FC Barcelona and SSC Napoli brace for the second leg of their Round-of-16 meeting, where no team is with an advantage. The first leg between Barcelona and Napoli ended in a 1-1 draw for both teams, which places no one at the advantage. Additionally, coming into this game, Barcelona is in a pretty decent run, giving them confidence here. In fact, Barcelona won their last two matches across all contests, a record they want to extend here. Meanwhile, Napoli does not have a good momentum coming into this game. Napoli suffered a loss on their last match across all contests, which does not give them momentum for this match. The meeting between these two teams is on March 13, 2024, at 4:00 AM (GMT+8).
FC Barcelona
Barcelona’s Robert Lewandowski scored a goal in the first leg of a Champions League tie against Napoli, moving within seven goals of his century in Europe’s top club competition. Despite not earning a valuable first-leg lead, Barcelona remains unbeaten in five meetings with Partenopei. Knocking Napoli out of Europe for the third time in five years would see the Catalan club make a first quarter-final appearance since 2020. Barcelona are unbeaten in eight matches and have kept clean sheets in each of the last three, despite sustaining several injuries. They are trailing behind Real Madrid in La Liga’s title race and out of the Copa del Rey. Barca is relying on landing Europe’s top prize to avoid ending a difficult campaign without silverware. They have not won any of their last four knockout matches since beating Napoli in the ‘Maradona derby’ four years ago.
Barcelona’s injury crisis has led to Frenkie De Jong and Pedri missing from the starting XI for their upcoming match against FC Barcelona. ACL victim Gavi is also unavailable, leaving Andreas Christensen, Ilkay Gundogan, and Fermin Lopez in a makeshift midfield. Lamine Yamal, the youngest player to appear in a Champions League knockout game, is starting.
SSC Napoli
Napoli, the Serie A champions, have been unable to recover from first-leg setbacks in UEFA competition, having been eliminated the last 11 times they have failed to take a lead into an away leg. The Serie A champions have struggled to set the Champions League alight this term. Rudi Garcia and Walter Mazzarri failed to replace Scudetto-winning coach Luciano Spalletti. However, with interim boss Francesco Calzona returning to Naples, the picture has begun to brighten. Napoli have been unbeaten in five matches since Calzona took over. In fact, they defeated struggling Sassuolo 6-1 and edged out ailing Juventus at Stadio Maradona. Osimhen has scored five goals during this spell, and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia has struck four times, including the opener against Torino.
Victor Osimhen scored his ninth Champions League goal against Barca, becoming the most prolific Nigerian player. Capcannoniere leads a front three with Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Matteo Politano. Cajuste, Ngonge, Rrahmani may miss out due to thigh injuries, while Zielinski must be replaced due to contract issues.
Prediction:
FC Barcelona (1.5)
Odds: -0.85
FC Barcelona to win on 3-2 aggregate
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