Key events
40 min: Di Lorenzo floats in a cross from the right and earns a corner on the left. Kvaratskhelia prepares to take, but is forced to wait as the referee lectures Osimhen and Christensen for wrestling. Then the corner comes in, and it really wasn’t worth waiting for.
38 min: Politano loops a cross in from the right but there’s barely any Napoli presence in the Barca box and once again the visitors deal with the situation easily. The home fans are uncharacteristically quiet right now.
37 min: Politano’s not particularly confidently delivered free kick somehow squirts through to Di Lorenzo, just inside the Barca box. But Di Lorenzo can’t spin Araujo and the visitors clear. Ter Stegen has had nothing to do.
36 min: De Jong clips Politano out on the right. Free kick for Napoli. Everyone queues up on the edge of the Barca box. Politano to take.
34 min: Kvaratskhelia crosses from the left. It’s deflected back into the path of Lobotka, who briefly considers larruping a shot goalwards from the edge of the box, but over-thinks it and ends up doing nothing whatsoever. In lieu of very few options, he should have bought a ticket to the raffle.
33 min: Jesus again finds himself on the wrong end of a soft decision, Lewandowski going down near the right touchline after being very lightly brushed. Nothing comes of the resulting free kick, Lewandowski aiming a weak header wide left.
31 min: Jesus steals the ball off a snoozing Gundogan, and prepares to launch an attack against a defence caught light at the back. But the referee blows, late, for a very soft foul. Gundogan’s theatrics tipped the scale there. Jesus rightfully aggrieved.
29 min: Pedri finds Yamal in space down the right. Yamal dinks cutely into the box, but the ball floats over the head of Gundogan, who had made a clever run between the centre-backs. Goal kick. Barca remain more likely to open the scoring.
27 min: Di Lorenzo curls a cross in from the right. At the far stick, Osimhen rises highest. He can’t guide a header on target, but looks to have earned a corner … until the flag goes up, correctly, for offside. Osimhen spins around in frustration.
26 min: Kvaratskhelia bets on himself in a footrace down the left with Kounde. He wins that bet, knocking the ball past his man and romping clear. Christensen comes across to put a stop to his gallop, and is the latest man to find himself somewhat fortunate not to go into the book.
24 min: Rrahmani rolls Di Lorenzo into space down the right. The Napoli captain drives infield and prepares to shoot, but holds onto possession one stride too far, allowing Pedri to nip in from behind and steal off with the ball.
23 min: Gundogan curls the resulting corner over everyone’s head. From the sublime to the ridiculous.
22 min: Cancelo romps down the left, reaches the byline, then cuts back. Lewandowski flippers a first-time shot goalwards. Straight at Meret, who hacks away. Barca come straight back at Napoli, and space opens up in front of Gundogan. A rising drive, heading for the top left, is palmed around the post by the keeper. That’d have been a lovely goal. It was a fine save instead.
21 min: Cajuste comes through the back of Christensen and is fortunate not to join De Jong in the book.
19 min: Politano rolls a pass down the right for Osimhen, who wins a corner. Nothing comes of it. Both teams are searching in vain for the killer final pass.
17 min: That doesn’t stop him going on a 60-yard run down the middle of the park. He slips a pass to Yamal to his right. Yamal attempts another curler but that’s blocked … by Olivera’s arm? Yamal thinks so, but the referee doesn’t. Could have been, but VAR can’t get involved as the incident is outside the box.
16 min: De Jong goes into the book for a late slide on Di Lorenzo. A daft challenge inside his own half. A long evening on a yellow stretches out in front of the Dutch midfielder.
15 min: Pedri is nearly released by a speculative ball down the inside-left channel. Meret is out quickly to smother at his feet.
14 min: Pedri is clipped as he worms his way down the left. Free kick and a chance for Barca to line up on the edge of the Napoli box. Gundogan swings into a crowded mixer but Rrahmani heads clear. Barca come straight back at Napoli, though, Gundogan slipping a forensic pass down the left channel for Lewandowski, who can’t force home from a tight angle, six yards out. Jesus did well to make sure that angle remained tight. Goal kick.
12 min: A slightly shaky Araújo backpass nearly lets Kvaratskhelia in. Ter Stegen is alive to the situation and able to kick clear. A couple of signs that Napoli are belatedly waking up.
10 min: Olivera slips a pass down the left flank for Kvaratskhelia, who enters the box but can’t quite work space for a shot. But that’s better from Napoli, who have finally shown a little something in attack.
