Frankfurt v Napoli preview: High-flying Italians travel to Germany
This is uncharted territory for the Europa League holders though, yet they may be expecting a strong start to this two-legged tie with just four defeats across their last 30 European home games (W17, D9, L4).
Backing up that solid home form is a respectable record against Italian opponents on the European stage (W6, D3, L2), whilst Frankfurt have also progressed from seven of their ten two-legged European knockout ties!
The most recent of those was in 2018/19, when Frankfurt eked out a 1-0 victory over two legs against Inter Milan.
Such a low-scoring affair is almost unthinkable when Napoli are involved. The Italians will be charging into this clash with supreme confidence after a run of three straight wins both with clean sheets and 2+ goal margins that has left them 15 points clear at the top of Serie A.
That followed up a near-perfect group stage record in this competition (W5, L1), and as the top-scoring side of the Champions League group stage (G20), both short and medium-term form suggests another strong attacking display.
Napoli’s sole group stage defeat was only their third across their last 20 appearances in Europe’s premier competition (W10, D7, L3), raising hopes of their maiden progression to the final eight.
Despite their hot form and warm favouritism, a Napoli victory here would go down in history as only their second on German soil at the tenth attempt (W1, D3, L5).
Players to watch: After his goal on Saturday, Frankfurt’s Randal Kolo Muani joined Lionel Messi and Neymar as the only players across Europe’s top-five leagues with a double-digit tally for both goals and assists (G10, A10).
Watch out for Napoli’s dynamic duo of Victor Osimhen (G18) and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia (G10), who have accounted for half of their team’s SA-high haul of 56 goals between them!
Hot streak: All six of Napoli’s previous Champions League round of 16 games (W1, D1, L4) have seen both teams score.
