Milan won the most recent meeting with Napoli in the framework of Serie A. (Getty Images)
The Milan of Rafael Leao the Napoli of the surprising Khvicha Kvaratskhelia. The 100% Italian Champions League quarterfinal tie kicks off on Wednesday at the San Siro (3:00 p.m.) with the great attraction of seeing the two most striking attackers in Serie A face to face.
Who is better between the two? “I don’t know…”, the Portuguese replied prudently leo at the beginning of April after his spectacular double against Napoli in Serie A (4-0).
The 23-year-old Portuguese international came out of that match with sky-high morale after two and a half months without scoring, wearing the No. Kvaratskheliathe left winger of Napoli (22) who has amazed European football this season.
“I am a fan of yours. I like what he does on the field, he looks a bit like me. He has had a great season”, said ‘Rafa’ about ‘Kvara’, author of 14 goals and 14 assists this season counting all competitions.
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The Georgian has been the perfect complement to the powerful Victor Osimhen, who is out on Wednesday in Milan with an adductor problem. Neither will be the other 9 of Luciano Spalletti’s squad, Giovanni Simeone, touched on one thigh.
Totally unknown when he joined the Napoli team last preseason from Dinamo Batumi, ‘Kvara’ quickly made captain Lorenzo Insigne forget, who emigrated to Canada. He put the Diego Maradona stadium in his pocket thanks to his technique, dribbling and endless energy.
‘Concentration dips’
Leao, one of the architects of the Scudetto achieved by Milan last season, had lost his pace a bit after the Qatar-2022 World Cup. But he woke up at the key moment of the season, regaining his speed and technique.
With problems in attack, in the image of the 0-0 that they signed in Empoli on Friday, when Leao barely entered the second half, Milan depends to a large extent on the inspiration of the Portuguese, top scorer (10) and assist (6) rossonero in the championship.
Leao and Kvaratskhelia “are similar” in the sense that they provide their teams with “a lethal weapon, the speed of execution,” he said in La Gazzetta dello Sport former Georgian international Kakha Kaladze, who won two Champions Leagues with Milan (2003 and 2007).
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“Leao is devastating. As a former defenseman, I can tell you that he is very difficult to guard. Seen from the outside, I think his current weak point is being able to have some concentration lapses. As for ‘Kvara’, it seems that he has been playing in Serie A for three years, ”added the 45-year-old former footballer, current mayor of the Georgian capital Tbilisi.
Far from the best paid
That Kvaratskhelia stay for at least three years is the dream of all Neapolitan fans, but the player has become an object of desire for all the great teams on the continent.
To those who advise Napoli to raise his salary immediately (he is far from being part of the top 10 paid), the charismatic president Aurelio De Laurentiis answers vehemently, recalling that he signed until 2027: “Why review the contract? the contracts are made between two and we have not signed for a year ”.
Milan, for its part, has already begun negotiations to renew Leao, who arrived in 2019 and ends his contract in 2024.
The Rossoneri would be willing to multiply his salary by four (he currently earns 1.64 million dollars, according to the press), but he will surely receive more juicy proposals from the Premier League.
In Serie A, Napoli is practically champion -16 points with the second, Lazio- and Milan is fourth, fighting for the ‘Champions zone’. Meanwhile, both cross paths in Europe, the most luxurious theater in which they can exhibit their two figures.