9 min: Yamal cuts in from the right channel and rasps a shot towards goal. Meret parries with strong hands, and the rebound falls kindly for the home side, who eventually clear despite the presence of Gundogan and Lewandowski, both hovering around. Already it feels like a goal is coming for Barca.
7 min: Napoli look extremely nervous. Olivera and Zambo Anguissa do their level best to tee up Lewandowski 25 yards out, but get away with their loose control. Then Cancelo barges down the left and looks for Lewandowski in the middle. Olivera eyebrows away from danger just in time.
5 min: Koundé crosses from the right to force the first corner of the game. Nothing comes of it for Barcelona, but the visitors have started very confidently. The home fans are already resorting to irritated whistling.
4 min: Gundogan brings down a long ball 30 yards from goal, spins, then feeds Yamal to his right. Yamal curls a confident shot over the bar.
3 min: Young Lamal makes off down the right and gives Olivera something to think about. The Napoli left-back stands his ground. He had to keep his wits about him there against the irrepressible 16-year-old.
2 min: Plenty of very early possession for Barcelona as they attempt to make themselves at home. Napoli have hardly had a touch.
Barcelona get the ball rolling. A rocking atmosphere at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona, like that’s breaking news.
The teams are out! Napoli in their sky blue, Barcelona in fourth-choice yellow. We’ll be off after a quick blast of The Champions. Eh?
A reminder of how we all got here. Napoli finished Group C as runners-up to Real Madrid, who beat them home and away. The Partenopei also dropped points at home to Union Berlin in a 1-1 draw that snapped the German club’s 12-match losing sequence.
Barcelona also lost a couple of group games, at Shakhtar Donetsk and Antwerp. They beat Porto home and away, though, and that proved crucial to winning Group H on the head-to-head. More evidence that neither of these sides have been totally on top of their game this season.
Napoli make four changes to the XI that started last Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Genoa. Victor Osimhen, Mathías Olivera, Jens Cajuste and Juan Jesus replace Pasquale Mazzocchi, Leo Østigård, Hamed Traorè and Giovanni Simeone, all of whom drop to the bench.
Barcelona make two changes to their starting line-up in the wake of the narrow 2-1 win over Celta Vigo. İlkay Gündoğan and Iñigo Martínez replace Vitor Roque and Pau Cubarsí, who are both named as subs.
The teams
Napoli: Meret, Di Lorenzo, Rrahmani, Juan Jesus, Olivera, Zambo, Lobotka, Cajuste, Politano, Osimhen, Kvaratskhelia.
Subs: Natan, Mario Rui, Traore, Contini, Simeone, Lindstrom, Mazzocchi, Ostigard, Raspadori, Gollini.
Barcelona: ter Stegen, Kounde, Araujo, Martinez, Joao Cancelo, de Jong, Christensen, Gundogan, Yamal, Lewandowski, Gonzalez.
Subs: Raphinha, Pena, Joao Felix, Lopez, Romeu, Vitor Roque, Sergi Roberto, Astralaga, Casado, Cubarsi, Guiu, Fort.
Referee: Felix Zwayer (Germany).
Preamble
The reigning champions of Italy and Spain meet in what is ostensibly the glamour clash of the round. Only problem being, it’s faded glamour right now.
Napoli are onto their third manager of the season having lost five of their last 11 in all competitions, winning only three. During that run, they’ve been cashiered from the Coppa Italia in disgrace, losing 4-0 at home to Frosinone. Their defence of the scudetto they took 33 years to reclaim has been a pitiful shambles: they’re currently ninth, having scored just five goals in their last eight league matches. This is a team that scored 105 times last season. Way to go off a cliff. Let’s see what wonders new man Francesco Calzona, who replaced Walter Mazzarri on Monday, has worked in the 48 hours he’s been in office.
Barcelona are faring better, but only because the bar’s been set so low. They’ve got managerial woes of their own – Xavi is off in the summer – and while they’re third in La Liga, they’re well off the pace set by Real Madrid. Their last two league matches paint a picture: they required a late goal from 16-year-old Lamine Yamal to salvage a home draw against relegation-haunted Granada, and needed a twice-taken injury-time Robert Lewandowski penalty to see off struggling Celta Vigo. They’ve also recently been battered 5-3 at home by Villarreal, and dispatched from the Copa Del Rey 4-2 by Athletic Bilbao.
Something’s got to give. Will the undoubted quality both teams possess finally show itself and tell? Or will we witness a fiasco for the ages? Either way, this could be a whole lot of fun. Kick off at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona is at 8pm GMT, 9pm local. It’s on!