Three Napoli players were in action on Saturday: Leo Østigård, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Stanislav Lobotka.
Cramped
Leo Østigård played the full 90 minutes in Norway’s UEFA Euro Group A qualification match against Oslo. The Napoli defender lined up on the left side of the centre back pairing in Norway’s 4-3-3 formation. It appeared Norway would hang on for the victory after Erling Haaland converted a penalty kick shortly after the hour mark. However, Scotland equalized with only five minutes remaining. Østigård, who took a heavy touch at the edge of his own area, took responsibility for the goal after the match.
“I wish I could do something about the equalizer, but I got cramps in both legs and couldn’t move. I just have to apologize for that. My body told me to stop but I didn’t listen. I never want to be the player who wants to be subbed. But of course, now I understand that if something is not quite right and I am struggling, I should go off. It was a stupid decision by me to stay on. The Norwegian people deserve much more than this and I wish I could do something about it.”
To make matters worse, Scotland scored the winner three minutes later. It was only the second time Scotland had come from behind to win a match after trailing with only 10 minutes remaining. The previous occasion was 124 years ago.
Dribbling Past Cyprus
Khvicha Kvaratskhelia played the full 90 minutes in Georgia’s UEFA Euro Group A qualification match against Cyprus. The Napoli winger played in the front two of Georgia’s 3-5-2 formation. Though he didn’t score, Kvaratskhelia was a dominant force in attack, attempting six shots while completing 10 successful dribbles – more than any other player in Euro qualifiers thus far. Kvaratskhelia nearly restored Georgia’s lead five minutes after the break, but his shot from outside the area curled narrowly wide of the near post. It appeared the match would end in a 1-1 draw, but with just over five minutes remaining, Georgian substitute Zurab Davitashvili made a clever turn in the area before curling the winner inside the far post.
Two In A Row For Calzona
Stanislav Lobotka played the full 90 minutes in Slovakia’s UEFA Euro Group J qualification match against Iceland. The Napoli regista played the full 90 minutes in the centre of Francesco Calzona’s 4-3-3 formation. The match followed a similar script at Cyprus vs Georgia, with Slovakia opening the scoring (on a goal assisted by the ageless Marek Hamšík), Iceland equalizing from the Spot and Slovakia scoring a second-half winner. The only difference was Slovakia’s winner was the result of a very fortunate bounce after Johann Gudmundsson cleared the ball straight into Tomas Suslov.
