Overview
Napoli's journey to conquer the European arena this season started with difficulties. Interspersed with the home win against Sporting Lisbon, the Serie A representative successively lost to Manchester City and suffered a heavy 2-6 defeat to PSV Eindhoven - the club's heaviest defeat in the continental arena.
After a goalless draw with Eintracht Frankfurt, defending champion Italy managed to win an important victory against Qarabag at the Stadio Maradona. However, the 0-2 defeat to Benfica in the most recent match pushed Antonio Conte's team into a dangerous situation.
Currently, Napoli is facing the risk of falling out of the top 24 leading teams - which means they may be eliminated early in an unacceptable way.
Notably, all 7 points of Napoli in the Champions League this season were won at home. The blue team is unbeaten at the Stadio Maradona in all competitions for more than a year, but the away form is completely opposite.
Since last season, Napoli has lost 5 consecutive away matches in the Champions League, and in all 5 of those matches, they have conceded at least 2 goals.
The frequent collapse of the defense has caused no small consequences, but scoring is also a difficult problem, regardless of whether they play in Naples or away from home.
In the group stage this season, only newcomer Pafos scored fewer goals than Napoli from open ball situations. Notably, Scott McTominay and Rasmus Hojlund are the only two players of the Italian team to have scored in the Champions League this season.
Since the European tournament was temporarily closed, Conte's team has won the Italian Super Cup thanks to 2 victories in Saudi Arabia. However, the performance in Serie A is not really positive.
3 consecutive draws took place before Napoli lost narrowly 0-1 to Sassuolo last weekend. This result makes them currently 6 points behind the leading team Inter Milan in the race to defend the Scudetto.
In the opposite direction, Copenhagen entered this round with the same 7 points as Napoli, only one point ahead of the eliminated group. The Danish representative is aiming for their 50th victory in European cup history when continuing their journey in the Champions League.
Similar to their opponent, Copenhagen also started the group stage quite slowly. However, 2 consecutive victories against Kairat and Villarreal - both with a score of 3-2 - have ignited hopes of winning tickets to the knockout round.
In the shocking victory at El Madrigal stadium, Mohamed Elyounoussi, Elias Achouri and veteran striker Andreas Cornelius all scored, bringing home the club's third away victory after 23 appearances in the Champions League.
However, coach Jacob Neestrup's team is facing a significant challenge in maintaining their position in the top 24. After welcoming Napoli, they will have to travel to Barcelona's stadium in the final match.
Keeping a clean sheet will be a top priority, because Copenhagen is the team that has conceded many goals from the most open ball situations in the group stage this season, with 14 goals conceded so far.
Currently ranked fifth in the Superliga - a tournament that will return at the beginning of next month - Copenhagen has only played friendly matches since the victory over Esbjerg in the National Cup quarter-finals in the middle of last month. Therefore, the rhythm of coach Neestrup's students may become a significant concern in the upcoming match.
Expected lineup:
Kotarski, Zague, Pereira, Suzuki, Lopez, Madsen, Clem, Larsson, Elyounoussi, Achouri, Dadason.
Milinkovic-Savic, Beukema, Jesus, Buongiorno, Di Lorenzo, Lobotka, McTominay, Spinazzola, Elmas, Lang, Hojlund.
The match between Copenhagen and Napoli takes place at 3:00 AM on January 21 (Vietnam time).
