Four Napoli players were in action on Monday: Giovanni Di Lorenzo, Giacomo Raspadori, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Eljif Elmas.
On to the Finals
Giovanni Di Lorenzo played the full 90 minutes and Giacomo Raspadori played 72 minutes in Italy’s 0-2 victory over Hungary.
Once again, Raspadori and Di Lorenzo stood out in Roberto Mancini’s 3-5-2 formation, particularly in the attack.
Raspadori opened the scoring after Wilfried Gnonto pressed Hungary goalkeeper Peter Gulasci into conceding possession in front of his own goal. The Napoli forward was first to the rebound and calmly rolled in his second goal in as many matches for gli Azzurri.
The Napoli teammates nearly doubled Italy’s lead five minutes later. Raspadori switched the play to Di Lorenzo, who controlled wonderfully before curling a left-footed shot just wide of the far post. The shot was reminiscent of the goal Raspadori scored against England on the 23rd.
The pair were also involved in the build-up to Italy’s second goal, beginning with Di Lorenzo winning a header over Milos Kerkez on the long ball from Bryan Cristante.
Six passes later Federico Dimarco doubled Italy’s lead. Gli Azzurri completed 23 consecutive passes in the buildup to the goal, two of which were delivered by Raspadori.
With the win, Italy topped League A, Group 3 and therefore qualified for the UEFA Nations League Finals, which will be contested in June 2023.
16 Out of 18
Khvicha Kvaratskhelia played 72 minutes in Georgia’s 1-2 win over Gibraltar to conclude a very successful run in League C, Group 4, both for Georgia and Kvara.
Georgia dropped only two points in six matches (a draw to Bulgaria on June 12) and earned a deserved promotion to League B.
Kvaratskhelia scored five goals and tallied three assists over the six matches, including a goal in Monday’s match against Gibraltar. The Napoli forward, who was threatening all match, drew a penalty kick in the 18th minute. Kvara stepped up and calmly beat Gibraltar goalkeeper Bradley James Banda, who guessed correctly but simply could not make the save.
Kvaratskhelia was once again the star of the show. The Napoli winger proved to be a difficult mark yet again, roaming towards the centre and even the right side of the pitch, despite lining up on the left. Kvaratskhelia and teammate Nika Kvekveskiri led all players with five shot attempts each.
Short-Handed
Eljif Elmas played the full 90 minutes in North Macedonia’s 0-1 defeat to Bulgaria.
The versatile Napoli player wasn’t able to express himself as he normally does for his country, after Todor Todoroski got himself sent off in the 14th minute.
Elmas’ match statistics reflected the play of a team who were down a man for the majority of the match:
- 0 shot attempts
- 2 successful dribbles
- 29 passes (62.9% pass completion rate)
- 43 touches
[…] AC Milan, did not participate in Italy’s UEFA Nations League matches against England and Hungary. Instead, he returned from Coverciano to Napoli to receive […]