FRANKFURT, Germany (Reuters) -Goals from Victor Osimhen and Giovanni Di Lorenzo gave Napoli a comfortable 2-0 victory at 10-man Eintracht Frankfurt in their Champions League last-16 first leg on Tuesday.
In-form Nigeria striker Osimhen, who has now scored 10 goals in his last nine games across all competitions, tapped in at the far post to give his team a 40th minute lead.
Captain Di Lorenzo doubled it from a superb backheel assist by Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, who made amends for his first half penalty miss.
Error-prone Frankfurt had Randal Kolo Muani red-carded in the 58th and were no match for the Italians, who were sharper from the start and hit the post in the 34th through Hirving Lozano.
They earned a penalty immediately after as Frankfurt’s Aurelio Buta kicked Osimhen in his effort to clear the ball.
Georgia forward Kvaratskhelia, who with Osimhen has amassed a total of 32 goals between them in all competitions this season for the runaway Serie A leaders, failed to beat Kevin Trapp from the spot.
Osimhen did it much better only five minutes later after Mexican Lozano, who wreaked havoc down the right wing with his darting runs, whipped in another low cross to the far post for the Nigerian to bundle home.
Osimhen put the ball in the net again in an almost identical move a minute later but his effort was ruled out for offside.
Close-season signing Kvaratskhelia had a golden chance to double their lead in the 57th but again did not manage to beat Trapp in a one-on-one after another Lozano through ball.
The turning point for Frankfurt came a minute later when their top scorer Kolo Muani got his marching orders for a clumsy challenge on Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa.
Napoli’s pressure grew and they were rewarded in the 65th when Kvaratskhelia picked up the ball in the box and backheeled it for Di Lorenzo to curl a shot into the far bottom corner.
(Reporting by Karolos Grohmann; Editing by Ken Ferris)
