FC Barcelona is set to take on Napoli in the second leg of their UEFA Champions League round of 16 match at the Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys on Tuesday.
The first leg between the two sides ended 1-1 and getting past this stage is very important for Barca’s head coach Xavi Hernandez as this is Barcelona’s one of the key objectives of the season.
Both teams, who won their respective league titles last season, are not having a great time domestically as the Serie A champions are currently on eighth place while La Liga winners are third behind Girona and Real Madrid.
Xavi was met with a major blow last month when two of Barca’s most important players, Frenkie de Jong and Pedri, were ruled out after sustaining injuries in a La Liga match against Athletic Bilbao. Not just that, SPORT reported on Monday that Spanish forward Ferran Torres too will miss the match against the Italian side.
Other than these three, Marcos Alonso and Alejandro Balde will also miss the match.
On the other hand, Napoli aren’t having an injury crisis but they will be without two of their players, Jens-Lys Cajuste and Cyril Ngonge. Their head coach, Francesco Calzona will not be making many changes to the side that started in a 1-1 draw against Torino on the weekend.
Likely lineups
Barcelona: Ter Stegen; Kounde, Araujo, Martinez, Cancelo; Christensen, Gundogan, Fermin; Yamal, Lewandowski, Felix.
Napoli: Meret; Di Lorenzo, Rrahmani, Jesus, Rui; Lobotka, Anguissa, Zielinski; Politano, Osimhen, Kvaratskhelia.
Prediction:
It is, by all means, going to be a close match. Despite Barca’s dominance in Napoli in the first leg, the home side was able to avoid a loss and their game plan will be similar this time, which would be to sit back and hurt the Catalan giants on the counters. Barcelona’s shaky defense can cast troubles for them especially since they are without De Jong and Pedri, two players who provide the much-needed balance in the team.
Prediction: Barcelona 1-2 Napoli