Napoli hopes Osimhen will be available for their Champions League match against Milan.

After a 2-1 victory at Lecce, Southern Italy's top club needs just four more victories from nine games to win their first league title since 1990. Yet, they lacked the cutting edge that Luciano Spalletti's team would need in Wednesday's opening leg against AC Milan.

Before Antonino Gallo's careless backpass slid through the shocked goalkeeper's fingertips on Friday, Napoli were forced on the back foot by inferior Lecce. Friday's victory was only possible because of a weird own goal. 

The performance wasn't much better than the 4-0 home beating Milan dealt Napoli the weekend before, despite the three points moving Napoli closer to the league title.

Napoli has never before advanced to the Champions League's last eight.

They are considered dark horses because of how they have advanced in the competition and because they were drawn on the opposite side of the draw from the current powerhouses of European football.

Osimhen and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia have become more vital to Napoli as the season has gone on, and the Serie A's top scorer's recent thigh injury has brought home just how crucial he is to the team's overall performance.

After Lecce's victory, Spalletti remarked, "It does get difficult without him because he has this way of racing into space and a physical presence, he can draw everyone to him and then create space."

The 24-year-primary old's replacement Giovanni Simeone, who had a thigh injury of his own after substituting on Friday, won't likely be available, therefore Spalletti will be hopeful the Nigerian international makes a comeback on Wednesday. Osimhen has avoided injuries this season — at least in comparison to past ones — and Napoli has clearly benefited as a result.

Osimhen gives Napoli the ideal escape when things aren't going as planned, despite the 25 goals he has scored across all competitions. Midfielders can get beyond opponent pressing and grasp onto his lay-offs because of how hard he works to follow down and hang onto long balls that pressured teammates send forward.

“When I say that I always put the team first, those aren’t just words. You can see that in how I play, right?” said Osimhen in an interview with France Football published on Saturday.

“It’s hunger, something I’ve always had inside myself. And thankfully here with the coach Spalletti you don’t have any choice — at Napoli the attackers are the first line of defence.”

Milan coach Stefano Pioli will have most of his first choice players available, save the injured Pierre Kalulu, after making a host of changes for their goalless draw with Empoli last Friday.

The San Siro has seen plenty of big European nights and will be packed out again on Wednesday as Milan hunt their first semi-final since they were the continent’s kings for the seventh and last time back in 2007.

Milan might not have beaten Empoli but it wasn’t for the want of trying, 23 shots and 70 percent possession in a dominant performance which only missed the goalscoring touch.

And Pioli is expected to stick with the same XI which gave Napoli the biggest beating of their otherwise triumphant season, in the hope that his team’s European pedigree shines through.

AFP