Napoli host Spanish side Athletic Bilbao in the first leg of their Champions League play-off tie on Tuesday evening. The clash has vital importance for both sides as qualification for the Champions League group stage is at stake, and with it a significant financial package. The visitors have finished fourth in the Primera Liga last season while Napoli ended the Serie A season in third place.
Napoli head coach Rafael Benitez could give Swansea striker Michu (on loan) his Champions League debut, while Gonzalo Higuain could also feature up front as he has returned to training following an extended break after the World Cup. The Italian side have recorded good results in the pre-season friendly matches, they defeated Barcelona and Paok and lost narrowly to PSG.
Bilbao will be without star midfielder Ander Herrera, who was sold to Manchester United this summer. Aritz Aduriz could continue his good goal-scoring record this summer after bagging a hat-trick against Borussia Monchengladbach earlier this month. This will be Bilbao's first Champions League match since the 1998-99 season, when they had managed to reach the group stage. Napoli have featured in the group stage for five seasons in a row.
Probable starting line-ups:
Napoli: Rafael - Albiol, Britos, Andujar - Henrique, Maggio, Hamsik, Jorginho, Insigne - Michu, Higuain
Athletic Bilbao: Iraizoz - Balenziaga, San Jose, Laporte, Gurpegi, Iturraspe - Muniain, Rico, De Marcos - Aduriz, Viguera
My prediction: Napoli to win 2-1.
Here are the odds for the match at Bet365:
Napoli win - 4/5 Draw - 13/5 Athletic Bilbao win - 10/3
Snoop 9 years ago
Yea, I expected more goals, but there was a lot very good situations, strikers were bad, but this is first game for both clubs in new season, so we must be satisfied, rematch will be very interesting, Napoli must play offensive, they must score :)
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skrunici 9 years ago
@Snoop I guess that we was wrong :) but if you wached game, you know that we was close, becouse napoli deserve to win, special with chanse for callejon or michu.
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Snoop 9 years ago
The most interesting match, two great teams, both deserve to play in group of Champions League, but I think that Napoli knows how to play in biggest competitions, they have more experience and that should be one big advantage to them...
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skrunici 9 years ago
I think that Napoli is closer to the champions league and experience will decide who go into group stage. Bilbao have a great team but napoli iz napoli :)
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