UEFA Champions League Preview: Napoli vs. Bayern Munich: Battle for the top spot
Napoli will host German giants, Bayern Munich, in a mouth-watering UEFA Champions League encounter at the Stadio San Paolo on Tuesday, October 18th, 2011.
Walter Mazzarri’s men have had a wonderful start to their debut Champions League campaign and are placed 2nd in the group behind the Bavarians. The Italian outfit drew their opening game of the competition against Manchester City, while won 2-0 against Villarreal recently. On the other hand, Jupp Heynckes’s men have collected maximum points from their two games thus far and are in pole position to top the group.
Napoli
The Neapolitan witnessed a poor result from their side in the Serie A over the weekend, as their full strength team lost 2-1 to Parma at home. Napoli are enjoying a 9 match unbeaten run in all European competitions and have kept 6 clean sheets in the process.
A win in this game will move the Partenopei side on top of the group table and will put them in a strong position to seal the qualification to the next round.
Bayern Munich
Die Bayern had a wonderful game at the weekend and defeated Hertha http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Berlin-c7536 by 4-0 at the Allianz Arena. The Bundesliga league leaders are flying high and have conceded only one goal in all competitions this season. Their attacking play has also been a treat to watch and they have scored 4 goals in the 2 games played in the Champions League thus far.
Jupp Heynckes has some good memories from Naples, as his Eintracht Frankfurt beat Napoli 1-0 in the UEFA Cup at this very ground in 1994.
Team News
Napoli
The Serie A outfit has no major injury worries apart from the long term absentees, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Goran-Pandev-c15161 is also likely to miss the game through an injury.
Bayern Munich
The visitors are sweating on the fitness of Dutch winger, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Luiz-Gustavo-c22844 back from injury.
Players to Watch
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Napoli-c40003)
The Uruguayan has been a dominant figure behind his team’s success in the competition thus far. Cavani has scored two goals from the opening two games of the competition thus far. The Napoli faithful have high hopes from the striker and his role will be crucial if his team are to get anything out of this game. Scoring against a team that has conceded only one goal so far this season will do world of good to the striker’s reputation in the game.
Mario Gomez (Bayern Munich)
The German international has had a wonderful 2011/12 season and has scored 14 goals in 13 matches in all competitions thus far. The 26-year-old has been in the form of his life and has already scored three goals in the two matches in Europe this season.
The former Stuttgart star faces a tall order in front of the in-form defence of Napoli and will be hoping to inspire his team to edge towards qualification to the knockout round.
Prediction
Bettor.com is predicting a tight game between two of the best teams in Group A but Bayern’s superb run of form makes them favourites to nick out a hard fought win. http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Bastian-Schweinsteiger-c7374 to score the only goal of the match. Verdict: 0-1
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