Kvaratskhelia was a complete unknown when he arrived in Naples in July 2022. Literally within a matter of months, though, the locals had nicknamed him ‘Kvaradona’, a reference to his Diego Maradona-like dribbling and, thus, the ultimate compliment in a city where the Argentine is still considered a god.
However, while Italian football fans had already been blown away by Kvaratskhelia’s mesmeric displays over the course of the first five rounds of the Serie A seasonhe only really first came to the attention of the rest of Europe during Napoli’s stunning 4-1 victory over Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool on the opening matchday of the 2022-23 Champions League.
Several wingers may have troubled Trent Alexander-Arnold over the years, but nobody has ever tormented him quite like Kvaratskhelia, who beat the right-back almost at will, and most notably before teeing up Giovanni Simeone for the hosts’ third goal. Alexander-Arnold simply couldn’t cope with Kvaradona – but then again, nobody could.
Kvaratskhelia made Joe Gomez look foolish in the build-up to both Napoli’s second and third goals, firstly by picking the centre-back’s pocket while pressing high up the pitch, then with a show of strength near the touchline that gave him sufficient time and space to cross for Simeone to score. The Tbilisi native also twice embarrassed Fabinho in the same jinking run that quickly went viral.
In that sense, Klopp had a point when he said that there was nothing really Alexander-Arnold could have done on the night, pointing out that the only way they could have possibly nullified Kvaratskhelia was preventing the ball to getting to the then-21-year-old – because once it did, there was no stopping him.
“When he has the advantage of the first movement, then he is already gone,” the German told reporters. “But if you cannot do that, then you need to be protected because he has speed, he is cheeky, he goes inside, he can go outside, and that makes it always really difficult.
“I know people will talk about one or two situations when Trent tried to be in front of him and the ball goes through, but the boy is really good and really quick and you have to defend him together in these moments.”
