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Cremonese's African stars helped them knock Serie A leaders Napoli out of the Coppa Italia.
A tenacious Cremonese forced Napoli into a 2-2 draw and, as a result, extra-time before knocking them out in a penalty shootout.
In a Coppa Italia that should not have been difficult for Napoli, at home in their Diego Amando Maradona stadium against a Cremonese side that is currently bottom of Serie A, Napoli let it slip and are now out of the competition.
Osimhen started on the bench for Luciano Spalleti's side, as they planned to give a much-needed rest to their star man. Kvaratskhelia was also out with the flu, while David Okereke started for Cremonese.
The game did not start positively for Napoli, who expected a relatively easy game against a Cremonese side they had already beaten 4-1 in the league this season.
They went behind in the 18th minute after Nigerian forward David Okereke put Charles Pickel through on goal.
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Napoli responded with a quick-fire double in the 33rd and 36th minutes, with Juan Jesus and Giovanni Simeone registering on the scoresheet.
Napoli were cruising to victory, with thoughts of their opponents in the next round on their minds, before Ghana's Felix Afena-Gyan poured sand in their broth.
The 19-year-old struck in the 87th minute, sending the game to extra-time.
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Cremonese's Leonardo Sernicola was shown a second yellow card in the 10th minute of extra time, just a few minutes after receiving the first in the 90+7 minute.
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Napoli brought on their biggest gun at this point, Victor Osimhen, but could not manage to break Cremonese down throughout extra-time.
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The game went into penalties, and both teams were perfect in the first three rounds of tries. Stanislav Lobotka missed Napoli's fourth penalty, so Osimhen scoring Partenopei's final penalty was meaningless because the Cremonese scored their last two.
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Cremonese advanced into the quarter-final of the competition while Napoli would turn their sights towards Serie A and the Champions League for a chance at silverware this season
The Nigerians on show
David Okereke put on an impressive performance in the 65 minutes he was on the field.
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He set up the first goal of the game for Cremonese, in what was one of the two scoring chances he created for his teammates.
Victor Osimhen started on the bench in a game where Spalleti thought he would not have to be called upon.
However, staring down the barrel, Spalletti brought out his own bigger gun, Victor Osimhen. The Italian manager did not make the change until 12 minutes into extra-time, making his thoughts clear that he hoped not to have to use the Nigerian.
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Osimhen was unable to grab a much-needed winner for Napoli, but he kept his cool on the spot, converting a penalty for Napoli in the shoot-out.
Ghana's Felix Afena-Gyan fires Cremonese past Napoli
David Okereke set up the first goal for Grigiorossi, and Afena-Gyan scored the second in what could be described as African stars steering Cremonese past Napoli.
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The West Africans did not share the field at the same time as Afena-Gyan came on for Okereke in the 65th minute.
The young Ghanaian who scored for Cremonese in a previous round of the Coppa Italia was on the mark again for Grigiorossi on Tuesday night.
Afena-Gyan timed his jump to perfection as he latched onto what was a hopeful cross from Luca Zanimacchia.
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Gyan would also be the hero in the shoot-outs, as he scored the decisive penalty for Cremonese, sending them into the quarter-final of the competition.
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