Thursday night will see Napoli host Trabzonspor at the Stadio San Paolo in the return leg of their Europa League Round-of-32 fixture.
While the Partenopei are all but through to the next round, thanks to the 4-0 trashing Napoli delivered in Turkey last week, coach Rafa Benitez’s men must remain focused on stringing together good performances if they are to meet their goal of Champions League football next season, requiring either a Europa League trophy or an automatic birth to the lucrative group stage by overcoming Roma for second place in Serie A.
The Azzurri enjoyed their first ever match against Trabzonspor equalling a Europa League mark for the largest margin of victory in an away Round of 32 match by scoring three times inside the first half hour. Additionally, Napoli racked up their fourth successive clean sheet in the Europa League, a feat matched only by seven other clubs in the history of the competition.
In the shadow of Vesuvius, Napoli have played extremely well both in Serie A and in European competition. The club has won four of its last five Serie A matches, a loss to Juventus being the only blemish, and have proved even more formidable in defending the San Paolo turf in European matches going unbeaten in their last nine – seven wins and two draws – since a shock 3-0 loss to FC Viktoria Plzen in 2013.
Sporting director Riccardo Bigon’s two January signings have proved tremendous additions as Ivan Strinic and Manolo Gabbiadini have not only supplied depth to the squad, but have also added bite to an already potent attack.
While Strinic is cup-tied as the he featured for Dnipro in this competition, the Croatian has made an immediate impact in the league. The €13 million investment in Gabbiadini has justly received many plaudits with the former Sampdoria man netting four goals in nine appearances.
Expect Benitez to significantly rotate the squad as Napoli face the congestion of playing four matches in just 11 days.
The squad travels to Torino on Sunday night and must then hop over to Rome on Wednesday to take on Lazio in the first leg of the Coppa Italia semi-final, before returning to the San Paolo to host Inter the following Sunday evening.
Form Guide: Napoli (W-W-L-W-W-W) Trabzonspor (D-L-W-L-D-W)
Expected Starting XIs
Napoli: Rafael; Britos, Henrique, Albiol, Mesto; Inler, Jorginho; Mertens, De Guzman, Gabbiadini; Zapata.
Trabzonspor: Arikan; Nizam, Demir, Medjani, Bosingwa; Atik, Constant, Kara, Yilmaz, Aydogdu; Cardozo.
They lost to palermo 3-1 like 2 weeks ago