Luciano Spalletti has backed star Napoli pair Victor Osimhen and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia to rise to the occasion as they prepare to face Eintracht Frankfurt in the Champions League last 16.
Osimhen and Kvaratskhelia have been two standout performers for Napoli this season, who boast a 15-point lead in Serie A and coasted through their Champions League group earlier this season.
Ahead of their first leg in Germany against the reigning Europa League holders, Spalletti heaped praise on both, as well as the club's decision-makers who brought them to Naples.
"From the point of view of maturity, we can cite Osimhen's reaction to Sassuolo [on Friday] as an example [when he asked to come off after feeling a potential injury]," he told reporters. "As soon as he realised he had a little problem he evaluated correctly, asking for a substitution.
"This is the player who knows how to evaluate things very well, these two types [Osimhen and Kvaratskhelia] they are two of those who truly have the flair, the imagination, the quality to send a message to world football. At the same time, they are two very young boys.
"[Sporting director, Cristiano] Giuntoli and [chairman, Aurelio] De Laurentiis were good at choosing them from a very large group of players, this youth still needs to be shaped, matured.
"Tomorrow night will be an event to be attacked. In my opinion they will be able to interpret it. It is not allowed to be afraid. We will see football that only those at this level can make."
The former Roma and Inter head coach also leaned into a Christmas analogy put to him by a reporter, comparing the Champions League knockout stage to Christmas morning.
"I have to give the reindeer some milk, because it's the night before, it's a party for me," he replied. "We'll see if we can unwrap the presents or not."
Spalletti will go up against opposite number Oliver Glasner, who has impressed at Eintracht since taking over in 2021.
"I know him well because I had already met him when I was coach of Zenit, there is mutual respect as regards the work of the other, for my part," the Italian said.
"I have a number of people who Napoli makes available to me and who go to see the work of the teams that manage to play good football. Since he won the Europa League we too have gone to see what Glasner is doing.
"He is modern, he knows how to make his team play very short, he knows very well how to press high and bring the team block low and start again in space. He has players who know how to use this space very well.
"We congratulate him on the football he has played, he is doing it even in the league. Precisely for this reason it will be delicate and difficult."
Victor Osimhen may sue Napoli over social media video mocking striker
Napoli striker Victor Osimhen is reserving “the right to take legal action” against his own club after his team posted a bizarre video to TikTok seemingly mocking the player.
The odd video comes after Osimhen helped the Italian team secure a first league title, the club’s first in three decades.
Despite Osimhen singlehandedly bolstering Napoli with 31 goals across all competitions, he became the target of a strange, now-deleted video, shared to the Serie A club’s official TikTok account.
Osimhen’s agent Roberto Calenda issued a statement on Tuesday night about the incident.
He wrote on Twitter: “What happened today on Napoli’s official profile on the TikTok platform is not acceptable. A video mocking Victor was first made public and then, but now belatedly, deleted.
“A serious fact that causes very serious damage to the player and adds to the treatment that the boy is suffering in the last period between media trials and fake news.”
Calenda added: “We reserve the right to take legal action and any useful initiative to protect Victor”.
The video featured a clip of the striker’s penalty miss from their match against Bologna on Sunday, with an odd, sped-up voice dubbed over the top.
The strange social media clip comes after there appeared to be tension between Osimhen and Napoli manager Rudi Garcia during the game.
The 24-year-old Nigerian striker was seen berating Garcia as he was substituted off with four minutes remaining of the goalless draw.
The bizarre social media scrap comes after Osimhen, who captured the interest of Manchester United this summer, did not sign a new contract with the Italian team.
Osimhen’s current deal runs through to the summer of 2025.
Steven Naismith hails Hearts match-winner Alex Lowry
Steven Naismith hailed match-winner Alex Lowry as a special talent after the on-loan Rangers player’s late goal sent Hearts into the Viaplay Cup semi-finals.
Kilmarnock were in the ascendancy as the match edged closer to extra time, only for Lowry to strike in time added on to the regulation 90 minutes.
Brad Lyons had earlier cancelled out Jorge Grant’s opener before Lowry claimed his first goal since moving on loan to Tynecastle last month to seal the victory.
Naismith praised Lowry as one of the best young Scottish talents in the game but said he wanted to see more from the 20-year-old on a consistent basis.
The Hearts manager said: “Alex has got brilliant ability.
“I’m not sure I’ve seen in my whole footballing career a young Scottish player that I have been working with that has got such good … he can do things with a ball that a lot of others can’t.
“I’ve challenged him to see more moments like that.
“He’s been frustrated at not getting more game time but I said to him, you need to show moments and when you are on the park, you need to do more.”
Naismith was pleased to have a Hampden Park semi-final to look forward to but warned that his team would need to follow up that result, starting with a trip to play Ross County this weekend.
He added: “I was delighted to get through. It was the next step we needed to take.
“At this club there’s a demand to get to semi-finals and finals and ultimately win silverware.
“It’s a big win and everybody’s delighted but we do need to back that up.
“Over the past few seasons we haven’t had good performances at Kilmarnock, and Ross County has been the same.”
Kilmarnock manager Derek McInnes admitted he was frustrated that his players had unnecessarily chased a winning goal rather than waiting for extra time.
He said: “I was angry [at full-time] that we’ve allowed that type of goal to decide the cup tie. We had Hearts where we wanted them. We were in charge of that tie in the second half.
“We played the last phase of play as if we needed a goal to get back in the tie. We were guilty of trying to win it then. We were too excitable, too gung-ho to win a game of football in 90 minutes when we could have won the game in extra time.
“It was all last-gasp and unnecessary, almost as if we were chasing a game to win it in 90 minutes when we didn’t need to. We could – and should – have won it in extra time. But we allowed an opportunity for Hearts and they took it.”
Sam Bowen earns overdue win for Wealdstone
Sam Bowen’s fine strike proved to be the difference as Wealdstone beat Woking in the Vanarama National League.
The hosts had won just one of their previous seven games before Bowen struck from the edge of the box to seal a 1-0 victory.
Bowen’s goal came just after the 15-minute mark and he almost repeated the feat five minutes later but this time shot wide.
Goalkeeper Jed Ward made a number of crucial saves to keep Woking at bay as the home side secured the points.
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