Today, the Round of 16 of the UEFA Champions League season begins for the current season 2023/2022, and we highlight specifically the match between Eintracht Frankfurt against Napoli, which we will show you a comprehensive guide to in the coming lines.
Match preview
Having blitzed their means through the team stage, Napoli go back to Champions League activity on Tuesday, when they see in 2015's Europa League champions Eintracht Frankfurt in Germany.
While the Serie A leaders travelled through to the last 16 by winning their initial five matches, their hosts resisted on Group D's last day to snatch 2nd area. The pair now object to the very first leg of a tie which determines that will certainly get to the quarter-finals.
Not only have Napoli streaked free from the cram in Italy this period, thanks to a series of ruthless display screens as well as an expanding hill of goals, but they also made Europe stay up as well as pay attention to their spectacular abilities throughout the initial phase of the Champions League.
A very first Scudetto since 1990 currently seems to be ensured for the success-starved Partenopei, yet instructor Luciano Spalletti may expensive his group's possibilities of copulating to Istanbul also, after they racked up 20 objectives in Team A - one of the most of any type of side in the team stage.
3 various Napoli players were directly associated with five or more strikes, with Giacomo Raspadori (4 objectives; two assists), Piotr Zielinski (3; two) and wing wizard Khvicha Kvaratskhelia (2; 3) all in top type - and also Serie A's Capocannoniere leader Victor Osimhen and a number of others who played their component in seeing off Liverpool, Rangers and also Ajax.
A lot more recently, the club from Campania relocated 18 factors clear at the top of the table adhering to an away triumph over Sassuolo on Friday, though their lead was reduced by Inter beating Udinese 24 hr later. Spalletti's side opened the scoring after 12 minutes with Kvaratskhelia, before Osimhen struck the 2nd, making their team a 7th straight Serie A success.
As a result, Napoli have actually won 18 of their last 19 league matches, while Osimhen has acquired 18 objectives in his 19 top-flight looks. They have actually only shed once in the organization all period - to second-placed Inter, in their very first game back after the World Mug - though did leave the Coppa Italia to lowly Cremonese after fielding an under-strength side.
Such scintillating type recommends the Azzurri might even come to be Italy's initial Champions League winners considering that Jose Mourinho's Inter in 2010, but initially they need to handle the danger of a harmful last-16 challenger.
Tuesday's will be the third meeting in between Eintracht Frankfurt and also Napoli, with the Germans winning the previous 2 in the UEFA Mug nearly 3 years earlier. Indeed, they have actually only lost 2 of 11 matches versus Italian resistance to day - and none because being beaten by Palermo back in 2006.
Owners of the Europa Organization, Frankfurt are definitely a group on the rise, and they will certainly currently become the 11th various German team to play in the Champions League ko rounds - incidentally, the most of any kind of nation.
Pass away Adler won their last 2 games in the group phase - 2-1 versus both Marseille and Sporting - to steal through to the latter stages, as Oliver Glasner became the very first Austrian train to win successive matches in the competition as well as to tape 3 victories in a single period.
In all, Glasner's men have shed just two of their last 19 suits in Europe while videotaping 10 wins while doing so, and on house soil at Deutsche Financial institution Park they have actually experienced only one defeat in 9 continental contests - an unexpected 3-0 opposite to Sporting last September.
Frankfurt have come forward in the Bundesliga too, as an outstanding current run has actually lifted them into the leading six, with French Globe Mug celebrity Randal Kolo Muani scoring seven objectives in their last 6 games, including the second in a 2-0 sway Werder Bremen on Saturday evening.
Additionally right into the DFB-Pokal quarter-finals, the club's first knockout tie in Europe's elite competitors for a number of generations waits for. As well as certainly, Tuesday's hosts flaunt a rich heritage in European Mug football, having shed the traditional 1960 final to Real Madrid. Emulating such a task this year, however, will call for the present squad to discover a way past white-hot Napoli.
Despite his group's gain Werder at the weekend, Oliver Glasner might make a minimum of a number of adjustments on Tuesday night, and he has a virtually complete squad readily available for selection.
Eric Dina Ebimbe is still sidelined by an ankle joint trouble, yet there are no other fitness problems for Frankfurt, that are most likely to generate Hrvoje Smolcic and also Aurelio Buta to encounter Napoli. Smolcic, however, is just one of three males dealing with suspension for the 2nd leg should they be scheduled - his Croatian compatriot Kristijan Jakic and also midfielder Makoto Hasebe are the others.
Once more, Randal Kolo Muani starts up front, and the French onward has scored in both of his last two Champions Organization looks, in addition to registering 10 objectives and also 10 helps during his launching period in the Bundesliga.
The site visitors, meanwhile, are in a similar way well equipped, as worries surrounding Victor Osimhen - that has currently scored in seven successive Serie A matches - were rapidly stopped by Luciano Spalletti after the in-form striker limped off in Friday's win at Sassuolo.
A muscular injury for Giacomo Raspadori, who made out so well in the team phase, rules him inactive, so Osimhen need to be flanked by Hirving Lozano and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia. The last racked up and aided in the very same match twice throughout Napoli's Team A project as well as supplies a significant threat from the left.
In midfield, Piotr Zielinski will certainly expect to return in place of Eljif Elmas, while Mario Rui and also Mathias Olivera tussle for the right to start at left-back.
Eintracht Frankfurt possible beginning lineup:
Trapp; Smolcic, N'Dicka, Tuta; Blind, Kamada, Sow, Max; Lindstrom, Gotze; Kolo Muani
Napoli feasible beginning schedule:
Takes; Di Lorenzo, Kim, Rrahmani, Rui; Lobotka, Anguissa, Zielinski; Lozano, Osimhen, Kvaratskhelia
Eintracht Frankfurt 1-1 Napoli
Both sides teem with confidence before this clash, which pits together two Champions Organization outsiders looking for to challenge Europe's established order. In spite of Napoli's prowess, a close-fought draw could be within Frankfurt's compass if they can get in front: they have actually not lost when taking the lead in the organization this season, winning 11 times as well as attracting two times.
Event details:
NAME: Eintracht Frankfurt - Napoli
DATE: 21 Feb 2023
TIME: 20:00 UTC
VENUE: Deutsche Bank Park, Frankfurt, Germany
What channels will broadcast the match between Eintracht Frankfurt and Napoli?
beIN Sports MENA English 2 HD
beIN Sports MENA Premium 2 HD
BT Sport 2 HD
Digi Sport 2 Romania HD
Prime Video Sportsbar DE HD
Sky Sport 3 Austria HD
Sky Sports Italy 4K UHD
Sky Sport One Italy HD