All to play for in Catalunya as Barcelona host Napoli in Champions League action.
Currently All Square
After a 1-1 draw in Naples, both Barcelona and Napoli will be looking to continue their European adventure and progress to this season’s last eight of the Champions League.
Last Eight Awaits
Two of the most fearsome forwards within the current landscape of European football squared off at the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium last month and with both Victor Osimhen and Robert Lewandowski getting on the scoresheet, it meant a stalemate between Napoli and Barcelona.
All square after 90 minutes of competitive European action against each other and at least 90 more to go and with both sides offering uninspiring defences of their respective domestic league crowns, conquering the continent will be the key objective for both the Spanish and Italian outfits.
Tuesday night sees them square off in Barcelona’s temporary Olympic Stadium home. The hosts come into this game having squeezed past Mallorca at the same venue 72 hours earlier and in doing so, they have extended their unbeaten run in all competitions to eight matches.
You have to go back to the end of January for the last time that Xavi’s men were on the losing side and after being sunk by Villarreal’s Yellow Submarine by five goals to three at Montjuic, defeat has not been in their vocabulary since.
However, they have not been faultless either and although they have not lost any of their last seven league matches, draws with both Granada at home and Athletic Club on the road highlight their lack of quality when compared to current leaders Real Madrid.
Eight points off the pace in third, the best they can hope for is to overtaking Girona and at least restoring the usual La Liga duopoly. Not the perfect send off for Xavi when he leaves at the end of the season, but that same placing will be part of the reason why he is departing.
Departures in Catalunya, plenty of hirings and firings in Naples and with Francesco Calzona taking the temporary Napoli reins until the end of the season, the man who also manages the Slovakian national team will be tasked with trying to earn the club another campaign of European football.
Something that has looked more likely since Calzona took over in February and with a four-league game unbeaten run under his belt – a record that currently stands at five for the club as a whole, last season’s Serie A champions currently find themselves in seventh.
That position would pay out entry to the Europa Conference League, but such an invite is not going to be enough for owner Aurelio De Laurentiis and if they are to return to the Champions League, they may have to win this season’s edition of the competition.
But now it is time for the first of my two tips and although both teams have some semblance of good form, I think Barcelona will edge this rather tight affair. Therefore, a home win and under 2.5 total goals is on the betting slip at odds of 4/1.
In addition to this, I am going to opt for a defensive masterclass from Xavi’s men and this comes in the shape of a correct score prediction. Under 2.5 total goals does not give me too much to play with but still enough to back the 2-0 home win at odds of 9/1.
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