Champions League: Mazzarri waits on Osimhen to decide if can face Sporting Braga

Napoli coach Walter Mazzarri, will wait to hear from star striker Victor Osimhen Tuesday morning before deciding whether to play him against Sporting Braga in their Champions League tie.
Osimhen did not train with the team Monday as he jetted out to Marrakech, Morocco for the CAF African Player of the Year award. Napoli need a win to progress to the knockout stage, last season they reached the quarter-final where they lost to AC Milan.
Mazzarri has had a tough start since his recent return to Napoli, and the manager wants to see a more solid performance from his side against Sporting Braga, along with progress to the knockout stages of the Champions League. He won his first game in charge after replacing Rudi Garcia, but has since lost the last three in all competitions, against Inter Milan, Juventus and Real Madrid. Napoli require a draw at home to Braga to guarantee Champions League progress.
“Tomorrow I expect more solidity, in my opinion we played very well against Juventus in the first half and against Inter, but tomorrow I am interested in going through, showing that we are solid again and we are not giving anything away,” Mazzarri told a press conference on Monday.
“In these first games of mine, we’ve shown that we play football, but we have to find the balance we had last year, not concede restarts, they didn’t concede goals like that last year.
For Mazzarri, Napoli must worry about their defensive approach more than their attack for now.
“Whoever has won the league or done better has always had the best defence. From what I’ve seen, right now we need to become more solid when we play our game,” the Italian said.
Mazzarri’s side are second in Group C on seven points with Braga three points behind. Napoli’s 2-1 win away to the Portuguese club and better goal difference means even a 1-0 defeat on Tuesday would see the Italian team progress.
“I try not to think differently than that of a home game against a team to be respected and beaten,” Mazzarri said.
“We only have to think about winning, we have to think about conceding very little to our opponents, this will benefit us over the course of the championship.
“As always, we will try to win, possibly not conceding a goal, and that would please me more than anything else.”
Real have already secured top spot having won all five games to date, and face Union Berlin on Tuesday, bottom of the group with two points, but who could clinch a Europa League place with a win if Braga lose. Reuters