Football Results

Another Italian-German match in the sixteenth finals of Europa League, but both teams have played the Champions League in which they did not win the knockout stage and winning the third place in their groups, they had to contend with this competition. Both teams are doing good in their championships, especially Napoli, which continues to hold the leading position in Serie A, while Leipzig is second in Bundesliga and they also ended the last season there. These rivals have not met before this match.

SSC Napoli

Napoli had to play one round of qualifiers for the Champions League this season, and when they entered the group stage, it was certainly expected they would win the eighth finals, especially because the group was not overwhelming, however, Manchester City was untouchable and Shakhtar has also skipped them, so they in the end made only two triumphs, with four defeats, but the Napolitans are not giving up in the championship and they lost only one match from Juventus in their field and that team is “breathing down their neck” with just one point less.

This creates big pressure and they are aware that one blunder can mean the loss of the first place, but for now they are not making mistakes and are in a series of eight consecutive victories. The last team that lost in Naples was Lazio, which even took the lead, but it was 4-1 at the end. Center-back Raul Albiol took a breather in that match and played with Tonelli, while a big handicap is that Mertens cannot play due to suspension, so he will probably be replaced by Zielinski.

Probable lineups SSC Napoli: Reina – Hysay, Koulibaly, Raul Albiol, Rui – Allan, Diawara, Hamšik – Callejon, L.Insigne, Zielinski

RB Leipzig

Leipzig is oscillating this season, but they are again in second place in Bundesliga and can be satisfied, with the proviso that point differences are small and they can easy experience the fall below the position that will take them back to the Champions League again. This season, they played for the first time in this competition and they did not manage to win the knockout stage, because they were playing very changeable, just like in the championship, and they lost three games, of which two at home by the winner of the group Besiktas.

In the championship, they have surprisingly lost some games, such as the one from Hertha in their field at the end of the first part, and against Freiburg a few rounds ago. They now have three matches without a defeat, with an unexpected home draw with HSV and two victories without any goals received in M'gladbach, and against Augsburg on their field. In that duel there was no Demme due to injury, as well as Sabitzer, while Ilsanker and Y.Poulsen also jumped on the field. Now Ilsanker cannot play because of the suspension, so Demme will be back on the field, and Sabitzer probably returns.

Probable lineups RB Leipzig: Gulacsi – Laimer, Orban, Upamecano, Klostermann – Demme, Keita, Bruma, Sabitzer – Augustin, Ti.Werner

Verdict:

Napoli has not played very well in Europe this season and it seems that their championship is more important, so Leipzig could exploit this fact and achieve a good result in the first round, and it would mean a lot if they achieve a goal. Napoli's offensive game should also brought them a few goals in this match.

Pick:  both teams will score 1.66 - 66/100 @1XBet