goalkeeper Neuer. With this result, Bayern have 42 goals in 13 games in all competitions. Based on a sophisticated and collectivist game. No tank, no nine, and no nostalgia for Lewis.
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