Coppa Italia: Afena-Gyan Scores To Help U.S Cremonese Eliminate Napoli

Ghanaian Felix Afena-Gyan shone as Cremonese eliminated Serie A leaders Napoli from the Copa Italia on Tuesday.

The young striker scored a late equaliser to force penalty shootouts, and he converted the winning penalty for Cremonese, who are currently bottom of Serie A.

Cremonese took the lead through Charles Pickel, but goals from Juan Jesus and Giovanni Simeone turned the game around, with substitute Afena-Gyan netting late on.

Nice to see 🇬🇭Felix Afena Gyan back and scoring important goals for Cremonese. 👏pic.twitter.com/AfKp1Ndy9p

— George Addo Jnr (@addojunr) January 18, 2023

Cremonese’s Leonardo Sernicola was sent off in overtime, but the visitors won the shootout 5-4.

Felix Afena-Gyan scores the winning penalty against Napoli to take Cremonese to the quarterfinals of the Coppa Italia🇮🇹👏🏾

🇬🇭He’s currently averaging 1.68 goals per 90, the most by any Cremonese player in the competition

“Tell them we’re coming back 🤝”pic.twitter.com/JTd1uKZydk

— Bortey 🇬🇭 (@joelbortey) January 17, 2023

Napoli’s fourth penalty kick was missed by Stanislav Lobotka, while Cremonese converted all five of theirs to stun the 2019-20 champions.

🇬🇭 Felix Afena Gyan in the Coppa Italia this season:

⚽️ scored a late goal in Cremonese’s 4-2 win over Modena in Round of 32
⚽️ scored the equalizer vs Napoli in the Round of 16
⚽️ scored the winning penalty to qualify Cremonese for the Quarterfinals

Deserves more minutes. ⏳ pic.twitter.com/Xf0AFdhM3M

— Owuraku Ampofo (@_owurakuampofo) January 17, 2023

Afena-Gyan led the celebrations after scoring the penalty that secured Cremonese’s place in the last eight.

The 19-year-old has two goals in 11 appearances for Cremonese since joining on a permanent basis from AS Roma in August of last year.