UEFA Europa League: Napoli vs. Barcelona Preview, Odds, Prediction

Napoli hosts Barcelona in the second leg of the Europa League round of 16. This is, for many, the central game of the day and the most interesting event. The first leg saw a draw at Camp Nou, 1-1, but we can add that the Italians got away with this one. Ferran Torres was the reason for this, as the former Man City player missed several dead chances for flipping the result and providing his team with an edge before the final whistle. We have to add that this should be a highly interesting and open clash.

Preview

Napoli (+170) didn’t lose for the past six games, but the situation is not good at San Paolo. Why? Well, Partenopei won three times in a row, but after that posted the same number of draws, all with the same result.

At first, they did that with Inter at home, then Barca on the road, before playing 1-1 in Cagliari this Monday, missing a perfect chance for getting back in the Serie A title race. That slip in Cagliari did mess up the chemistry in the locker room be sure about that.

Four of Napoli’s last events were with under 2.5 goals, and eight in the past ten ended the same. At home, the situation is split with five contests going below three goals, and five with over four or more.

Barcelona (+160) was rampant in Valencia this Sunday, beating the big rivals 1-4, and getting back on track following two draws in a row, one against Espanyol and the second vs. Napoli.

Xavi’s unit is without a defeat for five straight matches, in three of them scoring multiple goals. The improvement in form is and the quality of play is evident, and we expect to see Barca being even better as time goes by.

What is the biggest problem for this unit is the defense, as they couldn’t keep clean sheets in eight of the last 10 clashes. On the other side, the attack was able to cover all that up, and Barca scored in the past 14 straight games.

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Lorenzo Insigne is the only player who isn’t available among the hosts.

On the other side, Dani Alves, Balde, Fati, Sergi Roberto and Umtiti are all out for this one.

Head to Head

The game at Camp Nou finished 1-1. Zielinski opened the show, while Torres equalized from the penalty in the 59th minute. The same player had at least three more chances to score but wasted all of them, and without any doubts, we can say that he alone was the man to blame for this result.

Prediction

We expect this to be an open game, as two teams don’t have anything to wait for. Barca will attack, and we expect the same from Napoli because they won’t defend at home. The odds on over 2.5 goals are -115, which is great and we are willing to bet on that. As said, there won’t be too many calculations, and as soon as the first goal takes place, plenty more will come.

Pick: Over 2.5 goals -115

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