'You see Osimhen out-jumping Rudiger' - Pundit surprised Real Madrid CB lost aerial duels against Napoli striker

ESPN pundit and retired Venezuela international forward, Alejandro Moreno has admitted that he was surprised to see Napoli striker Victor Osimhen win the aerial duels against Real Madrid centre-back Antonio Rüdiger during the Champions League clash at the Diego Maradona Stadium on Tuesday evening. 

Although Osimhen did not get on the scoresheet, the Napoli number 9 constantly kept the Real Madrid defenders, Rüdiger in particular, on their toes throughout the game. 

Osimhen came close to grabbing an equalizer in the 39th minute when he produced a trademark leap to beat his man to the ball but Chelsea loanee Kepa Arrizabalaga was able to push his header away.

Moreno questioned Napoli's tactics following the loss to Los Blancos, saying it would have been better for their wingers to find Osimhen with crosses down the middle given the striker's aerial prowess. 

Napoli's game plan was to sit deep and try to hit Real Madrid on the break using Osimhen's pace. 

Reacting to Napoli's loss to Real Madrid, Moreno said on ESPN FC: "You see Osimhen out-jumping Rüdiger regularly and that's surprising to see because Rüdiger we think of him as an athletic guy but Osimhen is just dunking on him all the time.

"If you're Kvaratskhelia and I'm Osimhen, I'm saying to you, 'listen stop with the touch, touch, touch, touch and then a little combination pass that amounts to nothing, swing the ball in, just float it to the back post and I'll go get it'. 

"'Just float it over and I'll go dunk on them and we'll score a goal, why are we just playing this little game when we have such athleticism and such explosive movement inside the 18-yard box'.  I just don't understand."

Osimhen engineered a penalty early in the second half when his attempted cross hit Nacho on the hand. 

Ifeanyi Emmanuel 

Photo Credit: sscnapoli.it

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