Napoli are hoping to find some way, any way, to overcome a 3-1 deficit in the Champions League and topple Real Madrid, but that’s going to take a lot of work and a lot of luck — luck they hope that the home crowd at the Stadio San Paolo can help provide.
Napoli vs. Real Madrid: Champions League lineups and team news
Napoli made just one change from the first leg of their Champions League tie against Real Madrid, and they hope that will be enough to win.
Photo by Gonzalo Arroyo Moreno/Getty Images
Of course, that’s going to be tremendously difficult — Real Madrid are the defending Champions League winners, after all, and they’re widely regarded as one of the three best teams in Europe. Napoli have been getting a lot better as they try to change the image of Serie A, but they’re just not on that level yet.
The simple fact is that a Real Madrdi squad that includes the likes of Sergio Ramos, Toni Kroos, and Luka Modric outclasses the vast majority of what Napoli can bring to the table. Yes, the likes of Marek Hamsik and Dries Mertens and Lorenzo Insigne are all excellent players, but the average level of quality in Madrid’s starting lineup is just so much higher than Napoli’s — and that’s without looking at Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo-Karim Benzema-Gareth Bale front line. Simply put, it will take a truly special and epic performance for the Italians to advance to the quarterfinals at this point.
To that end, though, Napoli did decide to play things just a tick more conservatively in this leg of the tie, with Allan replacing Piotr Zielinski in midfield. That sounds like a minor change, but Allan brings much more defensive solidity without sacrificing the energy that Zielinski has on the pitch, and while he doesn’t have the creative talents of the Polish midfielder, Allan can still do a lot to help Napoli’s attack. Whether that’s enough to keep Real Madrid at bay is uncertain, but it’s definitely a change worth trying.
Lineups
Napoli: Pepe Reina; Elseid Hysaj, Raul Albiol, Kalidou Koulibaly, Faouzi Ghoulam; Allan, Amadou Diawara, Marek Hamsik; Jose Callejon, Dries Mertens, Lorenzo Insigne
Real Madrid: Keylor Navas; Dani Carvajal, Sergio Ramos, Pepe, Marcelo; Toni Kroos, Casemiro, Luka Modric; Gareth Bale, Karim Benzema, Cristiano Ronaldo
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