Overview
Napoli has never advanced beyond the quarter-finals in Europe's most prestigious arena, and coach Antonio Conte has not had a truly impressive record in the Champions League. Therefore, the Serie A champion is determined to make his mark in this year's season.
However, everything has not gone as planned at this point. After losing captain due to an early red card in the 0-2 loss to Manchester City, Napoli had an impressive comeback when defeating Sporting Lisbon right in Naples.
However, in the third match, they continued to fall into a situation of playing with one less player despite taking an early lead. Even when Scott McTominay scored a double, the Italian champions still suffered a heavy 2-6 defeat against PSV Eindhoven.
Since that shock, Conte's side have somewhat regained their balance. They took the lead in Serie A after a big win over rival Inter Milan, then continued to beat Lecce at via del Mare.
In that match, Frank Anguissa's second goal of the season helped Napoli win all 3 points, even though goalkeeper Vanja Milinkovic-Savic had to make an excellent save from a penalty.
Despite a winning streak at Diego Armando Maradona's home ground being held back after a goalless draw with Como last weekend, Milinkovic-Savic continued to play the heroic role when he successfully pushed Alvaro Morata's penalty kick.
Napoli is still unbeaten at home this season. They have also lost just once in their last 18 Champions League games at Maradona. The only defeat came against Real Madrid 2 years ago.
Frankfurt lost 0-2 to Serie A representatives and stopped at the 2022-2023 Champions League. The two teams have previously met in the UEFA Cup round of 16 in 1995, when Frankfurt won both of their matches.
This rematch, Die Adler traveled to Italy determined to get a positive result, in the context of their unstable performance in the early stages of the season.
After finishing third in the Bundesliga last season, Frankfurt are now in sixth place, after a disappointing 1-1 draw with bottom-placed Heidenheim last weekend.
That draw followed a shock defeat from DFB-Pokal, when they fell to Dortmund on penalties, ending their hopes of winning their sixth domestic title in history.
Poor defensive form is a big problem for Dino Toppmoller and his team. They have conceded 25 goals in just their last eight games, including two consecutive defeats with a score of 1-5 in the Champions League.
After an impressive 5-1 victory over Galatasaray in the opening round, Frankfurt were defeated by Atletico Madrid and defending Premier League champions Liverpool.
Despite not winning in the last three away matches, Frankfurt is still a team capable of making a breakthrough. They have scored at least 2 goals in 8/14 matches this season. This is a testament to their formidable attacking power, despite many problems in the defense.
Personnel situation
Right when Napoli's long injury list seemed to have been shortened, Billy Gilmour had muscle problems in the draw with Como.
However, the positive news is that Stanislav lobotka has returned to the bench, while Amir Rrahmani has just had his first match after a two-month absence due to injury.
After a much shorter break, Scott McTominay and Rasmus Hojlund have both returned, so almost only Romelu Lukaku, Kevin De Bruyne and goalkeeper Alex Meret are definitely absent.
On the other side of the front line, Mario Gotze is likely to be given a starting position, while Fares Chaibi will bring more creativity in midfield.
The pair will be responsible for supporting the centre forward, either Elye Wahi or Jonathan Burkardt.
Expected lineup:
Napoli: Milinkovic-Savic, Di Lorenzo, Rrahmani, Buongiorno, Spinazzola, Anguissa, lobotka, McTominay, Politano, Hojlund, Neres.
Eintracht Frankfurt: Zetterer, Kristensen, Koch, Theate, Doan, Larsson, Chaibi, Brown, Gotze, Knauff, Burkardt.
The match between Napoli and Frankfurt takes place at 0:45 am on November 5 (Vietnam time).
