Napoli underestimated ahead of Barcelona clash
Barcelona welcome Napoli for the first leg of their Europa League round of 32 tie on Thursday evening.
Xavi’s men will have to stay on their game to ensure they finish in La Liga’s top four this season and therefore do have a lot more going on in the background than Napoli.
The market tends to like Barcelona and they even went off as favourites when they hosted Paris Saint-Germain in Champions League knockout stages last season, before being blown away by Kylian Mbappe and company.
Barca are an odds on shot to win the game despite a growing injury list and coming up against a Napoli side that have been right up there in Serie A for the majority of the season.
Background
There have been some shoots of recovery under Xavi but Barca are certainly not as fluid an attacking unit as Gli Azzurri.
Lorenzo Insigne heading to MLS next season is a cloud hanging over them a touch, as is the aging Dries Mertens but the next generation of Napoli’s attackers is starting to push through and surface and suggest that they will be just as reliable Scudetto pushers in the coming years.
Luciano Spalletti has so many more years of management on Xavi and they could play a part in negotiating this knockout, even though they are outsiders Napoli will be quietly confident of earning a positive result.
Barca have the young exciting players, but against such a well oiled machine in the form of Napoli’s backline, they are going to need to be more creative and with Memphis Depay a doubt, they need more cutting edge.
Ansu Fati will also miss the game and in that decrease the incision and attacking prowess of Barcelona.
Goals?
Very hard to predict how the removal of away goals will affect the first legs of knockout ties.
An early expectation would be for home teams to be a bit more attacking, we will have to wait and see before passing judgment on that.
Barca have scored in all of their last 11.
Barca have conceded in eight of ten.
Barca have seen both teams score in eight of ten.
Barca have seen over 2.5 goals in six of ten.
Napoli have scored in eight of ten.
Napoli have conceded in six of ten.
Napoli have seen both teams score in four of ten.
Napoli have seen over 2.5 goals in two of ten.
There is an enthralling tie with so much on the line, particularly for Barcelona and their financial predicament off the pitch.
Post bet chat Marcus's Tips:
1-1 draw, could've been more comfortable but for a controversial second half penalty.