UEFA Champions League: Napoli vs Barcelona preview

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February 24th, 2020
Back UEFA Champions League: Napoli vs Barcelona preview

LaLiga champions Barcelona resume their UEFA Champions League adventure with a tricky away match on Tuesday, when they visit Serie A outfit Napoli at San Paolo Stadium in Naples for the first leg of their last-sixteen tie. The two sides have never met before in an European competition. Napoli have won just four of their fourteen European matches against Spanish teams so far, while Barcelona have won half of their 56 matches against Italian teams in continental competitions. 

Napoli are on a three-game winning streak at the moment, last week they secured a 2-1 victory at Brescia and moved up to sixth place in the Serie A table. They have won six of their last seven matches in all competitons and are quite hopeful of causing an upset against the Catalan giants. Napoli finished the group stage undefeated with three wins and three draws and handed Premier League leaders Liverpool their only defeat of the season. Kevin Malcuit is still out injured for the home side, while Kalidou Koulibaly, Faouzi Ghoulam and Elseid Hysaj are injury doubts. 

Barcelona should be full of confidence ahead of this match because last weekend they regained the top spot in the LaLiga table. The Catalans defeated Eibar 5-0 while rivals Real Madrid lost, Barcelona have now won their last four league matches. In the Champions League they won four matches and drew two in the group stage, and they had a really tough group with Inter Milan and Borussia Dortmund. Sergi Roberto and Jordi Alba are injured and will miss this match, along with long-term absentees Ousmane Dembele and Luis Suarez. Emergency signing Martin Braithwaite won't be in the squad as he was not registered for this competition. 

Probable line-ups: 

Napoli: Ospina - Lorenzo, Maksimovic, Manolas, Lorenzo - Ruiz, Demme, Zielinski - Politano, Mertens, Insigne

Barcelona: Ter Stegen - Semedo, Pique, Lenglet, Firpo - De Jong, Busquets, Arthur - Messi, Griezmann, Fati

My prediction: 

Napoli are very strong at home and Barcelona are not as mighty and terrifying as they used to be, I think an upset is really possible in this match so I would try a punt on a 2-1 victory for the home side. 

Here are the odds for this match at NetBet

Napoli win - 3.50

Draw - 3.80

Barcelona win - 2.05

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