lty was saved by Frankfurt captain Kevin Trapp, met with a deafening whistle from the home fans.
Encouraged by Kvaratskhelia’s miss from the penalty spot, Frankfurt began to advance, and the cheering fans grew louder and the game became more violent.
Hirving Lozano took advantage of the extra space by dashing down the right flank and making a pass to Osimhen, who shot easily into the far post. They repeated the trick a minute later, but this time the goal was ruled offside.
Napoli captain Giovanni Di Lorenzo scored his second goal in the 65th minute, completing a beautiful team move with a sprawling shot from the turn into the far corner after Kvaratskhelia heeled the ball into his path. André-Franc Zambo Anguissa played the Georgian into the pass, passing him a weighty ball.
Frankfurt’s hopes of getting back in the game had been severely dashed minutes earlier when star forward Randal Colo Mooney was suspended for catching Anguissa with an open sole as both went for the ball. This means that the French forward will be suspended for the second match in Naples.
We tried to do everything, said Frankfurt midfielder Mario Goetze. The game was going against us, also because of the red card. It was a killer for us. We were pretty good in the first few minutes. They played well at the end.
Frankfurt coach Oliver Glasner said his team was not going to give up.
We’re not going to raise the white flag in Naples. A lot of things are possible in soccer, Glasner said. We’re hurting today. We made a lot of mistakes. We have to learn from that.
Colleague Luciano Spalletti also cautioned against considering the draw over, despite his team’s clear superiority. Napoli had 17 attempts, while the hosts had five.
There is still a match, we still have to play it, Spalletti said. Arrogance is the biggest enemy.
At the start of the game, Frankfurt supporters laid a large pyrotechnic charge behind one of the gates, partly in protest against local authorities who could not agree on the planned choreography because of security concerns.
In and around the game, K
scored his 10th goal in his last eight appearances in all competitions, opening the scoring in the 40th minute after a period of concerted pressure from the visitors.
Osimhen had just shot on goal, and Hvicha Kvaratskhelia with a frothy large numbers of police. The night before, police had made nine arrests and were ready for more trouble on Tuesday.
Napoli fans were taken to the stadium in order to shield them from the home fans, and a large buffer zone was set up around their section in the stadium to prevent contact between rivals.
Napoli, who lead Serie A with 15 points, seemed discouraged by uncharacteristic mistakes early in the match, until Osimhen calmed the nerves of the visitors.
