Eintracht Frankfurt v Napoli is the first leg of the Champions League round of 16 and is played on Tuesday at 21:00: TV, formations, predictions.
The overflowing Napoli, who have secured their third Scudetto in Serie A and their first since Diego Armando Maradona, are now looking to impress (again) on the continent’s main stage.
image-Osimhen
The troop led by Luciano Spalletti had already made the whole of Europe’s eyes glaze over in the group stage, where they had been literally dominant, along the lines of what they are up to in the league. First place, 15 points, twenty goals scored in six matches and resounding victories against Liverpool, Ajax and Rangers. The defeat on the last day at Anfield Road against the Reds, which allowed Jurgen Klopp’s team to overtake but not overtake the Azzurri, who passed as first, was irrelevant. Having finished ahead of everyone has guaranteed them a draw that is anything but impossible: Eintracht Frankfurt are within reach of this Napoli side, who must not, however, make the mistake of feeling they are already in the quarter-finals, which they have never reached in the cup with the big ears. Spalletti is in a position to put his team in the best possible shape, on the strength of +15 in the league: the gap to second place remained unchanged thanks to the 2-0 win over Sassuolo, signed by the devastating duo of Osimhen and Kvaratskhelia.
A dominant Napoli
Numbers are certainly not enough – best attack and best defence in the tournament, Osimhen top scorer with 18 goals – to describe a team that only knows how to win and does so with a cutting-edge game, currently among the most innovative in Europe.
Kolo Muani
Eintracht coach Oliver Glasner himself reiterated this, describing Napoli’s proposal, based on intensity, aggression and high pressing, as ‘anti-Italian’. A type of football that therefore breaks the mould and is in perfect discontinuity with tradition, based instead on more defensive and conservative models. The Austrian coach then admitted that he had studied the Azzurri in great detail and knew their weak points. Reigning Europa League champions, Eintracht Frankfurt have so far had an uneven performance in the Bundesliga, where they are currently only sixth, but have grown as the months have passed, even snatching qualification for the Champions League knockout phase in the very balanced group with Tottenham, Sporting CP and Marseille. They got off to a great start in the league, with the only blemish being the defeat two weeks ago in Cologne (3-0), which was immediately filed away thanks to Saturday’s 2-0 win against Werder Bremen. A match that once again saw French centre-forward Kolo Muani, author of his 15th goal of the season, star. He will be the number one danger for the partenopei.
Eintracht Frankfurt-Napoli: latest line-up news
Three-man defence and a double trequartista behind the unleashed Kolo Muani. These are the staples of Oliver Glasner, one of the most respected coaches in the Bundesliga. The backline, which has not conceded a single goal in the last three home league games, is led by Frenchman Evan N’Dicka, a player whose contract is currently expiring and who has attracted the attention of all the big names in Europe. In midfield, instead, the star is the Japanese Daichi Kamada, already with 13 goals in the season. Lindstrom and Gotze will act on the three-quarter, while the only unavailable player is the midfielder class 2000 Ebimbe, on loan from Psg.
Spalletti, on the other hand, will choose the standard formation, with the only doubt concerning the attacking trident: with Osimhen and Kvaratskhelia, one of Lozano and Politano will play. Elmas, who will challenge Zielinski in midfield, will also ask for space. The only absentee is Raspadori.
The prediction
It may not go smoothly for Napoli in Frankfurt: the Germans have less quality than the Azzurri but cannot be underestimated. Spalletti’s side are bursting at the seams and should be able to impose their game as they did in the group stage, heading into the return leg at the ‘Maradona’. In Germany, they are slight favourites in a match in which the total number of goals is likely to be at least two. The statistic that sees Eintracht unbeaten each time they have taken the lead is interesting: the tally is 11 wins and 2 draws.
Eintracht Frankfurt v Napoli likely line-ups
- EINTRACHT FRANKFURT (3-4-2-1): Trapp; Jakić, N’Dicka, Tuta; Buta, Kamada, Sow, Max; Lindstrøm, Götze; Kolo Muani.
- NAPOLI (4-3-3): Meret; Di Lorenzo, Kim, Rrahmani, Mário Rui; Lobotka, Zambo Anguissa, Zieliński; Lozano, Osimhen, Kvaratskhelia.
POSSIBLE RESULT: 1-2
