AC Milan bravely reach Champions League semi-finals

In the first leg of the Champions League quarter-finals at home at San Siro, AC Milan took the advantage with a 1-0 victory over Napoli. In the second leg, the Rossoneri continued to show their mettle and made Napoli cry.

Giroud missed a penalty in the 21st minute (Photo: Getty).

After 90 minutes of play, the two teams drew 1-1. This was a match in which the Red half of Milan played excellently in defense. With this result, coach Stefano Pioli's team won a ticket to the semi-finals for the first time since the 2006/07 season.

Going into the match, Napoli welcomed the important return of their main striker Victor Osimhen, who missed the first leg due to injury. They played in a 4-3-3 formation with the attacking trio of Osimhen, Kvaratskhelia and Politano. Meanwhile, AC Milan kept the same formation as the first leg, with Giroud playing as a striker.

However, in the 43rd minute, Giroud made amends by scoring the opening goal for AC Milan (Photo: Getty).

Right after the opening whistle, Napoli launched a strong attack, while AC Milan decided to play defensively. The ball rolled quite a lot on the Rossoneri field. However, coach Pioli's students played quite focused and alert. They neutralized Napoli's attacks well.

In the 21st minute, AC Milan was even awarded a penalty when Rafael Leao fell in the penalty area after a foul by Mario Rui. Unfortunately, Giroud failed to take the penalty.

In this half, Napoli focused a lot of the ball on Kvaratskhelia. However, the Georgian player was completely helpless against the solidity of Calabria. Meanwhile, Osimhen was always in a state of hunger for the ball.

Kvaratskhelia was completely helpless when facing Calabria (Photo: AP).

The surprise happened when in the 43rd minute, AC Milan scored the opening goal. From a counter-attack, Rafael Leao dribbled the ball strongly from midfield, before passing the ball to Giroud to easily score into Napoli's net.

In the second half, Napoli's pressure was even greater. However, AC Milan still played very solidly. The home team only had a few chances from Kvaratskhelia's individual breakthroughs but were unsuccessful.

Kvaratskhelia had a terrible day when they missed a penalty in the 82nd minute (Photo: AP).

The drama was pushed up at the end of the match. In the 82nd minute, Napoli was awarded a penalty when Tomori handled the ball in the penalty area. Unfortunately, Kvaratskhelia failed to execute the penalty from 11 meters away.

Perhaps, Kvaratskhelia regretted this opportunity because in the extra time, Osimhen headed the equalizer 1-1 for Napoli. However, the home team had too little time to change the situation. They had to accept giving the ticket to the semi-finals to AC Milan.

Osimhen's late equalizer was not enough to help Napoli qualify (Photo: AP).

In the semi-finals, AC Milan will face the winner of the Inter Milan vs Benfica tie. There is a high possibility that fans will witness a Milan derby in the next round. Inter Milan have the advantage in the quarter-finals after beating Benfica 2-0 in the first leg.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/the-thao/ac-milan-day-qua-cam-lot-vao-ban-ket-champions-league-20230419042923656.htm