UEFA Champions League Preview: S.S.C Napoli vs. Villarreal C.F
Ambitious Napoli host Struggling Villarreal in a crunch UEFA Champions League encounter at the Stadio San Paolo on Tuesday, September 27, 2011 at 19:45 GMT.
The contest holds immense importance for both teams as they are placed in a group which is said to be the ‘Group of Death’. Napoli played a 1-1 draw in their opening group A fixture against Manchester City two weeks back, while
Villarreal lost 2-0 to Bayern Munich in their fixture.
Both teams are coming into this game on the back of a draw in their respective league games over the weekend.
Napoli
The Partenopei side made a strong debut in the competition with a brilliant performance against Manchester City in their opening game. However, after a great start to the season Walter Mazzarri’s side has been held back a little.
The league leaders of the opening two fixtures of the 2011/12 Serie A season are now sitting on the 4th spot after a defeat to Chievo Verona and a draw against Fiorentina in their last two games respectively.
The two teams met in a UEFA Europa League tie earlier this year and the Spanish side had the better of the Naples based club. The Yellow Submarine triumphed 2-1 on aggregate score but played a goalless draw at the Stadio San Paolo.
Villarreal
After an impressive 2010/11 league season, Juan http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Carlos-Garrido-c8443’s men have had a poor start to the ongoing campaign. Villarreal have picked up only one win from their opening five league games thus far and see themselves 7 points
adrift of league leaders, Real Betis.
The visitors will take some positives from the 2-1 win over the Azzurri earlier this year but it must be believed that Napoli are a far stronger unit now.
Team News
Napoli
The hosts have been dealt with a huge blow as their experienced defender, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Miguel-Britos-c25544 remain long term
absentees. While, there is some good news over the fitness of http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Christian-Maggio-c9098, who has returned to training and might be available to take part in the game.
Expected line-up: De Sanctis, Fernandez, Cannavaro, Aronica, Maggio, Inler, Gargano, Dossena, Hamsik, Lavezzi, Cavani
Villarreal
The Yellow Submarine are sweating on the fitness of their star striker, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Marco-Ruben-c23740 broke his toe against Athletic Bilbao at the weekend
and is ruled out for at least four weeks. While, midfielder, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Borja-Valero-c7889, is serving suspension for the red card he received in the preliminary round fixture.
Expected line-up: Lopez, Zapata, Musacchio, Gonzalo, Catala, De Guzman, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Nilmar-c28044
Players to Watch
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Napoli-c40003)
El-Matador has had another blistering start to the new campaign and after scoring against Manchester City in their first Champions League game, he returned with a hat-trick against Italian Champions, A.C Milan in the following
match. The Uruguayan international needs to continue his dream run of scoring in big games if Napoli are to make a strong case for qualification to the next round.
Giuseppe Rossi (Villarreal)
The former Manchester United star is a huge doubt for the fixture and will undergo a late fitness test. Rossi is undoubtedly the biggest star Juan http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Carlos-c8346 Garrido has at his disposal and his role will be vital in his team’s success.
The Italian international has scored just two goals in the season thus far but he has 23 shots to his name in 5 games played yet.
Prediction
Champions League is on top of the priority list for Walter Mazzarri and he wants his team to be recognized amongst the top teams in Europe. The Azzurri will once again come all guns blazing and given the rough form of Villarreal,
Napoli are likely to emerge victorious by at least two goals. Verdict: 2-0
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